My Taste Buds don't lie!

Hummus is a Lebanese dish; stop attributing it to other countries

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by Celine Chami • Tips • Tags: Hummus, Lebanese cuisine

I was watching M6 on Saturday and I happened to come across the 12:45 News. Towards the end, they did a short segment called “L’essor de la cuisine israelienne”, or the boom of the Israeli cuisine. The first thing the guy in that segment was preparing was hummus; mashed chickpeas, garlic, salt, lemon juice and tahini. He didn’t even bother add or change anything about it, and bluntly called it hummus. Of course, he also presented falafel and other dishes as part of the Israeli cuisine but I was already fuming when I saw the hummus.

I know Israel has been integrating hummus and other Lebanese dishes as part of its cuisine; this is not news. But to see a French channel shedding the light on it like it was the most natural thing ever was my tipping point. I’ve always wanted my blog to be exclusively about good food around Lebanon, but I just couldn’t let it pass. This is not normal. I wonder how the French would have reacted if Italy started claiming that ratatouille or boeuf bourguignon were Italian dishes and part of the Italian cuisine. Would they have been so open and cool about the idea? I don’t think so.

I’m sick and tired of watching our culinary identity being stolen away from us and promoted as another country’s identity. I wish I could do something more about it, but this is my personal step towards hopefully setting the record straight once and for all. Hummus, the way we know it, is and will always be a Lebanese dish; get your facts straight M6 and next time you’re doing a segment on a cuisine, learn the history and culture of that cuisine first.

The vegetables you should always have in your fridge

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by Celine Chami • Tips • Tags: food, salads, vegetables

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you may know by now that I have a weak spot for salads and everything green. If you open my fridge, there are always enough ingredients to make a succulent salad, even if it won’t be creative all the time.

The things that you should always have in your fridge are split into 2 categories;

Tomatoes, cucumbers and red bell pepper: they usually last for a while before they become inedible. Wash them, then store the tomatoes and bell pepper in the veggies compartment, and the cucumbers in a Tupperware inside a kitchen tissue. Cucumbers tend to get moist in the fridge, so they will last longer if you keep them in a damp tissue.
Greens: the key to storing greens in the fridge is not to wash them until you want to consume them, that’s how they actually last in the fridge. Roll them in a newspaper spread or a kitchen towel, to protect them from the fridge moist. Among the greens, there are some that generally last longer than others, so they’re safer to keep and use whenever you want to make a salad. Those include lettuce, iceberg, cabbage and mint. Other greens like arugula, lamb’s lettuce or baby spinach are more delicate and last less longer. So it’s best to get them maximum one or two days before you plan on using them.

Believe me, if you have any 2-3 of those ingredients in your fridge at anytime, you’re all set to make a great salad to which you can add some proteins like lupine beans, turkey or turkey bacon, cheese, tuna or grilled chicken strips. So load that fridge up and help yourself to some delicious salads every now and then!

In winter we eat stews…

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by Celine Chami • Tips

Most people who have never been to an actual Lebanese home in or outside of Lebanon, think that Lebanese food is about mezze and meat/poultry skewers. That’s because what most restaurants in and outside of Lebanon propose on their menus. But Lebanese food is much more than that and one of the main pillars of our cuisine is stew served with a side of rice, or what we call “yakhne” in Lebanon.

Stew is a typical winter dish. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t prepared in summer, but there is something particularly soothing about warming up on a cold winter day with nutritious, consistent food. It is generally prepared with beans, potatoes, cauliflower or a selection of vegetables and is served hot with a side of white rice. I’m sure most of my readers know exactly what I’m talking about, so I will not delve in how stews are generally prepared :). However, I will gladly share my list of favorite stews and how to best enjoy them!

I’m a huge fan of stews. I don’t eat the meat that’s in the mix, but I think it adds great flavor to the overall dish. Aside from their highly nutritious composition, stews are extremely delicious if well prepared and in my case, served with the juice of at least one freshly squeezed lemon. I absolutely love white and red bean stews, as well as spinach, molokhia, peas and cauliflower stews. I think their taste is heavenly, especially that my mom adds coriander to the mix – which gives the recipe a real kick and takes the dish to a whole new level.

So yes, I add enough lemon to get heartburn at the end of my meal and I like to enjoy stews with two main ingredients; fresh radish and black olives. Radish adds hints of bitterness and olives add tones of earthiness – both of which go perfectly well with the sweetness and acidity of the stew. I invite you to try that mix and let me know what you think. As for the lemon I suggest to add just a little bit if you’re not a fan, because it will add an interesting dimension of flavors to your taste buds :).

Abou Fadel bakery: making the best manakish since the mid 80s

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by Celine Chami • Must-Try Foods • Tags: bakery, Lebanese food, Lebanon, Manakish

I don’t know if there is a single person in Lebanon that doesn’t love manakish. It is by excellence the people’s food and is eaten for breakfast, a quick lunch, dinner, or anytime during the day.

Today, a lot of restaurants propose manakish on their menu, but traditionally, manakish were the baker’s job. I remember being a kid and seeing my mom every Sunday prepare the zaatar mix at home, then go to the bakery and wait for the baker to spread the zaatar on the dough and bake it, then come back home so we’d enjoy a family breakfast of manakish with tomatoes, fresh mint, cucumbers, black olives and green fava beans.

This process is alas, cut in half today. People no longer prepare the zaatar or other fillings at home and it has become the baker’s job to do it all for you. And this, unfortunately, has left a serious question mark on the quality of ingredients and mostly zaatar used in a lot of bakeries across Lebanon.

But then you go to Abou Fadel, a small family-owned bakery located in Beit Mery, and you have the best manakish you can ask for! The dough is fresh, well baked and with just the right amount of everything. The zaatar mixed with olive oil is of superior quality and tastes exactly like the one in my childhood memories! The cheese is heavenly – not too sweet nor too salty; the lahm bi ajin are just perfect and the pizza they make is out of this world. You feel that what they do is done in an artisanal way, with love and with great ingredients that they never compromise on for the sake of profiting more. And this is the very reason why they have been in the market for over 30 years and are packed from the moment they open until they close – because people recognize the quality of what they’re eating there, and it is unlike anything else in the neighboring market.

If you haven’t paid them a visit yet, it is time you do. Then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, as they will become by far your favorite bakery.

If there is one thing I can eat every day for the rest of my life, it’s goat Labneh

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by Celine Chami • Tips • Tags: Goat Labneh, Labneh, Lebanese food

I am a raving fan of Labneh. I don’t think there is a single household in Lebanon that doesn’t have Labneh anytime, any day in the fridge. Labneh has evolved from a mere dairy product to become a Lebanese signature that’s very much incorporated in our culture.

What I’m even crazier about is goat Labneh. Generally speaking, dairy products that come from goat milk are healthier than the more widely used cow milk products, as they have fewer calories, more vitamins and less lactose. But going beyond the sheer technicalities of goat dairies, goat Labneh is absolute perfection. It is dense, tangy, earthy and has a mix of textures and flavors that give my taste buds a kick with every mouthful! Add to that the fact that it comes in balls soaked in olive oil, so it gets an even richer taste from the earthiness and playfulness of the oil.

Goat Labneh being more dense and acidic that cow Labneh, I like to enjoy it with a more particular set of combinations. Cow Labneh is perfect with mint, olives, cucumbers and tomatoes but I find these not to go as perfectly with goat Labneh. Hence, I like it to mix it with different tastes, like green or yellow apples, grapes, figs and Armenian cucumbers or me2te grown in Jezzine (if you don’t know what I am talking about, they’re the ones that come in a darker shade of green, have a velvety skin and are thicker than the regular Armenian cucumbers). I find those combinations to be juicier and sweeter, so they really give better justice to how goat Labneh can be enhanced from a taste perspective.

Goat Labneh is probably one of the simplest, yet most delicious foods to have ever existed. It is something I can literally eat every day with saj or oat bread and just enjoy a pure moment of culinary bliss.