The way I cook Middle Eastern food in Hong Kong is slightly different from the way I cook Middle Eastern food in Chicago. When I’m in Hong Kong, I bake all my own flatbreads and I tend to find inspiration in fresh produce and seafood. When I’m in Chicago, I tend to use a lot more dairy, especially Middle Eastern yogurt and labneh, and I tend to cook a lot more with beef.

I think this has a lot to do with what’s most available to me. There’s so much overlap between Cantonese produce and Middle Eastern produce. For instance, the expensive Lebanese zucchinis that my family normally has to search for are easy to find in just about any wet market in Hong Kong. While I sometimes buy my grandmother a pricey case of persimmons as a Christmas gift, they’re a much more everyday fruit in Hong Kong during the winter. These foods, which are special treats in Chicago, still feel like special treats in Hong Kong, but I get to eat them all the time, whenever I want, which kind of feels like having birthday cake every day, but without it getting tiresome. I’ve heard that it’s going to be the same deal with jarareng in the spring, and I’m so unbelievably excited.

This is one reason that I felt a kinship with Pomegranate Kitchen a couple weeks ago, when I attended their Cook for Syria event. Chef Maria Bizri and her team cooked a delicious, thoughtful meal that reminded me of the food I grew up with, but with an even more intentional focus on the fresh flavors of Middle Eastern and Asian produce. Pomegranate, carrot, jade melon, and eggplant all featured prominently. There were also several delicious meat courses, my favorite being the barramundi, which was perfectly battered and fried, and whose lemoniness reminded me of my great grandmother’s masgouf.

Maria’s generous spirit inspired me to create and share my own Cook for Syria meal plan, inspired by her masterpiece. But while Maria is an incredibly talented chef who makes hosting an eight-course benefit look easy, the idea of organizing a supper club might sound a little overwhelming to the uninitiated, so I planned this suggested menu specifically with a potluck in mind. Collaborating relieves a lot of the burden on the host and makes everything feel so much more possible.

On the other hand, if you’d rather do it all yourself (which is much more in the spirit of Middle Eastern hospitality anyway), this particular menu is also perfect for working ahead. Everything can be finished ahead of time, except for the masgouf, which the host can prep and assemble in advance and then broil at the last minute.

the menu

green and herby masgouf  | lemon-curry-marinated white fish, broiled with tomato, onion, and herbs
red lentil soup  |  with lots of carrots and warm, fragrant spices
muhammara | sweet and sour red pepper dip
manakish za’atar  | flatbread with sumac, dried thyme, sesame seeds, and olive oil
crispy lentil and carrot salad | with quick-pickled lemon, toasted pine nuts, mint, and parsley
chocolate féve and pine nut cookies  | sprinkled with sea salt, chewy, crispy, and as big as your face
BYOB

notes on the menu

The herby masgouf is best made by the host, since it doesn’t travel well.
Here is the easiest way to wrap a stockpot to transport the soup. Feel free to instead make a second salad, if no one can manage transporting the soup.
The only specialty ingredients that can’t be replaced are pomegranate molasses (in the muhammara), and za’atar (in the manakish za’atar). Both are available in Middle Eastern grocery stores, as well as many supermarkets with large imported food sections. If you can’t find these ingredients, hummus would be a good alternative to the muhammara, and plain old pita bread works great in place of the manakish za’atar.
Let your friends know whether their recipe needs to be multiplied when they sign up: Buy 3 pounds of fish for the masgouf (quadruple it); use a sheet pan to broil them all at once. Double the manakish za’atar. Double the muhammara. You can get away with a single batch of the lentil and carrot salad (which yields small portions), but you might want to double it.

Dietary restrictions

vegan / vegetarian: This menu is very vegetarian friendly, and somewhat vegan friendly, with the exception of the fish and dessert. To make it completely vegan:
- make flower water fruit salad for dessert
- Instead of fish, make vegan stuffed grape leaves, or if you can’t find the ingredients, make piquant lentils and rice (even though 3 dishes contain lentils, they’re all done completely differently and the end result is anything but monotonous, especially because red lentils taste and look nothing like brown lentils).
gluten free: There are 3 gluten-containing dishes here, 1 with hidden gluten, so be mindful.
- The muhammara can be made without breadcrumbs. Here’s how to adapt my recipe: after chopping the peppers in the food processor, remove them to a fine mesh strainer, and let them drain for 10 minutes over the sink before returning them to the food processor. Leave out the breadcrumbs entirely, and proceed with the recipe as usual.
- Whoever is in charge of manakish za’atar should bring some gluten free crackers or veggie slices along with it.
- Instead of the cookies for dessert, make a flower water fruit salad.

the invitation

Message ten of your friends at least two weeks ahead of time. Ask everyone to RSVP in one week, so you can send a couple more invites if some can’t attend.
Say a few words about the cause, and link them to Cook for Syria so they can read more. Explain that you’d like to collaborate to do a collaborative fundraising supper club.
Put together a suggested menu featuring six dishes (feel free to simply use the menu above), and ask everyone to partner up with one other person to sign up for an item (let them know you’ve got the masgouf). Also let your friends know that they can change up the menu, and link them to some resources (like my archives or the Cook for Syria recipes page). Also include links to the suggested recipes so your friends can decide which one they want to make (or link them directly here if you’re using this menu).
Explain how the donations will work. Give a suggested donation range, so that your friends don’t feel pressured to contribute more money than they can afford. The easiest thing is to set up a fundraising page, as described on the Cook for Syria website, and have your friends donate to UNICEF there.

the dinner

Serve the soup in individual bowls, and serve everything else family style. Split each dish up into three portions and distribute them around so that everyone can easily reach everything. It’s okay if you don’t have room for everyone to sit at the same table; a likely scenario is 8 people at a dining table and 4 people at a smaller table, or around a coffee table. Just do your best to make sure everyone is comfortable.
If space is crowded, use juice glasses for wine, like in old school Italian restaurants. Also skip the flowers, or use little tiny bud vases like you’d find in a bistro or café (as pictured above). If you don’t have little tiny bud vases, feel free to repurpose kitchen stuff. I used a 1-oz ramekin for the one above. Tea lights are great because you can usually sneak them onto even the most crowded table.
Don’t forget to make a playlist!
Remind everyone to tag their photos #cookforsyria. Sharing photos of the evening will spread the word and encourage others to get involved.
Check out Cook for Syria’s list of hosting tips for more.

My husband, Simon, and I spent many years in grad school in central New Jersey, the heart of pizza land USA. And the stars aligned, because the default food for grad school events everywhere is pizza, and Jersey pizza is fantastic. But in my husband’s program in particular, a lot of the grad students were vegan, and instead of ordering something else, like falafel and hummus, everyone decided to stick to the tried and true pizza order, simply asking for a few pies without the cheese. I remember Simon coming home after grad events, and ranting and raving on behalf of the vegan students (who, by the way, seemed totally happy to have something to eat, and also, by the way, Simon is not vegan and rarely actually had to eat the vegan pizza himself), complaining that these vegan pizzas were not actually pizza, but flavorless, soggy pieces of bread with a steaming heap of tomato sauce and limp vegetables piled on top.

So I totally get how “vegan cheeseless pizza” might sound pretty lame, but there’s a way to do it well, and Middle Eastern cuisine holds the key. Instead of piling a million water-heavy toppings on top of a mellow tomato sauce, we really go for it, and spread on a thin layer of the most concentrated, flavorful sauces and ingredients we have. For manakish za’atar, for instance, you make a zesty pesto out of dried herbs and spices, packing a ton of flavor into each bite without turning the dough into mush.

It’s the same idea with manakish muhammara. You take red peppers, char them, let them self-steam, and then discard all of the excess liquid. Then you blend them with some toasted bread crumbs, walnuts, spices, super tangy pomegranate molasses, and a few other odds and ends. This gets spread thinly on flattened pizza dough, and baked at a high temperature until the crust gets nice and chewy and everything starts to caramelize. Then you top it with just a little more pomegranate molasses for extra sweet and sour flavor (I mean, you don’t have to, but I always do). Adding cheese to this would actually detract from what it’s got going for it. So when it comes to manakish muhammara, vegan is the way to go. In terms of turning this into a complete vegan meal, it goes great with lentil carrot salad, or really anything with lots of veggies and beans or legumes.

manakish muhammara | sweet and sour red pepper pizza

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Prep Time: 1 hour
Total Time: between 1 hour and 12 hours, depending on how intense you are about the dough
Yield: 4 small pizzas

Ingredients

For the dough:
note: feel free to use about 1 1/2 pounds store-bought pizza dough instead
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups room temperature water, divided into 1 1/4 cups and 1/4 cup
17 ounces (3 cups) all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt

For the pizzas:
1 batch pizza dough
1 batch muhammara *

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Instructions

Make the dough: Proof the active dry yeast with the sugar and 1 1/4 cups of the water until the water looks a little foamy on top (about 5-10 minutes).
Add the flour and salt to a bowl (the bowl of a stand mixer, if you plan to knead by machine).
Add the water/yeast/sugar mixture and stir until the dough starts to come together into a dry, shaggy mess.
Gradually add a little of the remaining 1/4 cup of water about 1 tablespoon at a time, until the whole thing comes into a dough ball. Do not use all of the water, unless you need it (you will most likely just use half of the 1/4 cup). The dough ball should not be too sticky or dry (somewhere in between is best). It should look a tiny bit firmer than store-bought pizza dough.
Knead until the dough ball passes the window pane test. It should come together into an elastic ball that has a smooth surface. Kneading should take about 5-15 minutes by machine with a dough hook, or 10-20 minutes by hand. Pay more attention to the dough’s consistency than the time you’ve spent kneading.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover it, and let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes, and then in the refrigerator overnight. If you don’t have time to wait overnight, you can let it rise at room temperature for a total of 1 1/2 hours (resting it in the refrigerator will help it develop a better flavor and texture).
Make the pizzas: Place a pizza stone (or sheet pan) on the oven floor, move the oven racks up and out of the way, so you can very easily access the pizza stone, and pre-heat the oven to 500° F (or its hottest setting).
Divide the dough into 4 pieces on a floured counter. Shape each into a ball with a smooth surface.
Roll out the first dough ball into a circle, about 1/8 inch thick. To keep the round shape, rotate the disc about 90 degrees after each time you roll it out, and be sure to re-flour the surface every so often.
Sprinkle semolina or cornmeal on a pizza peel, lightweight cutting board, or the back of a sheet pan. Place the rolled out dough on the board. Top with about 1/4 of the muhammara and spread it thinly over the surface, leaving a crust border. Let it rest for about 5 to 10 minutes before it goes in the oven.
Once the oven has preheated, use a quick motion to move the pie from the pizza peel onto the pizza stone. Cook for about 5-8 minutes, until the edges start to brown and the bread is cooked through. The dough should be crispy and chewy, like really good brick oven pizza.
Repeat with the remaining pies.

Notes

* One average batch should work great, but the amount you end up with will depend on the size of the peppers you’re starting with, so feel free to make 1.5 or 2 batches of muhammara if you’re worried. It makes a delicious dip, and it freezes wonderfully. On the other hand, if you make one particularly small batch of muhammara and don’t have enough for all the dough, try topping the last pie with whatever you have around (you can make manakish za’atar if you’ve got it, or you could even turn the last piece into 2 pitas).