Lebanese Cuisine
Lebanese Cuisine
Taylor Boulden
Dedication I dedicate this book to my family. From cookies to steak, I’ve learned how to cook from you.
Table of Contents Introduction 6 Lebanese Seven Spices 8 Spicy Potatoe Sauteed 10 Baked Chicken 12 How to Cut a Fish 14 Baked Fish 16 Tahini Paste 18 Tahini Fish 20 Roasted Eggplants 22 Hot Potatoes 24 Spicy Potatoes 26 Credits 28
6
Introduction When I first started researching Lebanese Cuisine I found crucial staples that must be included to truly call the food Lebanese. First, spices; cumin, garlic, ground sumac, and Lebanese Seven Spice (which consists of a mixture of nutmeg, ginger, allspice, fenugreek, cloves, cinnamon, and black pepper). When cooking, in order to make sure all spices are fresh, they should all have a very bright color. Any dull looking colors are probably very old spices and won’t give your food the same flavor. Another essential is olive oil. Most dishes are either grilled, baked, or sautÊed in olive oil. Butter or cream is rarely used in traditional Lebanese cuisine. Vegetables are often eaten raw or pickled. Lemon juice is another frequently used flavor in Lebanon. When it comes to the meat, often fresh fish and seafood is used. Poultry is used more often than red meat. When red meat is consumed, it is often lamb or goat meat in the mountain regions. The most famous dessert is baklava, a good example of how often nuts are used in their desserts. Lebanese cuisine offers a healthier meal paired with powerful flavors and various aromas. All of the following recipes stick to the traditional platters from Lebanon and are made with ingredients that can be found easily. This cookbook breaks down everything you will need right in the beginning so your kitchen can be stocked with all the essentials for every recipe. Enjoy cooking!
9
Labanese Seven Spices ½ cup ground black pepper ½ cup ground cumin ½ cup paprika ¼ cup ground coriander ¼ cup ground cloves 4 tsp ground nutmeg 4 tsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp ground cardamom
Spicy Potato Sauteed with Onions and Tomato Paste
4 Medium Sized Onions
4 Medium Sized Potatoes
½ Cup Olive Oil
⅔ to 1 tsp Salt
1
2
Cut onions vertically. Cut the potatoes into 1 inch squares with a thickness of ½. Make sure the potatoes are small or else they won’t cook fast enough.
Heat the olive oil in a cooking pot. Then cook the onions on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they turn slightly brown. At which point the potatoes and salt.
Serving Tips This dish can be served hot or cold. Traditionally it is served at room temperature after it has rested for a couple hours. Some personally prefer it with the potatoes still a bit hard but it’s all personally preference. You can eat this dish with Lebanese/ pita bread or with just a fork. Serve it with a side of green peppers, green onions, or radish.
½ tsp Tomato Paste
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper or
½ Cup Water
½ tsp Hot Chili Pepper
3 Add the cayenne pepper (or hot chili pepper) and tomato paste to the pot and give it a nice stir.
4 Add the water. Lower the heat and let the potatoes cook and simmer for about 20 minutes. Make sure to stir frequently so they don’t stick to the pot. If you find that the liquid dried out from the pot, you can add ¼ to ½ cup of water.
Baked Chicken with Garlic and Tomatoes
4 lbs Chicken Legs/Breasts
Vinegar
1 Soak the chicken in vinegar for 2 minutes to get rid of the “chickeny� smell. Then rinse the chicken off and dry with a paper towel. Make cuts into the chickens so the garlic sauce can soak in.
4 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Lebanese Seven Spices
2 Dip the chicken in olive oil and rub Lebanese seven spices into the pieces.
13
5 tsp Salt
5 Medium Potatoes
1½ Cloves Garlic
1 Cup Fresh Lemon Juice
3
4
Peel the potatoes and then cut them into disks about ½ inch thick. Lightly salt the potatoes. Place the chicken on bottom of a baking tray and the potatoes on top and bake at 400° F between 40 and 50 minutes or until the chicken is done.
Meanwhile, place garlic and 3 tbsp olive oil in blender and spin for about 5 minutes. Then add lemon juice and spin again. Mix this mixture with the potatoes and chicken when it’s done and broil for 7 minutes. Serve warm.
Place the fish on its side on the cutting board, then take the fish by the tail firmly in your hand and begin cutting the bottom of the belly with a fillet knife. Now slit the stomach from bottom bum to gills below the neck. Note: Some fish have a soft belly that can be easily cut, but most of the time the fish will be tough. Depending on the fish and the knife you use, it will be easier to cut by either ‘sawing,’ or by ‘slicing,’ your way up the belly’s skin. The method shown here is ‘slicing.’ Then cut from the top of the fish’s gills down to the neck bone, then behind the fish’s gills until the gills are free from the fish. Once you’ve cut all the way up the belly to the gills and dislodged the gills, use your fingers to pull out the insides and remove them. Pull up on the loose gills with your fingers, then start pulling down towards the bottom of the fish. All the entrails should come out in one shot as shown here. Note: If the guts don’t all come out at once, do not fret. You can get the rest out when you wash and clean out the fish.
15
How to Cut a Fish Ok, so you have the insides out of your fish now and want to know what to do next. Well you guessed it, wash the fish off of course! Find either a creek, or lake, or even a kitchen sink...any place that you can rinse the fish off. Just take the fish in your hands.... Note: The fish most certainly will be very slippery. That’s ok, just keep grabbing until you’ve got it. Run the fish under the water and scrub out the chest cavity with one of your thumbs until all the extra blood and guts are washed away. Awesome! Now we’re ready to fillet the fish!
Take the fish back to cutting board and lay the fish with the tail facing away from you. Take a sharp fillet knife and cut the head off. Then with your free hand grip the tail of the fish firmly. Begin where the gills were between the neck bone and the meat, then hold knife flat and start cutting up along the backbone of the fish towards the tail of the fish. The cut should end before you get to the back fin as shown in this picture. Now just remove top fillet and repeat cutting along the backbone on the other side. Now take your fillet knife and make a cut at the back end of the fillet and slice at a angel between the skin and the meat until the skin is removed.
Baked Fish with Sumac and Oregano Spices
3 lbs Fresh Fish
5 tsp Salt
2 Lemons
1 Sweet Red Pepper
7 tsp Ground Oregano
1 Rinse the fish with water then place in baking tray and rub with a bit of salt and about 2 tsp ground oregano.
1 Green Pepper
2 Place cut slices of lemon into the baking sheet and cook the fish for about 20 minutes at 350째 F. Meanwhile chop the green and red pepper into small cubes.
17
1 Garlic Head
2 tsp Ground Cilantro
5 tsp Olive Oil
7 tsp Quality Sumac
3 Mix crushed garlic with lemon juice and the peppers. Add a pinch of oregano, the ground cilantro, and the sumac. This should make a red paste.
4 Add olive oil to the paste. When the fish is done, cover it with the paste. You don’t have to mix it, it will naturally seep through. Bake again for about 10 minutes. Serve hot or cold.
Tahini Paste
1 Cup Sesame Seeds
1 Heat a clean, dry cast iron pot over medium heat and add the sesame seeds. Stir frequently until they begin to turn golden brown. Be careful sesame seeds burn very easily. Once they’re cool after a few minutes, add them to a food processor.
3 tbsp Virgin Olive Oil
2 Start by adding the olive oil. Process the mixture into a paste while scraping down the sides. Add more olive oil until you’ve reached the desired consistency.
Tahini Fish with Lebanese Spice
4 lbs Fresh Fish
Olive Oil
1 Cup Pine Nuts
17 Garlic Cloves
1
2
Rub fish with white vinegar and a pinch of salt in order to tame any smell. Rub the fish with olive oil and some fresh lemon juice. Place fish on olive oil greased baking tray and cook at 300° F for 20 to 25 minutes.
In small pan mix the pine nuts with 2 tbsp olive oil and cook on medium heat for about 3 minutes or until light brown. Crush or mince the garlic and add to a pot with 1½ cups lemon juice.
21
1 tsp Hot Chili Pepper
2 tbsp Salt
Water
3
4
Add the chili pepper, salt, 4 cups of water, and 1 cup of Tahini paste to the pot. Heat on stove on medium/high heat, stirring constantly.
If the sauce is too thick, add more water and lemon juice until it has a liquid consistency. Bring the sauce to a boil and add the pine nuts. Once the fish is done, cover it with the Tahini sauce. Serve hot.
Roasted Eggplants with Garlic and Tahini
5 Medium Eggplants
1 Freshly Squeezed Lemon
1 Roast the eggplants in the oven on medium heat for about 30 minutes. While they’re still hot, peel them and discard as many of the seeds as you can. Strain the water from the eggplants. Add eggplants and lemon juice to a food processor.
3 Garlic Cloves
1 tbsp White Vinegar
2 Add garlic, white vinegar, 5 tbsp Tahini paste, and a pinch of salt to the food processor and let run for 2 to 3 minutes until you get a paste. Serve cold as an appetizer with pita bread.
Hot Potatoes with Garlic
1 Garlic Head
1½ Freshly Squeezed Lemon
1 Grind the garlic, lemon juice, and â…“ tsp salt in food processor and blend for 2 minutes,
5 tbsp Olive Oil
4 Medium Sized Potatoes
2 Add the olive oil and process for another 3 to 5 minutes. After that, boil the potatoes for 15 to 20 minutes, preferably leaving the centers a bit crunchy and not fully cooked.
â…” tsp Cayenne Pepper
3 Strain the potatoes and cut into disks of â…” inch. Lay a layer of potatoes on a serving plate, cover it with garlic sauce and repeat. Sprinkle the cayenne pepper on the potatoes. Serve hot.
Tangy Potatoes with Garlic
2 lbs Small Potatoes
12 Garlic Cloves
⅓ Cup Olive Oil
⅓ to ½ Cup Lemon Juice
1
2
Rinse the potatoes. Keep the skin on and deep fry them in your favorite oil. Meanwhile in a garlic crusher, crush the garlic adding a hint of salt.
Slowly start to add a little bit of olive oil, then lemon, alternating until you’ve added all the liquids. When the potatoes are done, soak them in the garlic sauce for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve hot.
28
Credits Typefaces: Bembo Meta Serif OT Aachen Recipes:
Esperance Sammour from Mama’s Lebanese Kitchen
Photos: Isabelle Puaut Rudolf Vl Cek Rayan M. Photograpy Hazel Evans Chiot Run Photography Farmanac Photography