All the recipes I'm going to share are my version, so it could be sometimes a little bit different from what you've tasted before.
Also, when I say for example, "ingredients for 8 persons", you have to know that in Lebanon, there is never one dish. There is always a lot of mezzés. This picture shows one afternoon of cooking, for 8/10 persons (around 4 hours).There is tabbouleh, moutabal, garlic sauce, shish taouk skewers, and potatoes (I didn't cook potatoes). I cooked rikakat too, not in this picture, but I'll give you the recipe !
I hope you'll take pleasure to try those recipes, and moreover, that you'll be in for a treat !
If you want to learn more and see Lebanon through the eyes of a lebanese girl, read "Beyrouth-sur-Seine" from Sabyl Ghoussoub. It looks like my father's life, a litte bit mine, in fact, the life of a lot of lebaneses who left their beautiful country because of the war, and had children in France, otherwhere, who live the fracture of exile.
" The life of my parents is like the war in Lebanon. The more I immerse myself in it, the less I understand. I can place the protagonists, a few memorable moments remain, and then I lose myself. Too many dates, events, gaps, silences, contradictions. Sometimes I wonder if it truly interests me to understand anything about it. Ultimately, what purpose would it serve to know everything, to understand it all, to analyze it thoroughly? I believe fundamentally that I would gain nothing from it; at most, I would waste my time".
Beyrouth-sur-Seine is about family, immigration, and what remains of our origins.
The Lebanese Civil War brought about immense devastation but also a profound and lasting crisis of identity in Lebanon. I think a country's culinary tradition, which Lebanon has in abundance, can be a significant unifying force, a source of resilience and a means for cultural preservation. This is especially true in a region where communal dining and the cultivation of hospitality and fellowship are deeply-rooted traditions (the same, by the way, can be said for Greece, where I have my roots, which went through a devastating civil war following the Second World War and decades of civil division and strife).
Hy Mathieu
Ok, thank's for this quick response. I don't like either the damage of the fried cooking, the smell I mean, because for the taste that's not a problem. If I make the french fries in the oven, I have to admit that we can’t have the same crispy as a real french fries. Anyway I just have an oven and I do all like that. Indeed, when you say you try to not use oil, is that mean that you make them anyway in the fryer (for the samossas for example) ?
I wanted also to say that I have been very touched by the words of Sabyl Ghoussoub that you posted. First I thought it was yours,…
No wonder this food looks so delicious: four hours preparation is a lot of time even if it does feed ten people! I guess it's a labour of love!