Vegetarian & Lebanese Recipes

Lebanese and Middle Eastern food is wholesome and good for you. Made with lots of fresh vegetables and whole grains, you can taste the earth's goodness in every bite. As the Lebanese people immigrated over the centuries, they brought these tasty recipes to east and west, to Europe, Latin America, the United States, and to various parts of the world. Enjoy, and Bon Apetit.

Meat Joint Soup
SHOURABAT MOZAAT

2 1/2 cups soup meat, cubed
3/4 cup rice or fine noodles
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 cup parsley, chopped fine
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. pepper
Several meat bones
Water

The Lebanese housewife used to spend most of the day tending the soup kettle to make this nourishing soup for her family. Today the same soup can be cooked in an hour in the pressure cooker. Its distinctive flavor comes from the cinnamon stick added to the broth. With toasted Arab bread this makes a hearty meal.

Place meat and bones in pressure cooker with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and skim. Pour off all but 2 1/2 cups of the broth and set aside. Add cinnamon stick to broth and bones in the pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 30 minutes. Reduce pressure. Remove meat and bones. Add rice or noodles and the reserved broth to the pot and cook under pressure eight minutes. Open cooker. Season to taste. Return meat to soup and heat to boiling. Serve in soup bowls garnished with chopped parsley. For variety, add several small whole carrots, a tomato cut in half, several small summer squash and a chopped stick of celery to the broth before adding the rice or noodles.

To prepare this soup in an open kettle, bring meat and bones to boil and skim. Add salt and cinnamon stick. Boil until meat is tender and remove bones. Add rice or noodles and cook until tender. Sprinkle with parsley. Add vegetables as above if desired.

Lentil Soup
SHOURABAT 'ADAS

3 cups lentils
1/2 cup rice (optional)
1/2 cup samneh, or other shortening
1 cup chopped onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Water

Another good old fashioned soup is this one developed, of necessity, by Lebanese mountain villages when their winter diet consisted mainly of those foods which they dried in the summer and stored in earthenware jars or homespun sacks for winter eating.

Soak lentils in cold water overnight. Wash and pick over. Place in pressure cooker with water to cover them about an inch. Cook under pressure for 15 minutes. Pass the-soup through a sieve or food mill. Add water to desired consistency. Fry onions in hot fat until brown and add to soup. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add salt. Serve thick and hot with squares of crisp fried bread.

To prepare in open kettle: Wash lentils. Pick them over. Boil until soft. Pass through sieve or food mill. Add fried onions and salt. Add more water if necessary and simmer for 10 minutes.

To either method, add cooked rice if desired (one half cup before cooking). To enhance flavor, braise a beef or lamb bone in a small amount of fat and add to soup at beginning of cooking. Dried pea soup may be prepared in the same way but omit rice.

Meatball Soup
SHOURABAT EL QEEMA

2 1/2 cups ground lean meat
4 Ibs. soup meat, cubed
Several soup bones
1/2 cup samneh, or other shortening
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup tomato juice, [or 1 Tsp tomato paste and half cup water]
5 cups cold water

Grind meat several times. Mix well with salt and pepper. Shape into balls the size of marbles and brown in hot fat. Bring soup bones and meat to boil with water in pressure cooker. Skim. Cook under pressure for 20 minutes. Add meat balls, rice and tomato juice. Cook under pressure for 10 minutes. Remove bones. Add parsley and cinnamon just before serving. Makes approximately 10 servings.

This is a very old recipe and here is how it was originally prepared. Pound meat well in a stone mortar with a strong wooden mallet—called the jorn and modaqqa—with salt and pepper until meat becomes smooth and pasty. Shape into small balls and brown in hot fat. Brown soup bones in fat. Add tomato juice and seasonings. Simmer until meat balls are done. Add one half cup rice and cook until tender.Add parsley and simmer another three minutes. Add salt to taste.

Yoghurt Soup (Turkish)
YAYLA CHORBASHI

1/2 cup pearl barley
2 large onions, chopped
1 pint yoghurt or laban
3 cups chicken broth
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped mint
1 tsp. salt
White pepper

Put the barley to soak the night before. Drain well and boil until tender in the chicken broth. Meanwhile cook onion in butter until soft. Combine with barley and broth. Add mint, parsley and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for one hour. Five minutes before serving time add well beaten yoghurt. Serve in heated bowls.

Turkish Beet Soup
BORSCH

6 medium sized beets
4 cups water
1 cup stewed tomatoes
2 small onions
1/2 Ib. beef stew meat
4 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 eggs
Salt and pepper

Peel beets and cut into slivers with sharp knife or vegetable grater. Strain tomatoes, forcing pulp but not seeds through the strainer. Add water, chopped onion and cubed meat. Cook gently half an hour. Add lemon juice and salt. Taste for seasoning and simmer another 30 minutes. Pour hot borsch slowly over well beaten eggs and serve at once.

Lentil Soup with Beans and Rice
MAKHLOUTA

1 cup lentils
1 cup hummus (chick peas}
1/2 cup dried black beans
1 cup rice
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup minced onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. caraway seeds
5 cups water

This soup is a winter mainstay and a famous old Lebanese dish.

Soak beans, lentils and chick peas together overnight. Wash and pick over. Cook with the water and salt under pressure for 15 minutes. Boil rice separately and add to the lentil-bean mixture when it is done. Add onions which have been fried in oil until slightly browned. Simmer uncovered until of desired consistency and serve hot in soup plates. Approximately 10 servings.

To prepare in an open kettle: Soak all beans, but not lentils, overnight. Pick over and wash. Cook beans and lentils together in large kettle with plenty of water. When tender, add rice and continue simmering until rice is tender. Finally, add onions which have been fried in oil, salt, and caraway if desired. Simmer a few minutes more.

Rice in Fish Broth
Sayyadieh

1 large fish (weighing about 2 Ibs.}
1 cup olive oil
2 cups uncooked rice
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
Salt
Lemon juice
Water

This flavorful dish is an artful combination of rice and fresh fish.

Clean fish, sprinkle with salt and refrigerate for several hours. Fry fish in olive oil until well cooked. Remove the fish and fry the chopped onions in the same oil well browned. Bone the fried fish, reserving the cooked fillets. Add the head, bones and skin to the fried onions and cook with four cups of water in the pressure cooker for 15 minutes, or for a longer time in an open pan. Strain the broth, discarding solids and reserving the fish broth. Boil the rice (which has been soaked in hot water for 30 minutes) in the fish broth using 1 1/4 cups of broth for each cup of rice. Adjust salt. Simmer the rice on a low fire so that most of the broth will be absorbed. Meanwhile, butter a one-quart mold and arrange sauteed, blanched almonds and pine nuts in it. Spoon cooked rice into the mold. Unmold onto a serving platter. Garnish with large pieces of the fried fish. Serve lukewarm or cold. Serves 6 persons.

Some of the broth may be flavored with a few drops of lemon and served on the side as a sauce for this dish. Crisp radishes are a splendid accompaniment.

Lentils with Chard and Lemon
'ADAS BI HAAMUD

1 1/2 cups lentils
2 1/2 Ibs. Swiss chard leaves
3/4 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup olive oil
1 bunch green kizbara (coriander), or 1 stalk celery
5 garlic cloves
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup lemon juice (or to taste)
1 tsp. flour

Wash lentils well and leave to drain overnight. Wash again in morning and pick over. Cook with water to cover in pressure cooker for 10 minutes. Open cooker. Add chard leaves which have been chopped with a few stems and one cup water. Cook under pressure another 8 minutes. Meanwhile fry onions in olive oil. Crush garlic with salt and add to fried onions. Wash and chop kizbara or celery. Add with the onions to the chard and lentil mixture. Stir. Add lemon juice mixed with one teaspoon flour to thicken the sauce. Let simmer until it is like thick soup. Add seasonings. Serve hot. Serves 6.

Save chard stems and boil them to serve as a salad with taheeni (sesame oil).

To cook in open kettle: Boil washed lentils until tender, adding hot water as necessary. Combine lentils with chard, fried onions and garlic mixture. Finish as above.

Fish Dishes

Fried Fish
SAMAK MAQLI