Authentic Lebanese Recipe
Make this nourishing stew by the regular top of the stove method, or use the pressure cooker and shorten cooking time considerably.

1/2 cup hummus (chick peas)
12 small white onions
2 cups burghul (cracked wheat)
2 cups stew meat, cut into cubes
1 cup samneh (or other shortening)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 1/2 cups water
Several bones

Soak hummus overnight in enough water to cover. Peel onions and leave whole. Fry meat and bones in half the samneh untfl brown. Remove meat and fry onions in samefat until yellow. Cook the soaked hummus in enough fresh water to cover in pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Remove. Place meat, bones, salt and water in pressure cooker and cook under pressure for 30 minutes. Reduce pressure. Add onions and cook five minutes longer under pressure. Remove meat and some of the onions from the stew to use as garnish at serving time. To the remainder add the hummus and burghul. Stew gently, uncovered, until hummus and burghul are tender. Add more water if necessary to keep from burning. Consistency should be like thick porridge. Season to taste. Spoon onto serving platter. Melt remaining half of samneh and pour over the stew. Garnish with reserved meat and onions. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve laban sauce.

Cook this dish in an open pan as follows: Brown meat and bones in half the fat. Remove and cook onions in same fat until yellow. Add water, meat, and hummus and simmer until meat and hummus are tender. Remove some of meat and onions. Add burghul. Proceed as above. Or, meat may be brought to a boil in a open kettle. Skim off foam. Add fried onion and hummus. Remove onions when they become tender. Add burghul last. Serve with melted samneh mixed well into the finished stew.

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Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
2 cups burghul (cracked wheat)
1/4 Ib. butter
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups beef or chicken stock
Salt and pepper

This well flavored pilaf substitutes for rice and is delicious with a curry.

Simmer the dry burghul in the butter until thoroughly coated and bubbly. Fry onion separately until soft and yellow. Mix together and stir in boiling stock and seasonings. Stir well, and place in a covered casserole. Bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes. Stir gently with fork. Bake 15 minutes more. Liquid should all be absorbed and the burghul will be moist but fluffy.

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Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
1 cup long grain rice
1 cup water
1 heaping Tbsp. samneh (or other shortening)
1 tsp. salt
Hot water

Rice may be cooked in many ways. This method produces a fluffy but slightly moist pilaf with only a slight flavor of the small amount of fat which is stirred in to separate the grains. In Lebanon, a plateful of this pilaf covered with laban makes a full meal.

If rice is purchased in bulk in Arab markets, it should be soaked in hot water for half an hour and then rinsed well to remove loose surface starch which would make the finished pilaf gummy. Packaged, washed rice need not be further cleaned. Melt samneh in heavy skillet and when smoking, add rice. Stir until each grain is well coated. Add salt and water. Place over high fire until mixture boils up well and rice begins to absorb the water. Then cover. Lower heat and cook without further stirring until tender. If all water is absorbed before rice is tender it may be necessary to add 1/4 cup more water. Remove from fire when tender, but leave covered in a warm place for 30 minutes, or place a wire rack between a very low flame and the pan. Stir very gently when ready to serve. Serves 4.

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Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
2 cups lentils
1/3 cup rice
1 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt

Here is a well flavored and filling dish for lunches. An excellent substitute for baked beans. Eat it with raw relishes or a crisp cabbage salad, lettuce salad, cucumber and tomato salad.

Pick over and wash lentils well. Soak overnight. Put in pressure cooker with enough fresh water to cover. Cook under pressure for seven minutes. Add rice and cook under pressure another seven minutes. Fry onions in olive oil until brown. Mix lentils and rice with onion and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Pour onto large serving platter. Serve hot, lukewarm or cold. May be garnished with onions which have been sliced and fried in olive oil. This quantity makes about 10 portions.

To prepare mujaddarah in an open kettle, boil lentils in water to cover until tender. Add rice and cook until it is soft. Combine with fried onions and stew gently for about 10 min¬utes, stirring often.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

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Baked Spaghetti
MA'KARONI BI SSANIEH

Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
1 lb. spaghetti
2 cups ground or chopped meat, preferably lamb
1/2 cup fat
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 1/2 fresh cups tomato juice
1 small can tomato paste
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup water
Grated cheese (Parmesan or Lebanse Kashkawan)

Break spaghetti in 2-inch lenghts and boil in salted water until tender. Drain. Prepare sauce. Fry onions in fat until tender. Add meat and brown lightly. Add pine nuts. Season with salt, pepper and cinnamon. Add tomato juice and tomato paste with water. Cook under pressure 15 minutes, or simmer gently on top of stove for 30 minutes until sauce thickens. Add salt to taste. Stir spaghetti into sauce, mixing well. Pour into baking dish, sprinkle with grated cheese and bake in moderate oven until piping hot and cheese is melted. Serves 8.

Villagers who have no ovens of their own prepare this spaghetti at home and then carry it to the town bakery. Or they may not bake it at all, but simply pout the hot sauce over the boiled spaghetti, cook it for a few minutes, sprinkle it with cheese and call it a meal.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

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Rice with Chick Peas
RIZ BI DFEEN

Authentic Lebanese Recipe:
2 cups rice
2 cups cubed beef or lamb shank
Several bones from meat
2 cups meat broth
12 small white onions
1/2 cup hummus (chick peas)
1 cup samneh (or other shortening)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Soak hummus overnight. Soak rice half an hour and drain. Cook hummus with two cups water under pressure for 15 minutes. Drain. Melt, in pressure cooker, half the samneh. When it smokes add meat and bones. Brown them. Remove and cook onions in same fat until yellow. Remove onions. Return meat to pressure cooker, add 2 1/2 cups water, salt and pepper and cook under pressure for half an hour. Open cooker. Add onions and half a cup of water. Cook under pressure again, for five minutes. Take two cups of broth from the stew and cook the rice in this broth until tender. Put some of the meat and onion mixture aside for garnish later. To the stew remaining in the kettle, add cooked rice and hummus, and the remaining samneh, melted. Serve on large platter garnished with the reserved meat and onions. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Pass laban as sauce. Stew may be flavored with curry, but this is not typically Lebanese.

To prepare in open kettle: Brown meat in half the samneh. Remove meat. Cook onions in same fat until yeliow. Stew meat, hummus with two cups water until tender. Add onions. Remove meat and onions. Add rice during last 15 minutes of cooking. Season. Stir remaining melted samneh in at the last. Add salt. Serve as above and garnish with the meat and onions.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

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Cracked Wheat (Burghul) fermented with Milk and Yoghurt (Laban)
Kishk

Authentic Lebanese Recipe

Kishk is a powdery cereal of burghul (cracked wheat) fermented with milk and laban (yoghurt). It is easily stored and is valuable to the winter diet of isolated villagers or country people. Kishk is prepared in the early Fall when the wheat crop is harvested. Milk, laban and burghul are mixed well together and allowed to ferment for nine days. Each morning the mixture is thoroughly kneaded with the hands. When fermentation is complete the kishk is spread on a clean cloth to dry. Finally it is rubbed well between the hands until it is reduced to a powder and then stored in a dry place.

To make kishk porridge, melt one tablespoon of qawwrama (click here for recipe on page 3). Add several garlic cloves and fry lightly. Add two tablespoon kishk (the preserved wheat) and saute for several minutes, stirring constantly. Add one cup water and salt to taste. Boil and stir until the desired porridge consistency is reached. Serve hot.

If you use these recipes, please link to this website and help us share the Lebanese heritage with the world. Thank you

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More Authentic Lebanese Recipes - several pages. Click here for Page 1 |  Pg 2 |  Pg 3 |  Pg 4 |  Pg 5 |  Pg 6 |  Pg 7 |  Pg 8 |  Pg 9 | 

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