Tag Archives: beef

Ground meat kebab

I was thinking about my friend Phoebe and how fun it was to cook together. She taught me a few of her kitchen secrets and we would exchange stories about her native Egypt and my native Lebanon; Phoebe loves Lebanese food; she remarked to me once “you know, your food is very healthy you have [...]
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Eggplant in yogurt sauce (Batenjane be-laban)

The recipe for this dish was generously shared with me by a lady chef who told me that it comes from Tripoli, Lebanon’s Northern coastal city. It is simpler to make than other eggplant and yogurt dishes and just delicious; the eggplant is silky and the cooked yogurt sauce light; the ensemble is divine. Recipe courtesy [...]
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Herbs stew (Khoresh-e qormeh sabzi)

I was in Erbil, Kurdistan (Iraq) for a few days recently; I visited the Bazaar in front of the old Citadel, of course, and neighborhood markets;  I noticed that  the vast majority of dry goods were imported from Turkey; in addition, there were a few items from Iran and I brought back Iranian saffron and [...]
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Shawarma in kibbeh (Akrass al-kibbeh bel-shawarma)

Kibbeh is ubiquitous here; not only is it Lebanon’s national dish but it would be unthinkable to lay down a mezze table without having a plate of small appetizer-size kibbeh balls.  The idea to split the kibbeh open and stuff them with sweet things comes from Aleppo (Syria); kibbeh get stuffed with cherries, quince or [...]
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Green wheat and rice pilaf (Tatbeekah)

One of Lebanon’s prominent chefs, cookbook author and cooking instructor is Marlene Mattar and her latest cookbook features the cuisine of Aleppo in Syria (Maedat Marlene min Halab). This dish caught my eye:  It is a pilaf of white rice with roasted green wheat aka freekeh as well as ground lamb, onion and nuts.  We [...]
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