Sahlab (or Salep – or Sahlep) is a warm winter drink or pudding found throughout the Mediterranean (Turkey, Greece, and the Levant). It is flavoured with a powder made from dried orchid tubers, and has an earthy, floral taste to it. Genuine sahlab powder is not easy to find in the west, and many packaged…
In my previously documented adventures with coronavirus-induced anosmia (and then parosmia), the taste of garlic was one of the first things I noticed tasted ‘wrong’, after onions. This presented a problem because we, as a family, eat a lot of garlic. It has taken months, but I am finally able to eat garlic again and…
Okra is one of those vegetables that people tend to have strong feelings about, and I am among the okra lovers of the world. Bamieh is simply the Arabic word for okra – and this stew can be made bil lahme – or with meat (as I’ve done here), or without – which makes it…
A common refrain my husband hears from me, whatever the season and wherever in the world we are, is: ‘I need vegetables.’ Growing up, our table was never without at least one salad – and always multiple vegetable dishes. British and American cuisine share the same notion that a vegetable side dish is more of…
Today (September 23rd) is actually Za’atar Day! Za’atar is a spice used throughout the Levant – made from a type of wild thyme, or hyssop. Its official name is ‘origanum syriacum’ and it’s classified as part of the oregano / marjoram family of plants. It grows wild in many places and in late summer and…
As a kid growing up in the north of England, I remember coming home after school many days and making myself a sandwich consisting of buttered bread, sharp farmhouse cheddar cheese, and sliced roasted beetroot. Beetroot (or beets, as they’re called in America), is one of my favourite root vegetables, and while beet season runs…
If you’ve read my recipe for mutabbal then you’re aware of the debate as to what baba ghanouj / ganoush is supposed to be. I was always told that aubergine (eggplant) with tahini is mutabbal, and aubergine without tahini (and with tomatoes, pomegranate molasses, and walnuts mixed in) is baba ghanouj. I don’t mind what…
Baharat (بَهَارَات) literally meaning ‘spices’ in Arabic, is a common ingredient in many Lebanese and Levantine dishes. Like most Middle Eastern spice blends, every region or family has their preference as to what they like to add; baharat can sometimes contain nutmeg in place of allspice, or even the addition of paprika. Feel free to…
My husband does not cook. I am actually unsure of how he managed to survive for so many years on boxed macaroni and cheese and frozen pizza, but somehow he did. And believe it or not, some days I don’t want to cook (but I don’t want to eat pizza or macaroni and cheese, either),…
Kamounet is one of those seasonings that every family has a different recipe for – some include cloves, some eschew them for allspice, it just depends on your tastes (or maybe what you have in the cupboard at the time). The only must in kamounet is why it’s called kamounet in the first place: kamoun…
