Classic Lebanese cuisine: 170 fresh and healthy Mediterranean favorites

261 Pages·2009·16.93 MB·English

by  Kamal Al-Faqih

Classic
Lebanese
columnist Nora Boustany
Cuisine
Pomegranate-Beef Crescents • Hummus with Minced Lamb and Pine Nuts
Dandelion Salad with Yogurt • Farmer’s Salad with Tahini Dressing
Cardamom Chicken, Lamb, or Beef with Rice • Red Snapper with Caramelized
Cumin Rice • Jute Mallow and Garlic-Cilantro Stew with Lamb (or Beef)
Basmati Rice with Cumin, Lentils, and Onion • Eggplant Moussaka
Roasted Onion-Cumin Potato Spears • Stewed Okra and Cilantro in Olive Oil
170 Fresh and Healthy
Lentil Soup with Ruby Swiss Chard and Lemon • Miniature Meatball Soup
Mediterranean
Baklava • Glazed Anise Fingers • Sweet Semolina Yogurt Cakes
Favorites
CHEF KAMAL AL-FAQIH
Guilford, Connecticut • www.GlobePequot.com
T
he cuisine of Lebanon epitomizes the best of
the Mediterranean diet, which is esteemed
for its health beneits. Abounding in a wealth of
heart-healthy ingredients—including fresh veg-
etables, grains, herbs, and spices; poultry; lamb;
yogurt; and olive oil—it yields meals replete with
columnist Nora Boustany
robust, earthy lavors. In Classic Lebanese Cuisine,
a leading chef presents 170 dazzling recipes that
relect the full breadth of authentic Lebanese cui-
sine. Many recipes include several variations, giv-
ing you the option of preparing a vegetarian dish
or adding chicken, lamb, or beef.
Featuring favorites such as baba ghannouj, tab-
bouli, and kibbi, and a large variety of Lebanese
classics ranging from entrees to hors d’oeuvres,
Pomegranate-Beef Crescents • Hummus with Minced Lamb and Pine Nuts
salads, desserts, and side dishes, this book also
presents Chef Kamal Al-Faqih’s signature dishes.
From London broil layered with garlic yogurt and
Dandelion Salad with Yogurt • Farmer’s Salad with Tahini Dressing
pita, to heart-healthy ire-roasted wheat with
lamb, he developed these singularly sumptu-
Cardamom Chicken, Lamb, or Beef with Rice • Red Snapper with Caramelized ous recipes over two decades as the preeminent
Cumin Rice • Jute Mallow and Garlic-Cilantro Stew with Lamb (or Beef)
Mediterranean caterer in the Washington, D.C.,
area. Feedback from clients, friends, and family
allowed him to focus on each dish individually
Basmati Rice with Cumin, Lentils, and Onion • Eggplant Moussaka
Roasted Onion-Cumin Potato Spears • Stewed Okra and Cilantro in Olive Oil and reine the ingredients and lavors. And, more
recently, he devoted two years to further perfect-
Lentil Soup with Ruby Swiss Chard and Lemon • Miniature Meatball Soup ing these recipes—for this book.
Accompanied by full-color photographs
Baklava • Glazed Anise Fingers • Sweet Semolina Yogurt Cakes
throughout, and with step-by-step instructions,
Classic Lebanese Cuisine—linked to the Web
site cookingwithkamal.com, where you can ind
complementary information—makes Lebanese
cuisine accessible to everyone who seeks to pre-
pare it for the irst time or reproduce their favorite
Guilford, Connecticut • www.GlobePequot.com lavors and dishes.
CCllaassssiicc LLeebbaanneessee CCuuiissiinnee

CCllaassssiicc
LLeebbaanneessee CCuuiissiinnee
170 Fresh and Healthy Mediterranean Favorites
Chef Kamal Al-Faqih
®
To my mother Hind and my aunt Effat
Thank you for your patience and guidance
Copyright © 2009 by Kamal Al-Faqih
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted in writing
from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to The Globe Pequot Press,
Attn: Rights and Permissions Department, P.O. Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437.
ThreeForks is an imprint of The Globe Pequot Press.
ThreeForks is a registered trademark of Morris Book Publishing, LLC.
Text designed by Sheryl P. Kober
Layout by Nancy Freeborn
Photo credits: pp. vi, x, xii, xvii, xviii, 216, 223, 226 © Shutterstock. All others courtesy of
Kamal Al-Faqih and Andreas Frank.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Al-Faqih, Kamal.
Classic Lebanese cuisine : 170 fresh and healthy Mediterranean favorites /
Kamal Al-Faqih.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7627-5278-2
1. Cookery, Lebanese. I. Title.
TX725.L4A42 2009
641.595692—dc22
2009013815
Printed in China
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Foreword by Nora Boustany vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi
How to Use This Book xiii
Helpful Techniques xiv
Before the Guests Arrive xvi
Appetizers (Mezza) 1
Salads (Salata) 49
Main Dishes (Chicken/Lamb/Beef/Fish/Vegetarian) 65
Side Dishes (Vegetarian/Chicken/Lamb/Beef) 131
Desserts (Hillou) 171
Suggested Menus 217
The Pantry 219
Metric Conversion Tables 224
Index 227
About the Author 238

Foreword
By NORA BOUSTANy
C
limbing up my grandmother’s pine trees shad- kitchen mole, would wrap her head in a white cot-
ing a carpet of rust needles was only half the ton scarf and start pounding the slab of lean lamb
fun. The cones we coaxed to drop to the ground with her large and heavy wooden pestle, striking it
did not stay there for long, at least not in the village into a large stone urn, the jurn, early that morning.
where I spent my summer holidays, Dibbiyeh in Unrelenting thuds to beat the meat into
the Chouf Mountains of Lebanon. The cones were creamy submission alternated with church bells
burned to extricate the hard, brown shells encas- and the muzzin’s call to prayer from a neighbor-
ing the nut and were then crushed with the nearest ing town. We woke up to that telltale rhapsody
pebble or stone. Washed and dried, the peculiar promising a scrumptious oven dish in its early
buttery treats were then tossed into a hissing fry- stages, a process now easily replaced with the
ing pan to adorn the typical meat and onion ill- eficient buzz of a meat grinder. Soaked cracked
ings of a whole array of Lebanese dishes. wheat would get folded into the jurn with white
Golden and glistening, these pine nuts onions, spices, a sprig of wild thyme or basil, a
topped my mother’s upside-down cake mold illed dash of salt and cinnamon, and a couple of cubes
with chicken and rice, like jewels on a crown. The of ice to keep the meat fresh.
lemon sauce on the side added lavor to the While my mother sautéed the minced lamb
mouthfuls of moist chicken and crunchy treats. with onions, pine nuts, and pomegranate paste
Sunday lunches around my Grandmother for the illing, my twin sister and I would hide
Rose’s dining room table, with everyone fussing behind the drying laundry clutching wet sheets
over the latest details, were a special family bond- for cover to get our stolen mouthful of fresh raw
ing ritual. My uncles and father cracked jokes, their kibbi before it was all kneaded and lattened into
wives laughed or hummed disapproval, and we a great, round pan and etched with a sharp knife
squealed with joy. The showstoppers were the into a mosaic of diamond shapes.
Sunday menus, with mloukhiyeh, a leafy green Shameless little beggars that we were, we would
stew over rice, toasted Arabic bread, and chicken tiptoe around to enter the main kitchen door on
topped with a vinegar-and-onion salsa; sayadiyeh, the lookout for leftover morsels, this time brazenly
an exquisite mix of ish over rice with caramelized and in broad daylight, before they too were balled
onions and cumin topped with roasted almonds; and stuffed for frying or freezing. The aromas waft-
and of course the legendary kibbi bi sayniyeh, a ing out of the kitchen those blessed Sundays were
pie of cracked wheat and lamb, stuffed with a rich meant for the gods. The accompanying salad of
lamb illing. inely shaven, hair-thin cabbage and boiled beets
Therese, our nanny, housekeeper, and friendly slathered in a garlicky vinaigrette and sprinkled
vii
CLASSIC LEBANESE CUISINE
with dried and crushed mint leaves from the gar- nese, Mediterranean, and Middle Eastern diet.
den was another step up to heaven. The home- The dark purple basil grown in Iran enhanced the
made yogurt, fermented in a clay pot and wrapped blissful marriage of fresh feta and warm, Persian
in an old towel overnight, was a must. bread with its earthy perfume.
As war ravaged Lebanon and parts of the Once I settled in Washington, D. C., no dinner
Middle East, I would hark back to those tastes party I gave was complete without Kamal’s per-
and smells savored in acres of carefree time with sonal and professional contributions as a friend
a hole in my heart for those shared pleasures and and caterer. He shared some tricks and helped
that sublime way of life. me heal the deprivations of exile, as I treated my
A Lebanese family table is a spiritual exercise guests to nostalgic lights into the magical eve-
of togetherness and cultural, culinary commu- nings at home I wished had never been interrupt-
nion. The piles of rolled-up leaves picked from ed. Kamal’s perfected and time-tested techniques
our own vine trees in Dibbiyeh were another steeped in the authenticity and ethos of the dishes
woman-made miracle. As a graduate student later he grew up with make that unique culinary voy-
in Columbia, Missouri, I sought to replicate my age possible anywhere.
mother’s delicacies for a graduation dinner I had Our ingredients of fresh olive oil, dried thyme,
organized for classmates. I called Beirut, panic- sesame paste (tahini), and sumak are now gour-
stricken, when the vine leaves started opening met staples and can be found on shelves of deli-
up: “What shall I do, what shall I do? The guests catessen stores and mainstream supermarkets all
are coming in 45 minutes!” I yelled over the over America. Hummus is part of the South Beach
phone. My mother laughed, reminding me of the Diet! My beloved worlds have come together.
age-old trick of weighting the contents of the pot The refreshing tart sweetness of pomegran-
with a heavy plate plunged into the water to keep ates, both raw and processed, which has laced
the little green cigars from unraveling. dishes from Morocco to Beirut and from Baghdad
I became bolder and more daring as I inally to Kabul, is the hottest new antioxidant. It is as
set up house alone as a foreign correspondent. though my grandmother’s backyard of heavy, gold-
Traveling through Syria, Iraq, Iran, Morocco, Al- en yellow lemons, ruby pomegranate fruit, pearl-
geria, and Libya, I was constantly reminded while blossomed almond trees, and emerald patches of
strolling through their souks of the riches of scents, basil, mint, and parsley has gone global.
lavors, spices, and condiments the region had to Let me invite you to that garden and to Kamal’s
offer. I grew to appreciate the strong element of chest of Mediterranean treasures of the palate, lov-
organic, tasty vegetables that shaped the Leba- ingly and artfully presented in this gem of a book.
viii