Maha Salah, Middle East Monitor

Libyan Imbakbaka Winter is definitely the season for comfort food and I am always trying to think of really hearty and delicious meals that are quick and easy to make, but also very flavourful. One of my favourite dishes is a Libyan dish called Imbakbaka. This rich and tomatoey stew filled with meat and pasta is perfect if you're looking for something that screams instant warmth! […]

Karabeej Halab Whenever I visit Jordan, I make a point of finding the carts that sell Karabeej Halab dotted around the Balad or downtown. There is nothing like these warm fried strips of dough that are soaked in syrup, so super crispy on the outside and soft and syrupy on the inside! They are super nostalgic and the ultimate street food. In all these years, I […]

Taita’s shorbet ayaneen (Rice and meatball soup) So many of us think of chicken noodle soup as the best medicine for a cold and while I grew up with chicken noodle soup, I also grew up with what my grandma called "shorbet ayaneen" which translates to "the soup of the sick"! It is perfect when you need something warm and comforting and the rice is great […]

Fasooliya Bayda I feel like every home has some dishes that signal the approach of winter. At my house, it isn't winter until we've made traditional Middle Eastern stews, like Fasooliya, Bamiyeh, and Zahra bi Laban. This stew with Fasooliya Bayda, or cannellini beans, is definitely a winter staple in our home and has been my daughters' favourite since they were babies! Versions of this stew […]

Sfeeha (Meat pies) I was always a little intimidated or hesitant to make dough and I know I am not alone in this. I absolutely love eating fatayer, or Middle Eastern pasties, but would have them at relatives' and friends' homes rather than make them myself. This past year, I decided to bite the bullet and learn to make them myself, and let me tell you, […]

Muhalabiya with figs Figs are such an amazing fruit and I miss visiting my grandparents’ house and picking the juicy and sweet as honey figs from their trees. Their trees produced so many figs that we ended up making fig jam, which would last us all year and remind us of just how delicious the figs were! This year I couldn’t visit my grandparents, so I […]

You've been served: Harra Osbao Levantine cuisine is known for being delicious and for its literal names, which usually tell you what’s in the dish or how it is made. However, another thing it is known for, especially Syrian cuisine, is its funny names. This dish, Harra Osbao, is one of them and they usually have a story behind them. There are a couple of different […]

Many people associate autumn with pumpkins: pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin pie, cupcakes, cookies and so much more. I love all of those things, but when I think of autumn, I think of pumpkin mutabbal! Yes, I know, you are thinking mutabbal with pumpkin, not aubergine? Yes, and it is absolutely amazing! The word mutabbal originates from the Arabic word “tabbala” which means to season, and that […]

Just as Middle Easterners love to stuff things, we also like to layer them with bread and yogurt and turn anything into fatteh! Fatteh comes from the Arabic verb “fatta” which means to shred. This refers to the torn bread that forms the base of any fatteh. This chicken version is made across the Levant in so many different ways and it differs from each family. […]

I absolutely love feeding people. It is a passion of mine and the main reason I love to cook. There is nothing like seeing the smile on people’s faces when they are enjoying something I have made for them. But, from time to time, I like to enjoy something someone has made for me, and this is one of the most delicious desserts I have had […]

So, if you haven’t already noticed, there is kind of a running theme when it comes to the names of many Middle Eastern dishes. The name often describes what is in the meal and this is the case for this dish. Bayd o bazayla translates to eggs and peas and there is little more added to the dish. The beauty of it lies in its simplicity […]

Kousa mahshi, translating to stuffed courgettes, is one of those super comforting dishes that most people love and the one they love the most is usually their mum’s or their grandma’s. Growing up, I always thought that everyone had mahshi the same way we did, until one day I went to my friend’s house and had mahshi that was made in a red tomato sauce. I […]

Making ma’amoul is a family and friends affair. Mothers, daughters, sisters, cousins, or friends come together and form a sort of assembly line, with some forming the date balls, others making dough balls, some filling them, some shaping them and the all-important person who stands by the oven and makes sure the ma’amoul doesn’t burn! Hundreds of cookies are made and distributed to the families of […]

Do you ever crave a food you’ve never even tried and have only seen on TV? It may sound strange, but I do! I like to watch Kuwaiti dramas from time to time and I watched a pretty popular one on Netflix and all I could focus on was this cake they kept talking about. I finally caved in and looked it up and I am […]

Growing up in America in the nineties, we didn’t have too many choices for anything Middle Eastern. For example, we had one Arabic television channel, and in Ramadan, there was one Ramadan series at 9pm. I remember we would all gather around the television from 9-10 to watch whatever series the Arabic channel deemed worthy that year and we loved it regardless of what it was […]

We mostly associate stews with a warm bowl of goodness eaten on a cold winter’s day, but what if I told you that I had the perfect stew for summer! As the Arabic saying goes “Warmth is good, even in the middle of summer”. This potato and chicken stew gives you that hug in a bowl you crave in the winter, without the risk of overheating. […]

Lentils are so versatile and are used in most cuisines around the world. They are one of those things we always have in our pantries but a lot of the time we end up using them to make the same recipes over and over again. Today we’re going to add two more lentil recipes that are useful to have up our sleeves, especially at a time […]

How many times have you craved something sweet or were you in the mood to bake, but didn’t have the ingredients? This has happened to me countless times and we used to have the luxury of running out to the shop and quickly picking up whatever we needed, but nowadays, things aren’t as easy. Don’t worry, I can almost guarantee you have the ingredients for this […]