Measuring Cups, Optional

Fattoush has become my Tayta’s favorite salad in recent days. I don’t blame her. It’s a pretty simple salad with tons of flavor. At my parent’s house, we’d usually have Fattoush everyday in Ramadan preceded by lentil soup. I could seriously make a meal out of Fattoush. They two key ingredients: Garlic and Pita Bread. Yes, pita bread. They serve as Arabic-style croutons with much less fat.

The original recipe calls for frying up the pita bread. However, my mother, and Tayta both have been baking their pita bread for Fattoush since as long as I can remember. We’d only get the fried ones for a special treat, namely when my mom hosted her dinner parties.

Fattoush Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Servings: 4

Nutrition Information: Cals 95. Carbs 11. Fat 5. Protein 2g. Sodium 108mg. Sugar 2g.

The best chicken shawirma I’ve ever had was in Amman, Jordan. Back when we used to spend our summer vacation abroad, my sister and I would make our way to our then favorite spot Al-Daya’a (I’m sure there are newer places that have set up shop). It was amazing – 4 or 5 years ago. Tender chicken, wrapped in warm pita bread stuffed with turnips and garlic sauce. The garlic sauce is something I won’t forget. But it wasn’t special to Al-Daya’a. Every shawirma and Kabob place had this magical sauce – a sauce that goes with all meat and perfect for dipping your fries. Well, I found a really easy way to create that same garlic sauce taste.

All of a sudden, I was craving some chicken shawirma. And while Washington, DC is not short of shawirma shops like Shwarma King, Shawarma Spot, and DC Shawarma Food Truck, I wanted to make it at home and in enjoy it in the comfort of my warm home without having to battle city traffic.

Adapted from  Mama’s Lebanese Kitchen

Chicken Shawirma Recipe 

Ingredients

Directions

Servings: 2

Nutrition Information: (With ½ Large White Pita Bread) Cals 388. Carbs 24g. Fat 10g. Protein 50g. Sodium 754mg. Sugar 5g.

Since I was a kid, I remember weeknight meals at our household consisting of a variation of stews with a side of white rice. Since my mom worked full time, it was easiest for her to just through together one of these super easy stews, simmer while she helped us with our homework, and end up with a delicious, healthy meals.

I never understood how kids don’t  like vegetables. For us, these stews consist of primarily vegetables and sometimes beef or lamb. Vegetables were delicious. It wasn’t until late elementary school that I realized I had been eating okra, green beans, peas, eggplant, zucchini and spinach and loving it. I can’t say the same for kids these days- they cringe at the thought of broccoli.

I had a couple packages of frozen spinach and stew meat that needed to be used up.

I’ve been having a serious issue with rice – it’s always either overcooked or undercooked. I’m not really sure what’s going on. I followed my grandmother’s recipe exactly. I guess I’ll just have to keep practicing.

Sabanekh w Roz [Spinach and Rice Stew]

Ingredients

Directions

Servings: 6

Nutrition Information [without rice]: Cals 181. Carbs 9g. Fat 4g. Protein 20g. Sodium 272mg. Sugar 2g.

Let’s face it, Arabic food takes forever to make. There are lots of steps and long cooking times, time I don’t have when I’m working full time and trying to conserve our culture simultaneously. That’s why I’ve decided to start a recipe series featuring traditional Arabic dishes, made much easier for those of us that have full time jobs and prefer to keep weekday cooking to 30 minutes or less. This is the second installment of the series. Don’t forget to check out previous posts in the Arabic Food Made Easy Series.

Imakhan (pronounced em-sa-khan) is a traditional Palestinian dish and is basically sautéed onions and chicken drenched in sumac. Generally, the onions are fried with a ton of vegetable oil, spread onto a thick flatbread and topped with pieces of chicken then baked to perfection in the oven.

It’s delicious – if you like onions and sumac. While trying to preserve culture, some sacrifices need to be made for the sake of heart health. My sister-in-law makes Imsakhan rolls, a clever way to get her kids to eat Arabic food at a time when most kids just want finger food. I’m trying to keep my family healthy and frying onions doesn’t really fall into the “healthy” category. There’s also the smell aspect of this all. Have you ever sautéed onions? They stink up the kitchen. And we’re super conscious of food smells taking over our house. The husband knows instantly when he walks in the door – downstairs – whether or not I’ve taken on something elaborate and proceeds to open up all the windows.

I’m taking a chance here by baking the onions to golden perfection. Still served with chicken, and bread, only maybe a little lighter on the calories (and oil). The Husband gave this recipe two thumbs up. He loved the idea of not having oil dripping all over his hands.

Imsakhan Recipe

Ingredients

Directions

Servings: 3

Nutrition Information (with 1 large white pita bread): Cals 326. Carbs 32g. Fat 2g. Protein 33g. Sodium 536mg. Sugar 7g.

Who doesn’t like cookie dough? I love cookie dough, so do my brothers and sister. Our favorite ice cream growing up was cookie dough ice cream. We were also known to eat raw cookie dough straight out of the nestle Tollhouse tub. I remember we’d probably make 10 cookies and eat up the rest of the cookie dough raw. Nothing wrong with that. It was amazing.