Combine the rice powder, sugar, cinnamon powder, caraway powder, and anise powder in a large pot.
Add 8 cups of water to the pot and mix well to combine all the ingredients.
Cooking:
Place the pot over medium heat and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar and prevent clumping.
Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently for about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. The consistency should resemble that of rice pudding.
Continue cooking until the mixture thickens, ensuring it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Stirring is essential to achieve a smooth texture.
Serve:
Please remove it from the heat once the Meghli has reached the desired consistency. Pour the mixture into small cups or serving bowls.
Allow the Meghli to cool to room temperature, then transfer the cups to the refrigerator to chill for at least a few hours or until set.
Garnish:
Before serving, garnish each serving of Meghli with shredded coconut, soaked and drained walnuts, almonds, and pine nuts.
Does it really need an introduction? I could perhaps list the various ways people spell the “best salad in the world”, but I haven’t met anyone so far who hasn’t heard of tabbouleh! Whether it’s tabouleh, tabbouleh, tabouli, taboli, or any other variation… the taste and the aroma and the nutritious value are still the same!
I always get asked for a recipe for tabbouleh, but to be honest, I’ve never really followed a recipe… to me, it’s a lot of parsley, a lot of tomatoes, a bit of mint, finely chopped onions, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper… give it a good mix, get the hubby and the kids to taste test… remind them that this is only a taste test and not a feast! (and then chop some more to refill the bowl in preparation for dinner after all the tasting and the adjustments!).
It is so easy to make, and although it’s made out of very simple ingredients, it is still relatively versatile. The traditional Tabbouleh is made with Italian parsley, fresh mint, truss tomatoes, brown onion, bulgur wheat, lemon juice, lemon zest, olive oil, and seasoning to taste. But I’ve seen (and I’ve made) some tabbouleh with variations in the ingredients such as curly parsley, spring onion or red onion, lime juice, and quinoa as a replacement for bulgur.
Tabbouleh (Taboli)
The national disk of Lebanon, a super healthy and very easy salad to make. Tastes amazing all year around.
1/4cupBulgur (fine cracked wheat, also called Borghol)
1/4cuplemon juice
or 1/4 cupSour grape juice
1/4cup Extra virgin olive oil
Method
Before you start preparing the vegetables, soak 1/4 cup fine bulgur with the lemon juice for about 10 minutes. This enhances the flavour of the tabbouleh.
Wash all the vegetables in clean cold water, and dry them.To finely chop the parsley, bunch them together and slice through them with a sharp knife, then rock the knife back and forth to cut the parsley more finely.Finely chop the mint, add them to the bowl.Finely dice the tomatoes, add them to the bowl.
Finely dice the onion, and then rock the sharp knife back and forth to cut them into smaller cubes. After chopping the onion, season it with the salt and black pepper and sprinkle the sumak on top, then rub it with your hand to enhance its aroma and to soften it. Add them to the bowl.
Add the soaked bulgur and olive oil to the bowl and mix very well. Taste and adjust the seasoning to taste, you could also add more lemon juice if you like.
Place the bowl in the fridge and serve it with pomegranate molasses.
This super delicious dish not only looks good but tastes amazing too. It does take quite a long cooking time, but to be fair it’s relatively easy to make because all you have to do is set aside some time for prep, then place it in the oven for about 1 hour and a half and it’ll slowly develop delicious flavours while you could be off doing something else.
When the cooking’s done and your kitchen and home (and possibly your entire neighbourhood) are filled with the appetizing smell of your lamb roast, all you need to do is prepare your carving set and carve away!
To cook a succulent lamb roast, you could either use lamb shoulder or lamb leg. Both would turn up nice and juicy, however, the lamb leg is nicer because it has more meat so will be easier to carve and yields bigger pieces of meat.
To prep the meat, make small incisions using a sharp knife all over the meat to create small cavities (remember to turn it over and make incisions in the back as well).
Fill the cavities with rosemary and peeled garlic (if your garlic is too large you could slice them and use garlic slivers instead). When you’re done, rub the meat all over generously with olive oil, and then add salt and pepper. You can also sprinkle some dried thyme on top.
It’s best you let it marinate overnight in the fridge however if you’re unable to do it then you can still roast it after marinating. Let it sit for about an hour at room temperature then roast it.
(Note: If you wish to marinate overnight, wrap the meat tightly in film and place it in the fridge.)
When you’re ready to cook the meat, place the roast on a roasting tray placed inside a large baking tray. This will allow you to collect the juices of the roast in the baking tray and you might wish to cook with them, make a gravy, or discard them at the end of the roasting.
I like to roast some onions, garlic, and potatoes in the lamb juices, so I usually add them underneath the lamb, inside the baking tray.
Place your roast in an oven pre-heated to 200 °C, and let it roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes for medium. Increase the cooking time by 15 minutes or more to achieve your desired doneness of the meat if you don’t like to serve it and eat it pink. When the cooking time has finished, turn on the broiler in your oven and let the roast sit there for about 5 minutes (Make sure you’re watching it the whole time though to prevent the meat from burning!). This step is very important because it’ll allow the top layer of the roast to crisp up and change into a beautiful golden colour.
Take the roast out of the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before serving. Take out the roasted potatoes, garlic and onions from the roasting pan and drain off any excess fat while the meat is resting.
To serve, carve the meat with a sharp carving knife and cut thin slices of the meat. Serve alongside the roasted potatoes and garlic and onions. Bon appétit!
Lamb Leg / Shoulder Roast (Gigot)
Succulent and juicy oven roasted lamb leg or lamb shoulder
3-4SprigsFresh Rosemary (can substitute with dried rosemary)
Method
To prep the meat, make small incisions using a sharp knife all over the meat to create small cavities (remember make incisions in the back of the meat as well).
Fill the cavities with rosemary and peeled garlic (slice the garlic into slivers if it's too large), then rub the meat with olive oil and add salt and pepper.
You may want to sprinkle some dried thyme on top.
Let the meat sit for about an hour at room temperature before roasting it. You could also marinate the meat overnight by wrapping it in film and placing in the fridge.
If you marinate the meat overnight, take it out of the fridge and let it sit a couple of hours at room temperature before roasting it.
To cook the meat, carefully put the roast on a roasting tray placed inside a large baking tray. This will allow you to collect the juices of the roast in the baking tray and you might wish to cook with them, make a gravy, or discard at the end of the roasting.
Cut the onions in half, add the unpeeled garlic cloves and potatoes under the lamb's roasting tray so they roast in the lamb juices.
Place your roast in an oven pre-heated to 200 °C, and let it roast for 1 hour and 30 minutes for medium. Increase the cook time by 15 minutes or more to achieve your desired doneness of the meat if you don't like to serve it and eat it pink.
When the cook time has finished, turn on the broiler in your oven and roast for about 5 more mins (Make sure you're watching it the whole time though to prevent the meat from burning!).
Take the roast out of the oven when the top is crispy and golden. Let it rest for 15 minutes before serving. Take out the roasted potatoes, garlic and onions from the roasting pan and drain off any excess fat while the meat is resting.
To serve, carve the meat with a sharp carving knife and cut thin slices of the meat. Serve alongside the roasted potatoes and garlic and onions. Bon appétit!
This dish is one of my childhood favourites, and the first couple of times I made it for my kids they absolutely loved it, now they constantly ask for it so I find myself cooking it as often as once every fortnight.
You’re going to love this dish, yes it’s relatively easy to make but it’s packed full of flavour. There’s the sweetness of the peas, the richness of the sauce, and the tasty spices, you can taste it all in this moreish dish.
I start by prepping the ingredients – the picture below summarizes the ingredient list (Salt, sweet paprika, turmeric, seven spices, garlic, onions, carrots, and frozen green peas), and we will need to add the lamb cubes. You could also substitute the lamb with beef meat if you prefer.
Worth noting that the original recipe calls for the use of tomato paste, however, the high acidity of this particular ingredient has been triggering acid reflux in some of my family members, so I choose to omit it where I can and find a replacement for it. For my recipe, I’m using a teaspoon of sweet paprika instead of tomato paste, its subtle flavour and beautiful colour enhance the taste and the appearance of the dish by slightly colouring the sauce.
Also, turmeric is optional in this recipe, it certainly did not feature in the traditional Lebanese recipe, however, I like to sneak in a teaspoon or so of freshly grated or thinly sliced turmeric where I can! It’s a good anti-inflammatory and antioxidant source, and if used in small quantities it won’t really change the taste of the dish! You might want to wear some gloves though before you handle turmeric because it’ll taint your finger/fingernails for a couple of days! My little son got really worried the first time he looked at my orangy-fingers and asked me if we need to get the doctor to check them out, but now he smiles each time he sees them and asks me if I’ve been chopping “tchumic” (his own cute way of pronouncing Turmeric!)
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter on medium heat until the butter melts. We combine the olive oil with the butter to prevent the butter from burning.
Fry the onions, stirring constantly, for about 4 – 5 minutes until they soften, then add the garlic and fry for a minute or 2.
Add the meat cubes, season with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of the Seven Spices mix. Sear the meat on all sides, while stirring regularly to prevent it from burning.
Add the lamb bones (if using) to the pan, along with the remaining tablespoon of seven spices and sear well and keep stirring to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
Add the sliced fresh carrots and mix to coat with the spices, then add water to the pan to cover the meat and bones, bring to a boil then gently simmer on medium-low heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When the sauce thickens a bit and the meat is falling off the bones, add the green peas for 5 minutes on medium heat, then take off the heat.
NOTE: Using bones in the pan will yield a richer and more flavorful dish. You could discard these before serving or you could serve them if they contain meat or marrow, but if you prefer not to use them altogether then you can use beef or chicken stock instead of the water in the previous step.
600gramsLamb meat cut into cubes (you could also use Beef if you prefer)
400gramsGreen Peas (frozen, or fresh)
2tbspSeven Spices mix
1tspSweet paprika (Optional)
1tbspTomato Paste
1tspFresh turmeric (very thinly diced)
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter on medium heat until the butter melts. We combine the olive oil with the butter to prevent the butter from burning.
Fry the onions, stirring constantly, for about 4 – 5 minutes until they soften, then add the garlic and fry for a minute or 2.
Add the meat cubes, season with salt and pepper and a tablespoon of the Seven Spices mix. Sear the meat on all sides, while stirring regularly to prevent it from burning.
Add the lamb bones (if using) to the pan, along with the remaining tablespoon of seven spices and sear well and keep stirring to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning.
Add the sliced fresh carrots and mix to coat with the spices, then add water to the pan to cover the meat and bones, bring to the boil then gently simmer on medium-low heat for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
When the sauce thickens a bit and the meat is falling off the bones, add the green peas for 5 minutes on medium heat, then take off the heat.
Okay, I’ll be honest – This dish is up there with my all-time favourite dishes! It’s quick, cheap, easy to make, uses very few ingredients, is excellent for those after-work quick meals, and is so packed full of flavour and simply D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s! Yet I can never justify paying for it at a restaurant… Now that I can produce a beautiful home-cooked pasta dish in under 15 minutes and adjust the ingredients to our liking, I tend to find the restaurant dishes significantly lacking in flavour (and in colour!)
Follow the steps below to whip up this beautiful dish in no time and I promise it’ll make its way up into the list of your favourite dishes too… unless of course if you’re on a low-carb diet or you don’t like garlic!
The prep for this dish is quite easy and quick. You’ll need some pasta (I like to make it with Spaghetti, it works just as well with tagliatelle or any other pasta shape of your choice). You’ll also need to thinly slice some garlic (and chillies, if you like to spice it up!)
If you’re like me and always end up having either too much pasta or too little pasta and have to boil some more, then you could use a pasta serving size measuring tool. Mine is a wooden tool and I find it quite handy when making this dish for a few people.
Start off by boiling some water in a large pan, salt it generously and add a few drops of olive oil into the boiling water. This prevents the pasta from sticking together while cooking. You really need the pasta to boil a bit until it slightly softens up but is still “al dente”. We will continue the cooking process in the frying pan, to allow it to soak up the flavours of the garlic-infused olive oil.
While the pasta is boiling, add the olive oil to the pan on medium-high heat for a minute, then lower the heat to medium and add the sliced garlic. If you’re like me and love some chilli in your food, you can thinly slice your chillies and throw them in with the garlic to flavour the oil.
Gently fry the garlic in the olive oil to flavour it
If you like spicy food, add the thinly sliced chillies with the garlic.
Add some of the pasta water into the oil when the garlic is nice and golden, this is very important because it stops the garlic from cooking further in the oil. I usually add 3 ladles full of water into the oil, and then scoop the pasta and toss it in the garlic oil, when the pasta has cooked for a few minutes and is still al dente.
Add about 3 lades full of the pasta water into the garlic oil to stop it from cooking further
When the pasta has boiled for a few minutes but is still al dente, toss it into the garlic oil
Cook the pasta on medium-low heat, until it’s cooked to your liking. Keep stirring it gently, then add salt and fresh pepper to taste. You can also add some freshly grated parmesan and incorporate it with the pasta at this stage, but this step is optional.
When the pasta is cooked to your liking, add some fresh parsley and toss through to incorporate them. This not only gives a beautiful colour to the dish but also adds a subtle fresh flavour too to cut through the richness of the dish.
To plate up, put the pasta in a bowl, and add some fresh cracked pepper and some grated parmesan. Et voilà, bon appétit!
Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Garlic and Olive Oil pasta)
To prepare this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
Fresh chilli or dried chilli flakes (or both!) – Optional
1bunchParsley, thinly cut
1/2cupParmesan (shaved or finely grated)
Instructions
Bring salted water to the boil in a saucepan, add a tablespoon of olive oil, then cook the pasta.
Check the packet instructions for the type of pasta you're using, as it needs to come out of the boiling water 'al dente' and continue cooking in the frypan for extra flavour.
While the pasta is boiling, place a frypan on medium heat, add the olive oil and sauté the garlic slices (and chillies, if using) in the olive oil. The aim is to flavour the oil, while gently toasting the garlic slices without burning them.
Add a ladle of the pasta water into the oil (careful with this step as the oil would be hot and would splash a bit when you add the water). This step is important to stop the garlic from frying any further.
Remove the pasta from the boiling water, while still firm ('al dente'), and toss into the frypan with the olive oil and the garlic, adding more water if needed to coat the pasta.
Lower the heat a bit and gently cook the pasta in the frypan, tossing it frequently to prevent burning.
When the pasta is cooked to your liking, add the parmesan, and salt and pepper to taste and mix well to allow the parmesan to melt.
Add the thinly cut parsley to the pan and mix it in with the pasta.
Remove from the heat, divide into 2 plates.
Sprinkle with more parmesan, freshly ground pepper, and extra chilli flakes (if using).
