In less than 15 minutes, 3 steps you can prepare a healthy vegetarian salad, high in protein and so delicious , it’s a great addition to your diet specially if you are trying to cut down on your calories, it’s so filling would make a great appetizer before the main dish or as the main dish too.
Although Kibbeh is traditionally a meat dish. The diet around the Mediterranean and specifically Lebanese food has lots of vegetarian variety. Tomato Kibbeh sometimes called vegetarian Kibbeh is one of these dishes. I don’t know the origin of this dish but I have a feeling Tomato Kibbe is recipe most likely the product of a need to cut meat during Lent. The availability of Bulgur and abundance of herbs and natural resources made it easy transition from meat to vegetarian kibbeh.
“Voala” ! the Tomato Kibbe was born. (may be)
Hummus is a dip/spread that is made from chickpeas. In fact, hummus is the Arabic word for chickpea. You may notice that many hummus recipes call for garbanzo beans, not chickpeas. Don’t worry, garbanzo is the Spanish translation of chickpea. They are called garbanzo beans in Italy.
Hummus is one of the oldest foods dating back to ancient Egypt. We know that chickpeas were used quite frequently over 7,000 years ago.
Hummus (a translation of the Arabic: حمّص; also spelled hamos, houmous, hommos, hommus, hummos, hummous or humus; see romanization of Arabic) is a Levantine Arab[1] dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a popular food throughout the Middle East.
Everyone in the Middle East make their hummus different. Some like their hummus recipe to have a strong lemon flavor, some have an overwhelming garlic flavor, and some hummus has a spicy tone. When making your own hummus, you have to keep your own taste buds in mind. If a recipe calls for a lot of tahini and you don’t like tahini, scale down the amount. The fun about Middle Eastern cooking is that the ingredient amounts aren’t set in stone. Add a little of this and take away of that and you still have a culinary masterpiece!
Since there is a million different hummus recipes out there. Here my recipe that’s been used by my family and handed down for generation.
Foul Mudamas pronounced (Fool) (فول مدمس) is one of the most popular street food in Levant area and Egypt, It’s very common to walk in the street and to see street vendor pushing a cart selling foul mudamas. Traditional fool mudams cooked in copper pot with a narrow neck to maintain the heat and keep the beans moist.
Depending on the area, Foul Mudamas is prepared with its own distinct flavor and method of prepration. If you travel you will notice that foule mudamas unmistakably different in Egypt than Lebanon or Syria. Foul mudams is high in protein and fiber. A dish of Foul Mudammas contains 3 times more Protein and 9 times more fiber than rice.
Oregano pie or Manaeesh Bi Zaatar (مناقيش بزعتر) is the most popular food in Levant area. It’s very common to walk into the corner bakery, place your order, stand and watch the baker push these pies into a brick oven. It’s is a mesmerizing experience, to watch the dough with the Zaater turns into this most favorable food you will ever taste. Your taste buds will simply burst to life.
The beauty of Maaneesh is you can make it out of ready made ingredients. Olive oil, pizza dough and finally the Zaater. Manaash recipe is totally depended on the quality of the Zaatar used. The Zaater is what makes or breaks the Manaeesh. Maska Food brand Zaatar is what will bring your oregano pie a couple of notches distinguishing it from others.
Photographed by Jackie Kapatais
Photographed by Jackie Kapatais
Photographed by Jackie Kapatais
Photographed by Jackie Kapatais
