Healthy and Delicious Lebanese Food

Maamoul is a great desert, you can have it all year round. It is also an Easter tradition. Beyond chocolate eggs, hens, or rabbits, maamoul is my favorite Easter sweet. The recipe is very easy, it takes time to knead and to make every single piece of sweet. In my family we prepare the dough in holy Tuesday, we let it rest until following day and then we make maamoul on holy Wednesday, cook it on holy Thursday after the service and it is absolutely forbidden to take any sweet until Saturday late night after Easter midnight vigile.  My favorite recipe is the following, this is to prepare 16 small sweets 100g of unsalted butter, instead of butter I prefer to use a butter equivalent spread known as rich in Omega 3. 200g of medium semolina 100g of flour 1 table spoon of caster sugar Soften the butter add semolina, flour and sugar, mix with a wooden spoon, then knead by hands until you have a nice and soft dough. Put into a salad bowl, cover with a transparent film and...

Atr is inverted sugar, it is used in many lebanese dessert recipes. You can make it in a saucepan. But if you need a small quantity of atr, it is so easy to make in microwave. In a large mug put sugar less than half of the mug. Add water in a proportion 4 sugar / 1 water. Your mug should be adapted to microwave and beware it is hot when manipulating. Stir well. Heat 1 minute in microwave. Take out stir well. Heat for another minute. Take out, add two large spoons of fresh lemon juice, stir well and back to the microwave for one minute. Take out of microwave, your liquid should be clear, if it is not you need to heat it more. Wait for few minutes, add 1 ts of rose water, 1 ts of orange blossom water, stir very softly. That's all... you can keep it for few weeks.

Easy recipe to make home. Mix together 50g melted butter 75g yogurt 250g flour 100g powdered sugar 1 spoon rose water 1 spoon orange blossom water Mix together well Add water until you have a dough. Few spoons not more. Make small balls of the dough and put on a tray. Cooked in hot oven for 20 minutes or until light brown (180C) Powder icing sugar when hot. Sahtein! Enjoy!

Yogurt cucumber: Very easy and very fresh. You find it everywhere in the Middle-East, greeks call it tzatziki, in Lebanon khyar wa laban. Put few yogurts into a bowl, I use 0% fat yogurt, chop cucumber in cubes of 0.1 inches, you can also chop some chime, add salt and mix with a spoon. I keep the cucumber's skin, others remove it. On top of it you can add some dry mint and olive oil. You can eat with lebanese flat bread or crisps. SAHTEIN !!!

I can never figure a Lebanese mezze without Taboulleh. Fresh, delicious, tasty, healthy, great for summer hot evenings on the terrace. And also Tabbouleh has our colors: green, red and white. This is the only genuine Tabbouleh, it has absolutely nothing to do with a french copy. I give you the recipe and you adapt it at your taste. The ingredients are: 1 bunch of flat parsley 2 large tomatoes 1 large onion 2 tablespoons of burgul 1 lemon Olive oil, salt and peper You can also add few leaves of mint, or another aromatic herb, I love oregano, I add few leaves in my tabbouleh. First, pour burgul in a bowl. Cut tomatoes very thin in small cubes around 0.1 inch side and put them in the bowl. Cut parsley leaves and other herbs very very thin with a sharp knife, of course be careful for your fingers, I said cut the parsley not the fingers. Don't try to cut parsley by any other way, it will not give you the good taste of the tabbouleh. Add parsley to the bowl. Cut onion i...

Very easy, very healthy, very fresh, very cheap...   you almost have it every restaurant in Lebanon with the aperitif. Peel few carrots, cut them in batonnets, you can google "carrot batonnet size", you will find this is 2 inches long and 1/4 by 1/4 inch thick. Poor some fresh squeezed lemon juice and a pinch of salt, give it a quick mix and it is ready. I am sure you will enjoy it... And, at home, each time I drink the juice at the end, fantastic lemon with carrot cocktail... One day I had no lemon, this is very unusual in a Lebanese house, I replaced it with orange fresh juice. It is fantastic, worth trying, it gives a very nice sweet taste. Sahtein

Mannouché is a lebanese pizza made with flat dough, like a pizza, and a thyme mixture with olive oil. The thyme mixture is made of thyme, sumac and sesame seeds. Mannouché is eaten at any time, very usual in the morning but a also a snack anytime of the day, there are Mannouché shops every where in Lebanon. And basically Mannouché is one of the cheapest things you can buy in Lebanon, the prices start from 1000 lebanese pounds or 66 cents of a dollar. I don't live in Lebanon, I created this easy to make snack with lower calories than Mannouché. I slice and dice half a tomato and I mix with two spoons of the thyme mixture, put it on a tortilla, nice mix of Latin America and Middle-East. You can also make a flat pizza. I cook 10 minutes in a hot 200C oven, and eat it with mint leaves. Nice pizza and easily 180kcal less than a Mannouché.

Fattoush, is our second favorite salad after Tabboulé. Fattoush is very easy to make and healthy. There is not a single recipe, you can mix your favorite vegetables and add sumac, a Lebanese spice, some olive oil and Lebanese toasted bread. You find sumac in Lebanese food shops, if you don't have sumac you can replace it with some lemon juice. my ingredients for Fattoush are the following: - lettuce salad, - tomato, - cucumber, - onion, - green pepper all cut in rough pieces, then I spread 1 spoon of sumac per serving, a dash of olive oil and a quarter of small Lebanese flat bread. Sahtein!

Here is another easy recipe and as usual without any fat. Beware there is sugar semolina and floor, it is lighter than usual but not 0 cal. The recipe is very easy takes 5 minutes to prepare and 25 cooking. Heat your oven at 220°C, in the mantime, your put in a bowl: - 2 low fat yogurt, each one 125ml - 1 cup semolina, in fact you can use one empty yogurt pot and measure 2 pots, - 1 cup whole floor, if you don't have whole floor you can use white floor, - 1 1/2 cup of sugar - 1 tea spoon of baking powder - 1/4 of tea spoon turmeric (curcuma). not more than a quater of small spoon - 2 table spoons of water - 1 tea spoon of anise seeds mix well and put in a 24 cm oven cake mold, spread sesame seeds on the mixture and cook for 25 minutes in pulsed air oven or 30 minutes in regular oven. Take out of the oven and leave for 30 minutes to cool down before removing for the mold. cut in parallelogram of 3 X 2. SAHTEIN !

Easy Mujaddara: This is an easy recipe, almost done in microwave, except for fried onions, I have never found how to fry in a microwave. I left Lebanon 31 years ago during the civil war. I lived in Europe all this time and I was missing our lebanese food and particularly moujaddara. This is a typical rural food very cheap, workers used to take with them every day some moujaddara wrapped in a lebanese bread; and also a raw onion. This meal is great, full of hydrocarbonates, proteins, dietary elements and many vitamins. I prepare in the microwave. Use a very large bowl, this will prevent having lentils split in the microwave. Add 1 cup of brown lentils 3 cups of water a pinch of salt a large pinch of sweet pepper cover with plastic film and cook in microwave on maximum power for 30 minutes, the lentils must be very soft if not cook longer In the meantime chop 3 large onions and fry in oil until brown When the lentils are cooked, take out of microwave, b...

Oven Falafel I am found of falafel, a middle eastern recipe, my issue is that falafel is deep fried in oil and is fatty. I avoided deep frying by oven cooking in silicone muffin pan, in this recipe there is only 1 table spoon of oil for 20 falafels. There are two recipes in the Middle East, one with a mix of fava beans and chick peas, the other is only with chick peas. I have tested the recipe with mix of both legumes. Put 1 cup of fava beans and another cup of chick peas in a large bowl filled with water, 1 tea spoon of salt and 1/2 tea spoon of baking sada. Leave it in water for 24 hours. After 1 day they are filled of water. I cook them in boiling water for 1/2 hour, they are soft but not fully cooked to eat. Drain water and put in a blander, add 1 table spoon of oil, 1 table spoon plain floor, 1 tea spoon ground cumin, 1/2 tea spoon peper, you could add a dash of chili if you want or few mint leaves. I also add 1 table spoon baking powder, mix all together and put in sili...

Quick Bulgur with tomatoes: This is easy, health and very quick. It will change from Pasta or rice. Get a large recipent for microwave, 4 pints or more, fill with : 1 cup of bulgur 3 cups of water pinch of salt 2 spoons of chopped tomatoes half tea spoon of cumin cover and put in microwave for 12 minutes on max power, beware this is very hot. 600 kcal for 4 - 150 per potion, this is correct Enjoy it is ready, my kids love it.

Light Nammoura I have a quick recipe for Nammoura 5 minutes to prepare if your atr is ready - 10 minutes atr included 25 minutes cooking for Nammoura you will nead 1 yogurt - these are standard size of half-cup (0% fat yogurt will be great) 1 cup of semolina 3/8 cup of sugar orange blossom water rose water 18 blanched almonds if you don't have blanched almonds,you can easily remove the skin: put almonds in a mug, cover with water and put 2 minutes max power in micro-wave oven. take out of the micro-wave add cold water and leave until cold. you can easily remove the skin with your fingers. Empty yogurt in a large bowl, use the yogurt recipient and measure - 2 semolina - 3/4 sugar add 1 table spoon backing powder 1 table spoon rose water 1 table spoon orange blossom water mix all pour 1 spoon of tahini in a backing tray, I always use a tray of 20 cm diameter and then add the mixture, put the almonds on the top imaging how your are going to cut the namm...

Santa Barbara is celebrated on the evening of 3rd of December, we prepare a bowl of wheat with anise, pomegrenate, grated coconut, almonds, walnuts, and sultanas. As I am lazy I use precooked wheat. In a bowl, add 3 tablespoons of precooked wheat, 1/8 teaspoon of anise, 1 cup of water, and microwave on maximum power for 5 minutes. Cool down, take out of the microwave and add 1 teaspoon of sugar 1 teaspoon of orange flower water on top of it you can add 1 tablespoon of grated coconut few almonds, walnuts kernels, pistachio seeds (without the shell of course, if you don't want to lose any crown from your mouth !!!), or raisins Eat it warm, near the fireplace and remember that on 4th December, in Lebanon we decorate Christmas tree...

When I am using my oven for roasting, I often add one aubergine on the second tray in the oven, the aubergine will be roasted and so I will keep it in the fridge and make an aubergine salad the second day. The aubergine should be roasted until the flesh is soft. Remove the flesh with a spoon, put it in a bowl and diced it roughly. Add chopped onion and chopped tomato, salt, pepper, coriander is also great if you some fresh, if not you can add another aromatic herb you prefer. For the dressing I love a dash of olive oil and squiz some lemon juice on the salad. You can go for other dressings, this salad is also great with pomegranate sauce.