Lebanese cuisine

An array of Lebanese cuisine.

Lebanese cuisine includes an abundance of starches, fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and seafood; animal fats are consumed sparingly. Poultry is eaten more often than red meat. When red meat is eaten it is usually lamb on the coast, and goat meat in the mountain regions. It also includes copious amounts of garlic and olive oil, often seasoned by lemon juice.; olive oil, herbs, garlic and lemon are typical flavours found in the Lebanese diet.

Most often foods are either grilled, baked or sautéed in olive oil; butter or cream is rarely used other than in a few desserts. Vegetables are often eaten raw or pickled as well as cooked. Herbs and spices are used and the freshness of ingredients is important. Like most Mediterranean countries, much of what the Lebanese eat is dictated by the seasons.

In Lebanon, very rarely are drinks served without being accompanied by food. Similar to the tapas of Spain, mezeluri of Romania, and antipasto of Italy, mezze is an array of small dishes placed before the guests creating an array of colors, flavors, textures and aromas. This style of serving food is less a part of family life than it is of entertaining and cafes. Mezze may be as simple as pickled vegetables or raw vegetables, hummus, baba ghanouj and bread, or it may become an entire meal consisting of grilled marinated seafood, skewered meats, a variety of cooked and raw salads and an arrangement of desserts.

Although simple fresh fruits are often served towards the end of a Lebanese meal, there is also dessert, such as baklava and coffee. Although baklava is the most internationally known dessert, Lebanese sweets have got a lot more to offer.

A typical mezze will consist of an elaborate variety of thirty hot and cold dishes and may include:

• Salads such as the tabbouleh and fattoush, together with dip such as hummus, baba ghanoush or moutabal, and kebbeh.
• Some patties such as the Sambusac.
• Stuffed grape leaves

Family cuisine offers also a range of dishes, such as stews or yakhnehs, which can be cooked in many forms depending on the ingredients used and are usually served with meat and rice vermicelli.

The Lebanese flat bread is a staple to every Lebanese meal and can be used to replace the usage of the fork.

Arak, an anise-flavored liqueur, is the Lebanese national alcoholic drink and is usually served with the traditional convivial Lebanese meals. Another drink is Lebanese wine.

Lebanese sweets include:

• Pastries such as baklava.
• The Lebanese ice cream with its oriental flavors.
• The Lebanese roasted nuts with variety and mixes.

Some dishes are also specifically prepared on special occasions: the meghli dessert, for instance is served to celebrate a newborn baby in the family.

History

For most of its past, Lebanon has been ruled by foreign powers that have influenced the types of food the Lebanese ate. From 1516 to 1918, the Ottoman Turks controlled Lebanon and introduced a variety of foods that have become staples in the Lebanese diet, such as cooking with lamb.

After the Ottomans were defeated in World War I (1914–1918), France took control of Lebanon until 1943, when the country achieved its independence. During this time, the French introduced foods such as flan, a caramel custard dessert dating back to the 16th century, and buttery croissants.

The Lebanese themselves have also helped bring foods of other cultures into their diet. Ancient tribes journeyed throughout the Middle East, carrying with them food that would not spoil easily, such as rice and dates.

Dishes and ingredients

Mediterranean-style baklava

Lebanese hummus

Kibbeh nayyeh

• Ackawi - white cheese salty or not depending on choice.
• Baba ghanouj - char-grilled aubergine (eggplant), tahina, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic puree—served as a dip.
• Baklava - a dessert of layered pastry filled with nuts and steeped in Attar syrup (orange or rose water and sugar), usually cut in a triangular or diamond shape that originates in Lebanon, it is a rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey .
• Roasted nuts - a mix of more than 20 kinds and flavors of kernels, mostly dry roasted.
• Balila - known as cumin chickpeas.
• Barout del batata- spicy lamb served with potatoes
• Batata harra - literally "spicy potatoes".
• Chawarma- grilled meat or poultry with vegetable ( served as a sandwich)
• Chich Taouk- grilled chicken marinated with garlic lemon and various oriental spices (cinnamon, cumin..)
• Daoud Bacha- meatballs with tomato sauce
• Djaj Mechwi- grilled chicken with peas
• Fattoush - 'peasant' salad of toasted pita bread, cucumbers, tomatoes, chickweed, and mint.
• Falafel - small deep-fried patties made of highly-spiced ground chickpeas.
• Fried cauliflower
• Fried eggplant
• Fuul (vicia faba) slow cooked mash of brown beans and red lentils dressed with lemon, olive oil and cumin.
• Halva - sesame paste sweet, usually made in a slab and studded with fruit and nuts.
• Hummus - dip or spread made of blended chickpeas, sesame tahini, lemon juice, and garlic, and typically eaten with pita bread.
• Kunafi - either shoelace pastry dessert stuffed with sweet white cheese, nuts and syrup, or more commonly the version with semolina pastry served on a sesame seed bun with sweet sugar syrup (very popular for breakfast) made with " angel hair" butter and pistachios or nuts. Generally these can be found in sweet shops, as well as bigger bakeries.
• Kibbeh - the national dish, mainly stuffed, can be made in different forms including fried, uncooked, and cooked with yogurt.
• Kibbeh nayyeh - raw kibbeh eaten like steak tartar.
• Kofta - fingers, stars or a flat cake of minced meat and spices that can be baked or charcoal-grilled on skewers.
• Kousa Mahshi- stuffed zucchini, many varieties are used.
• Kubideh - served with pivaz (a mix of minced parsley, onions, ground cumin and sumac).
• Labneh- strained yogurt, spreadable and garnished with good olive oil and sea salt.
• Znood Es-sett - filo pastry cigars with various fillings.
• Lahm bil ajĩn - a pastry covered with minced meat, onions, and nuts.
• Ma'amoul - cake made from semolina withdate, pistachio or walnut filled cookies shaped in a wooden mould called a tabi made specially for Christian (traditionally Eastern) and Muslim holidays (such as Ramadan).
• Mfaraket Koussa spicy zucchini
• Manakish thyme and cheese sandwich usually served for breakfast
• Makdous - stuffed eggplant in olive oil.
• Manaeesh - mini pizzas that are made in any number of local bakeries or Furns (Furn Assalam, Ain El Hilwe, Saida), traditionally garnished with cheese, Za'atar, spicy diced tomatoes, kashk in its Lebanese version, or minced meat and onions. Some bakeries allow you to bring your own toppings and build your own or buy the ones they sell there. Breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Mujaddara (imjaddarra) - cooked lentils together with wheat or rice, garnished with onions that have been sauteed in vegetable oil.
• Mulukhiyah - A stew with mallow leaves, chicken, beef, and in the Lebanese fashion, topped with raw chopped onions, and vinegar over rice. It sometimes has toasted pita chips under the rice.
• Mutabbel - made from eggplant.
• Pastirma
• Qawarma- chopped lamb, salted and kept in the grease of the animal
• Samkeh Harra grilled fish that has been marinated with chili, citrus, and cilantro
• Shanklish - aged cheese balls
• Shawarma - marinated meat (either chicken or lamb) that is skewered on big rods and cooked slowly, then shaved and placed in a 10 inch pita roll with pickles, tomatoes, and other tangy condiments.
• Shish taouk- grilled chicken skewers that utilize only white meat, marinated in olive oil, lemon, parsley, and sumac.
• Siyyadiyeh - delicately spiced fish served on a bed of rice. Fish cooked in saffron and served on rice with onions, sumac, and a tahini sauce (the most important part of the dish) originated in Saida (saidon).
• Tabbouleh - diced parsley salad with burghul, tomato and mint.
• Tahini - sesame paste
• Toum - garlic sauce
• Wara' Enab (dolma) - stuffed grape leaves
• Za'atar - dried thyme and sumac that can differ from region to region and from family to family. Most are made in house, but can be bought at Lebanese larders.
• Lebanese Spice Blend - a mixture of equal parts of allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, fenugreek, nutmeg and ginger. It is commonly used to flavor many Lebanese dishes.

Regional cuisine

These recipes are attributed to these regions in Lebanon.

• Douma: Laban Immo (cooked yoghurt and lamb with rice)
• Hammana: Fasoulya Hammanieh (kidney bean stew)
• Beit Shabab: Riz bi-Djaj (chicken with rice)
• Kfar meshki: Kebbe bil-Kishk (meat mixed with wheat and yoghurt)
• Baskinta: Makhlouta (meat, rice, and nuts)
• Tripoli, Lebanon: Mjadrah and Fattoush (crushed lentils and salad)
• Broummana: Deleh Mehshi (stuffed rib cage of lamb)
• Baino: Kebbe and Lahme bil-khal (meat mixed with crushed wheat and meat soaked in vinegar)
• Dhour Choueir: Shish Barak (dough balls stuffed with ground beef and cooked in yoghurt)
• Firzel: Freikeh (cooked wheat with meat)
• Ehden: Kebbe Zghartweih (oven-cooked meat and crushed wheat blend)
• Beit Mery: Kebbe Lakteen (pumpkin-flavoured meat)
• Beirut: Samkeh Harra and Akhtabout (spicy fish and octopus), Roasted Nuts
• Zahlé: Kebbe Zahleweieh (meat and crushed wheat blend)
• Rashaya Al-Wadi: Kebbe Heeleh (meatballs)
• Ras al-Metn: Fatet (yoghurt, fried bread and nuts)
• Ain-Zibdeh: Hareeseh (wheat and chicken)
• Rashana: Mjadrat Fasoulya (lentils and kidney beans)
• Beiteddine: Kafta Bithine (spiced meat with sesame concentrate)
• Ihmej: Ghameh (stuffed cow intestines)
• Sidon: Riz bil-Foul (Rice and fava beans)
• Bsharri: Koussa bil-Laban (meat and rice-stuffed zucchini cooked in yoghurt)
• Deir al-Kamar: Fatet Batinjan (yoghurt, fried bread and aubergine)
• Saghbeen: Zinkoul bil-Laban (meat filled pastry and yoghurt)
• Tyre: Saiyadit al-Samak (rice and fish)
• El-Koura: Abu Shoushe (topinambur and lentils stew)
• Baalbek: Safiha Baalbakieh (meat-stuffed puff pastry)
• Jbeil: Koussa and Wark Inab bil-Kastaletah (stuffed zucchini, grape vines and steak)
• Kalamoun, Lebanon: Fresh Carrot juice with ice cream inside

Beverages

Almaza beer

• Almaza Beer
• Arak
• Ayran
• Jallab
• Ksara famous wine from Lebanon
• Lebanese wine
• Le caroubier non alcoholic beverage made from carob ‎"خروب‎,"
• Tahn
• Turkish coffee
• White coffee
• Arabic coffee qahwa saada (plain coffee) is plain and more bitter, although it originates in Lebanon.

Coffee

The coffee served in Lebanon is sometimes a variation of Turkish coffee, but a dark type of coffee is the main type served.

Coffee is served throughout the day, at home and in the public cafes. Lebanese coffee is strong, thick and often flavored with cardamom. It is also usually unsweetened and bitter. When guests arrive at one's home, they are invariably persuaded to stay for a coffee, no matter how short their visit. It is made with a long-handled coffee pot called rakwe, served in a demitasse, and poured out in front of the guest from the rakwe itself.

The Lebanese host usually asks the guests how they take their coffee; with or without sugar, since sugar is added during preparation.

See also

• Arab cuisine
• Cypriot cuisine
• Jordanian cuisine
• Iraqi cuisine
• Islamic dietary laws
• Greek cuisine
• Levantine cuisine
• Mediterranean cuisine
• Middle Eastern cuisine
• Ottoman cuisine
• Palestinian cuisine
• Syrian cuisine
• Turkish cuisine

External links

• Lebanese Cuisine recipes
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