Lebanese Recipes:

It is with food that the Lebanese express their generosity and hospitality. The most casual caller is immediately offered a cup of coffee and even the unexpected visitor is pressed to stay on for an ample meal, which generally consists of a variety of dishes and can always be produced at extremely short notice.

The secret to mastering Lebanese cuisine lies in the preparation and organization of the menu and in the fact that Lebanese dishes store and reheat well.

The Lebanese cook always prepares several dishes in advance and stores the basic mixtures so that they can be combined with other food items to quickly make a full meal. Every household has a constant stock of pickles, olives, cheese, yoghurt, nuts, grain, herbs and spices.

Nearly every part of the raw product is utilized. In fact there is so little wastage that a small selection of raw food is sufficient to create a large variety of substantial dishes.

For example, five substantial meals for four people or an impressive spread for about ten people can be made with a large leg of mutton, ten tomatoes, ten zucchini, crushed wheat, rice, a few eggs, nuts, spices and herbs. To do this, the leg of mutton is boned and a broth made with the bones. The lean part of the meat is then minced and mixed with crushed wheat to make two varieties of kibbi, the national dish. The remainder of the meat is chopped and ground. Half of it is mixed with nuts and used as a filling for the tomatoes. The remaining meat, mixed with rice, is used to stuff scooped out zucchini...

The main meal in Lebanon is usually served in the evening, but on weekends and public holidays it may be eaten at midday. A man meal is always served when guests come to the house, whatever the time of day.

At the beginning of the main meal mezza (hors d'oeuvres) are served with drinks.

Mezza consists of a large variety of nuts, pickles, cheese, and other foods, displayed in small dishes from which it is picked up with the fingers.

Mezza is an important part of the Lebanese social life. It is a leisurely, relaxing period in which eating and drinking is accompanied by congenial conversation...

A light meal is generally a bowl of soup or a cooked vegetable or grain dish, with accompaniments such as cheese, olives, salad vegetables and yoghurt. Sandwiches made from Lebanese bread are also very popular.

Extracts and recipes taken from:
- Anahid Gourmet cookbook
- Dawn, Elaine and Selwa Anthony - Lebanese Cookbook - 1999
- Manoushé - Inside the Street Corner Lebanese Bakery
- Middle Eastern Cuisine, Sima Osman Yassine and Sadouf Kamal
- Mouneh - Preserving Foods for the Lebanese Pantry
- Rayess' Art of Lebanese Cooking
- Green Gold - The story of Lebanese Olive Oil
- Rural taste of Lebanon - Cuisine Libanaise du terroir
- You can do it!
- Simple Cooking Guide to Lebanese and Syrian Cuisine, Mary Elizabeth Sabieh
- Marlene Aleppo Cookbook

- Microwave Combination Cooker - Recipes

- Interesting DVD Film about the Lebanese Cuisine; can be ordered

Click on one of the following links to get the recipe.

▪ Spices and Herbs - Basic Ingredients ▪ Methods of Cooking ▪ Story of Kebbeh

▪ Abbas Cookies
▪ All Bean Soup
▪ Arabic Bread
▪ Artichoke and Cheese
▪ Artichokes Stuffed
▪ Atayef Ashta
▪ Baba Ghannouj
▪ Baked Fish In Tahini Sauce
▪ Baklawa
▪ Beetroot, Tahinah Salad, Olive Oil
▪ Bitter Orange cut into pieces
▪ Bitter Orange preserve
▪ Blend of Wild Flowers
▪ Bouillabaisse Fish Soup
▪ Brains
▪ Bread Sweet Aish Al Saraya
▪ Bur'ghul & Lentil Soup
▪ Carob Cookies
▪ Cauliflower Stew
▪ Cheese Pie
▪ Cheese Roll in Filo Pastry
▪ Chicken With Chick Peas & Rice
▪ Chickpeas with Crumbled Bread in Oil
▪ Cinnamon Tea
▪ Cream cheese, Labneh
▪ Cucumber and Yogurt Salad
▪ Curd Cheese Pie
▪ Curdled milk
▪ Desert mushrooms, Kama
▪ Distilling Arak
▪ Dough Balls Syrup
▪ Dough for Bread
▪ Eggplants and Tomatoes in Oil
▪ Eggplant and Squash Stew
▪ Eggplants and Yoghurt
▪ Emayche Kishk Dish
▪ Fava Bean Stew
▪ Fava beans (Foul modammas)
▪ Fava Beans Rice
▪ Fattoush Peasant Salad
▪ Fish Kibbi
▪ Freezing
▪ Fresh Fava Beans, Lima Beans in Oil
▪ Fried Lamb's Liver
▪ Fried Squash / Cauliflower
▪ Green Bean Stew
▪ Green Thyme Salad
▪ Gundelia Yoghurt
▪ Hareessa or Hrisseh
▪ Holiday Soup
▪ Hoummous Bi Thini
▪ Hommus with Meat (Other Variations)
▪ Jam Tart
▪ Jams and Fruits
▪ Jew's Mallow in Chicken
▪ Kafta On Skewers
▪ Karabeej of Aleppo
▪ Karkadeh Juice
▪ Kibbi B'Zait
▪ Kibbiyet
▪ Kishic Soup
▪ Kishk Pie
▪ Knaafeh String pastry with cheese
▪ Lahem Mishwi
▪ Lamb Spinal Marrow
▪ Lamb Tongue Salad
▪ Lebanese Turkish Coffee
▪ Lentil & Rice Pilaf
▪ Lentil & Spinach Soup
▪ Maamool B'Jowz
▪ Meat Dumpling, Shishbarak
▪ Meat Preserve Pie
▪ Mighlee
▪ Mixtures Pickles
▪ Moughrabia, Lebanese Couscous
▪ Okra in Oil
▪ Oriental Omelette
▪ Paper Thin Bread
▪ Pickled olives
▪ Potato Kibbeh
▪ Potatoes with garlic and coriander
▪ Pumpkin Kibbeh
▪ Pumpkin Soup
▪ Rice Pudding
▪ Salep Sahlab
▪ Sayadieh
▪ Semolina & Yoghourt Slices
▪ Sesame Seed Bread
▪ Shawarma
▪ Spiced Fish
▪ Spicy Raw Kibbeh
▪ Spicy Rice For Fish
▪ Spinach Soup
▪ Spinach Turnovers
▪ Strained Yogurt Pie
▪ String beans in olive oil
▪ Stuffed Cabbage Leaves
▪ Stuffed Grape Leaves
▪ Stuffed Zuchini In Tomato Sauce
▪ Swiss chard with Black-eyed Beans
▪ Tabbouleh
▪ Tamarind Juice
▪ Treacle of Carob Tree, Debs
▪ Vegetable soup
▪ Vegetarian Patties, Falafel
▪ Walnut Chilli Dip
▪ Wheat Sweet Sauce
▪ White Bean Soup
▪ White Sauce
▪ Wild Thyme Pie
▪ Zucchini & Egg Fritters