I am sure many will read this article with skepticism. Lebanese Pizza? Wait till you get to the ingredients...
Who needs pizza sauce with all its heavy spicing, high sodium and being in a can for a decade.
Pizza sauce Lebanese style is ketchup sprinkled with oregano (yes, you are reading right - plain ketchup spread over the dough).
Olives and tomatoes are laid on top of the "sauce". No other vegetables are added (mushrooms are not native to Lebanon).
Vegetarian version will have gruyére cheese on top. A non-vegetarian version will include ham and cheese.
Trust me. Try it, you'd be hooked.
At last a warm day, and on a Sunday, so what's better to do than a BBQ.
The BBQ came out of the depths of the shed. Also came out the coal which was moist, old and as such created a mini fire-lighting crisis.
Persistency paid off and a simple BBQ dinner was in motion.
The burgers were mom's style with a dash of salt, all spice and cinnamon.
But check out the perfect grilled corn...
Dinner included somerville kitchen's not-to-miss Halloum Sails and french fries.
And as such, somerville kitchen's BBQ season kicked off with a bang, while cats watched it all from his clubhouse.
Insert the word "Kebbeh" in the search button on the blog and you'd have dozen articles around this purely Lebanese delicacy.
However, none of those articles give Kebbeh making credit compared to the way mom makes it (which is also a simplistic version of the old authentic Kebbeh making).
The ingredients are few. Extremely lean beef or lamb (none of our extra lean meat makes it to how red and lean the Kebbeh meat should be).
Then there is bulgur wheat. But not any bulgur; only the finest (texture-wise) must be used for Kebbeh. Onions and salt and you are set.
(Click here for recipe).
The old fashioned way is to pound the meat with the bulgur and grated onions in a large stone mortar with a humongous wooden pestle. In the absence of this, mom uses her hands and kneads the mixture over and over again (adding cold water as needed).
A food processor? No way.
Once you have the meat ready, Kebbeh can be made in endless versions (my favourite is raw).
Tonight's Kebbeh Factory produced "Kebbeh Mamdoudeh" - a thin layer of kebbeh covered with cooked ground beef, onions and pine nuts and covered with another layer, soaked with oil and baked.
The other version produced tonight was "Kebbeh Arass" - those are hamburger shaped round Kebbeh patties that are deep fried and munched on.
Getting them perfectly round and equal in size is a requirement of a professional Kebbeh maker. Methinks those are professional enough, what do you think?
As the "Kebbeh Arass" were being deep fried (in very hot oil; turn during frying - they don't take that long), the "Kebbeh Mamdoudeh" was baking (450 oven for close to 40 minutes).
Ah the smell of the Kebbeh factory - Lebanese comfort food at its best.
The nice thing about Kebbeh is that it freezes well. The factory produced several of those foil-wrapped "Kebbeh Mamdoudeh" freezer packs (anyone wants to seduce a Kebbeh dinner invite?).
The "Kebbeh Arass" were dinner (and the leftovers were packed for the freezer).
Thank you mom for this wonderful factory.
I blogged Sheikh El Mehshi in my first 15 days blogging (read Sheikh El Mehshi).
Almost two years later, mom showed me that I have done it all wrong. So for my sake and the sake of those readers who like this kind of food, the real recipe follows.
But before we go further, if you are into meats and vegetables with rice, check out the Lebanese Stews Series recipes - there is one for every bean or vegetable imaginable (or almost).
This stew is best made with what I call Lebanese zucchinis - light-coloured zucchinis you find in spring/summer at Chinese, Iranian or Indian markets. I bought mine at 910 Supermarket (4355 Main Street).
Step 1: Cut the zucchinis lengthwise into 3 slices - half boil and lay into a baking dish. Sprinkle with fried pine nuts.
Step 2: Mix one can of tomato paste with 2 cups of water until it is a sauce and add to the zucchinis.
Step 3: Top with some cooked ground beef (for recipe of ground beef cooking, read The Art of Ground Beef).
Step 4: Bake in a 400 degrees oven for approximately 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
Step 5: Like any Lebanese stew, serve over rice and enjoy.
No, this is not a picture of our burning universe; it is a picture of a delicious dessert - Moujammar.
It is simply Lebanese-style rice pudding that goes into the oven after it is cooked and gets browned on top.
The Lebanese-style rice pudding (with orange blossom water) was featured earlier in the year here (read Mom's Delicious Rice Pudding), along with the recipe.
The recipe for this version is identical, except do not thicken it completely on stove top since, after it cooks, it is going into the stove to cook more.
Once the pudding starts to thicken, it is poured into a baking dish and enters a hot (475 degrees) oven. The high temperature ensures that it browns quickly before it dries out.
Once in the oven, keep a close eye on it. It starts boiling and rising (a deeper dish ensures that the milk does not overflow). It also starts turning brown quickly. Once it starts to turn brown, it is ready.
Simply delicious. It cuts like a piece of cake (or a whitie). It can be eaten warm or cold.
This may be yours if you have anything to tempt me with to barter in return for a Moujammar platter.
This meal, which my favourite aunt refers to as "this and that", is simply deep fried vegetables - no batter, no spices; just delicious deep fried vegetables.
The history of this dish is vague. But the story goes that people from Lebanese mountain villages would pick what they have in their land, fry and eat them. It progressed into a dish that urbanites will eat on Fridays or as a side dish at dinner parties.
The typical vegetables that get fried are zucchinis, eggplants and cauliflower. They are sliced thin, sprinkled with salt and are ready for the frier.
They don't need to turn very brownish; keep them to the light side - tastier and better for you as wise mother says.
French fries go very well with those vegetables (it is another vegetable after all to add to the this and that that get fried). Mom's fries are the old fashioned Lebanese way where they are cut thick and large to keep their substance.
A salad will also be part of such a meal. Today's choice of salad is tabouleh.
And this is the story of this and that (by the way, those fried vegetables are as tasty cold the next day as they are out of the frier). Enjoy.
Seeyadieh is word that references fishing. In a more practical term, it is a dish of rice and fish.
You can use any fish that is large enough to be cooked (fried or baked) and separated into chunks.
Once the fish is cooked and separated (we just used leftover salmon from salmon feasting), it is time to prepare the onions.
There are two ways to do onions for this. One approach is to cut the onion into thin slices. Another one (mom's approach) is to grate them so they won't crunch under my dad's tongue.
The onion is then fried until browned (in vegetable or olive oil) and put aside.
The next thing to fry is about a cup of pine nuts (some also add walnuts). Beware, pine nuts fry really quickly so keep an eye on the stove.
Now the cooking begins. In a pot, layer half of the pine nuts topped with half the fish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and salt (no pepper but some add a bit of turmeric for colour). Then add half the onions and 1 cup of rice. Repeat the process with the same layers/ingredients. Add 6 cups of water (for 2 cups of rice). Bring to boil then simmer until the rice is cooked.
As the dish is cooking (or cooling down - it is supposed to be eaten at room temperature), prepare a salad.
One salad that goes well is fresh thyme (the first 2012 jardin crop) with chunks of peeled lemon.
Another matching salad is cabbage - thinly sliced cabbage with nothing else.
The dressing for those salads is simply lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Lemon goes well with fish.
Now that salads are ready and Seeyadieh is cooked, turn it over into a serving platter and enjoy.
