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Stuffed Zucchini are usually accompanied by stuffed grape leaves, but since I already posted the stuffed grape leaves in tomato sauce, I've decided to give credit to the bellpepper this time ;)
Serves 4-5
1 pound of small zucchini
3 green bellpepper
1 can of tomato sauce
1 teaspoon of butter
A couple of bay leaves and a couple of cinnamon sticks
About 4 cups of water

Filling:
1 cup of white long or short grain rice
1/2 pound of minced meat
1 small tomato
1 onion
1 tablespoon allspice
1 teaspoon of salt

- Wash the rice and drain then put in a bowl. Dice the tomato and onion and add to the bowl, then add the minced meat and the spices as well as salt and mix the ingredients together.
- Cut the heads of the zucchini and empty them (there is a special tool that empties zucchini, usually dounf in middle eastern stores). Wash hem and turn them upside down to drain. Now, cut the in a way to make it look like having a lid (as it shows in the photo, don't completely detach the lid. Empty the inside, then wash them and let them drain too, then start stuffing the bellpepper and zucchini. Allow room for the rice to expand, so stuff them for about halfway each. Transfer the stuffed vegetables to the cooking pot adding the water, cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Cook on medium-high for about 15 minutes, remove the white foam that comes out of them. When the water is half way evaporated, add the tomato sauce and the spoon of butter and reduce the heat and cook for about another 15 minutes. If you feel that the sauce needs to be more thickened, then stir 1 teaspoon of flour in a 1/3 of a cup of water and add while stirring the sauce. Serve with any king of salad or with plain yogurt. (Don't forget to remove the bay leaves and the cinnamon sticks before serving).
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Finally I'm back!!!! Gosh it's been a long vacation, but now I'm back to cooking and blogging!
Fatteh is a dish that has fried or toasted bread in it, as well as plain yogurt (or as we call it: Laban). We have several kinds of Fatteh not only in Lebanon but in the Arab world too, like Eggplant Fatteh, Chicken Fatteh etc... This one that I choose today has no meat in it, it has whole chickpeas (or hommos as we call it).
This recipe serves 4-5
Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas (about 400g) (or soak chickpeas overnight then cook them)
1 container of plain yogurt (about 900g)
Flat bread (about 3)
Vegetable oil
2 handful of pine nuts
2 tablespoons of crushed fresh garlic
1 cup of fresh chopped parsley
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

- Put some vegetable oil in the pan and fry the bread until it's golden, then remove and transfer to a paper towel to drain. (Another option for less calories, is to brush the bread with olive oil and toast it in the oven or microwave). Once the bread cools off, break it into medium pieces and place in the serving dish. Add the chickpeas on top. In a pan, place about 2 tablespoons of olive oil, garlic and pine nuts and roast them until brown, add salt & pepper to taste. Now add some salt to the yogurt and stir then add it on top of the toasted bread and the chickpeas. Then add the roasted garlic and pine nuts, then sprinkle the parsley on top and serve immediately while the bread is still crunchy.
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Being in Lebanon for the last few weeks has been keeping me from posting recipes. Time just flies here and I am not cooking during my vacation, but I will cook and post some recipes very soon and while I'm still here. Meanwhile, here's a photo of a kind of Lebanese sweet that we were having the other night after dinner with some friends. It's called "KARABEEJ", these are pistachios stuffed cookies like "Maamoul" and you dip them with a specially prepared cream called "NATEF". This kind of dipping cream is not easy to make at home, I would say very difficult to get the main ingredient to prepare it called "soapwart", so everybody here buys this kind of dessert or sweet, or if the cookies are prepared at home, the cream can be bought seperately from the sweet shops or Patisseries. I found a recipe on the net they call it "Karabeej Aleppo" so maybe the origin of this dessert came from Syria. Here's the recipe link just in case anybody would like to give it a try, the site is Discover Lebanon
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I want to thank "Ya Salam Cooking" blogger Noor for passing this award to me, and now I would like to pass it to seven other fantastic blogs and sites:
- Leftover Queen
- Farida's Azerbaijani Cookbook
- Canary Girl
- Culinary Couture
- Fig and Cherry
- Mediterranen Cooking in Alaska
Fellow awarded bloggers please pass it to 7 or more blogs or sites.
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The recipe of preparing hommus is already listed among my previous recipe. Now for the meat and pine nuts topping you'll need:
- Lean minced meat (1 cup)
- Pine nuts (about 1/3 cup)
- Olive oil (or vegetabl oil, which ever you like, about 2 tablespoons
- Finely chopped onions, about 2 tablespoons
- Salt & pepper to taste, and a pinch of allspice (optional)
In a skillet on medium-high, add oil and pine nuts. when the pine nuts start to brown, add the onions, mix and cook for about a minute then add the minced meat and mix them all together and keep cooking until the meat is fully cooked. Serve over the hommus along with pita bread.
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Meghli is a kind of Lebanese rice pudding prepared in special occasions especially when a baby is born. It is a tradition to serve it to guests and friends when they come to offer their congratulations. It is also served on Christmas Eve's dinner along with the Yule Log. Most people nowadays prepare it all the time not only on occasions.

Serves 7-8 (of the same size of the serving bowl shown in the photo)

Ingredients:
1 cup of rice flour
1 cup of sugar
8 cups of water
1 tbsp of ground caraway seeds
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground anis seeds

For the topping:
Raw almonds, pistachios, walnuts and coconut flakes.

In the cooking pot, add the cups of water, rice flour, whisk or stirr until desolved, then add the sugar until it desolves too. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium heat. Add the spices: caraway, cinnamon, anis seeds. The pudding can easily stick so you can't leave it. Stirr until it thickens then transfer into the serving bowls and let it cool. Meanwhile, add water to the alomds and pistachios and let them sit until they soften (about half to an hour or so). Before serving the pudding, top it with coconut flakes, then almonds and pistachios then serve. Or you can decorate the bowls and leave them in the refrigerator.
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This is my easy version of Siyyadiyeh. The traditional version is a little bit more complicated and requires using whole fish, where you bake it and then remove the head and bones and boil them with water and spices to obtain fish broth. In this version, I make it with fish fillets and use ready fish broth. Therefore, I don't deal with bones nor a longer cooking time.

Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
1 pound of Whiting fish fillets (or Tilapia)
2 cups of white long rice
2 cups of fish broth (or any other broth you like)
2 onions, cut in half and sliced
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1/2 cup of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of allspice
1/2 cup of Olive oil
1/2 cup of vegetable oil (I prefer canola)
Salt & pepper to taste

For the sauce:
1 teaspoon of butter
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of flour
1 cup of fish broth
Juice of half a lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

Take the fish fillets and coat them with a mixture of flour, cumin and salt & pepper, set them aside. In a pan, add the vegetable oil and cook the fish on both sides and let drain the oil on a paper towel.
In another pan, add olive oil and the onions. Cook the onions until they are brown. remove from the oil and add the pine nuts to the oil until golden then also remove and transfer on a paper towel to drain the oil.
- In a pot, add the 2 cups of fish broth bring to a boil and then add the browned onions, cook on medium for a couple of minutes and then add the rice with 2 cups of water. Then add the cumin, allspice, salt & pepper, and let it simmer and cook.
Meanwhile prepare the sauce, in a sauce pan, add the butter, then the flour, mix until the flour obtain the roue, then add the broth, cumin, lemon juice, salt, pepper, stir and bring to a boil until it thickens.
Serve the cooked rice with pine nuts on top as well as the fish fillets and top them with the sauce. Any salad is good with it too.

PS: You also have the option to bake or broil the fish fillets but then you skip the flour and cumin coating and you spice them and drizzle some olive oil.
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This is the Lebanese style of making Chili served over rice with vermicelli.

Serves 4-5
Ingredients:
1 onion chopped
Half a pound of lean stew meat
4 sliced cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of butter
2 cups of tomato sauce
Juice of 1 small lemon
1 cup of fresh cilantro
1 cup of red beans soaked overnight and cooked
1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

For the rice:
2 cups of white long grain rice
1/2 cup of vermicelli
1 teaspoon of butter
1 cup of meat stock or chicken bouillon (optional)

In a pan, add the chopped onions, butter, stew meat, salt and pepper. After the meat had browned and the onions cooked, add the garlic then cook for another few minutes then add 1 cup of water and the tomato sauce and slow cook the stew for 15 minutes. Add the beans and then the cilantro in addition to the lemon juice and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the stew is cooking you can prepare the rice:
In another pan, add butter then the vermicelli until they turn brown, then add the rice and 3 cups of water and 1 cup of stock, bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer until the rice is cooked and the water is absorbed. (Do not stir the rice more then twice so it doesn't get lumpy).

Serve the Chili with the rice.
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I love dandelions! They are very healthy so when I see them at the store I can't help myself. The ones I found this time were very soft and not bitter at all so I decided to make a small fresh salad. This canm be served with pretty much any meal.

Ingredients (very simple):
Washed, drained and chopped dandelions, some chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, lemon juice, olive oil, half a teaspoon of sumac spice, salt & pepper to taste.

Place the chopped dandelions in a bowl, then add the tomatoes. I add the sumac spice along with the salt to the onion and mix them all together then add them to the salad. Drizzle the mixed olive oil and lemon juice, then finally add the black pepper.
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There's nothing better than a simple smoothie after a long hot day!

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:
1 cup of ice
1 cup of frozen watermelon
1 cup of frozen papaya
1 cup of fresh strawberries
1 6oz fat free vanilla yogurt

Put all the ingredients in a smoothie maker or a mixer, once everything is pureed together, pour into glasses and voila!
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Moi!

authorHello, my name is MAG. I've been running this blog since 2007. Follow me on Social Media!!!
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