Cardamom and Tea

lentils and rice

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I was on the phone with my mom a few weeks ago, brainstorming ideas for new recipes to work on. We talked about doing a series on Assyrian fasting and feasting, and my mom gave me a list of about 15 amazing ideas. But when she suggested lentils and rice, I have to admit, I sort of hesitated to add it.

How am I supposed to convince people that they need a recipe for something so familiar? Furthermore, how can you even write a recipe for something as simple as throwing a few basic ingredients together? The next weekend I flew to Chicago to visit my family, and as I watched my mom make lentils and rice, I realized how wrong I was to even consider forgetting it.

Never be deceived by simple ingredients! The simpler the ingredients, the more carefully and thoughtfully they need to be prepared. This recipe only has four real ingredients, but it’s not just a matter of stirring everything together; there are a few important techniques to keep in mind.

The two keys to perfect lentils and rice

1) lots of rinsing

The key technique for this recipe is lots and lots of rinsing. You rinse the lentils both before and after you cook them, you rinse the uncooked rice, and you rinse the pot before adding everything back in for a final steam. If you don’t rinse, an olive-beige scum will cover everything. This creates a (somehow simultaneously!) gritty and gummy texture and unappealingly homogenous color.

2) perfect timing

The other key to this recipe is timing. You don’t want to add everything together at the same time because rice and lentils cook at different rates; if you get the timing wrong, one or the other (or both!) will turn to complete mush. This recipe has you covered on all accounts. There’s nothing but perfect lentils and rice ahead.

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lentils and rice | niskeh ou riza

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients

1 pound brown or green lentils
1 cup basmati rice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cups boiling water
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Rinse the lentils and sort through them for little pebbles. Cover with about 3 inches of water in a medium stock pot.
  2. Turn the heat to high. Once the pot of water and lentils comes to a boil, turn the heat to medium and boil uncovered for about 10 to 15 minutes.
  3. While the lentils are cooking, rinse the rice until the water runs clear and set it aside. *
  4. Start testing the lentils for doneness around the 10 minute mark. The lentils are ready once they are unpleasantly al dente. You should be able to chew one (it should be somewhat soft), but it should still be gritty and mealy.
  5. Once the lentils are ready, strain them and rinse them until the water runs clear. *
  6. Use a damp paper towel to wipe down the sides of the pot that you cooked the lentils in until the scum is completely gone.
  7. Add the olive oil to the pot, turn the heat to medium and add the diced onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion softens (about 5 minutes).
  8. Add the lentils back into the pot, along with the rinsed rice, kosher salt, and 3 cups boiling water. Stir together and shake everything out into an even layer.
  9. Turn the heat to high. Once the water comes back up to a boil, cover, lower the heat to low, and cook for 15 minutes. Do not look inside the pot while the lentils and rice are cooking.
  10. Once 15 minutes have passed, open the lid, do not stir the lentils and rice, and take a taste. If they taste done, cover, heat for another 30 seconds, and then turn the heat off, keeping them covered.
  11. Keep the pot covered for another 10 minutes after you’ve turned off the heat.
  12. After 10 minutes of resting, fluff the lentils and rice with a fork and serve.

Notes

* To do a more environmentally-friendly version of the rinsing steps, you can rinse by adding water to the pot, swishing things around, straining, and repeating a few times. This uses less water than just rinsing in a colander over the sink.

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ingredient highlight: sumac

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Whenever I’m writing a recipe, I try to make the ingredient list as flexible as possible. I know that there is nothing more annoying than having to track down an unfamiliar ingredient, paying extra to have it shipped, then having to wait for it to show up before you make the recipe, for which you only need one tablespoon, which leaves the rest of the bottle to languish in the back of the pantry until spring cleaning two years later, when it gets the Marie Kondo treatment, along with all those CDs, mismatched socks, and collections of old National Geographics. It’s just the worst.

And while I’ll usually list lots of possible substitutions, there are a few ingredients that just can’t be replaced. That’s why I’ve dedicated this whole post to sumac—I really believe it’s worth it to have a jar in your pantry, especially if you want to regularly cook Middle Eastern food.

Sumac (also spelled sumaq or sumach) is made from the ground-up pods of the sumac shrub. It adds a wonderfully tangy, subtly bitter flavor to whatever it’s dusted over. It tastes acidic, but without tasting like citrus or vinegar. An added bonus is the dramatic color, which ranges from tawny red to burgundy, and adds a pop of color to a humble plate of hummus or labneh. It’s a staple of Middle Eastern cuisine (as well as many other cuisines around the world) and can be used wherever a little extra tartness is called for.

But all of this is not to say that sumac is never replaceable. In certain recipes, lemon will add the necessary tartness, and the sumac won’t entirely be missed. But sumac adds a distinctive flavor that just isn’t exactly the same as lemon. Some dishes, where sumac is the star, simply can’t be made without it. Take fattoush. If you don’t have sumac, you might as well choose another salad (although you shouldn’t worry, because there are plenty of Middle Eastern salads that don’t require sumac).

But the good news is that sumac is relatively inexpensive and easy to find online, and once you buy it, you will start putting it on everything (popcorn, garden salads, grilled veggies, grilled meats, burgers, fish, cheese sandwiches, lentil soup, even dessert!). When I want to treat myself, I like to shop at the Spice House (my top recommendation), which sells phenomenally high quality goods at a very reasonable price. If you can find it in a Middle Eastern grocery store, it will be even more affordable. The market near me sells sumac for a couple dollars for a decent-sized bag.

Feel free to check out my sumac archives for a full list of recipes, or try one of my favorites below:

kebab burgers | kebabeh gu samooneh

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My mom is always cooking something delicious for someone. Last night, I called her to talk and she was chopping tabbouleh for my sister’s boyfriend just because she knows it’s his favorite and wanted to send some over. She plans huge family dinners all the time, and when she has to plan a big meal at the last minute, you’d never know that she didn’t spend all week cooking. The secret to her effortless entertaining is the Assyrian kebab.

The key to a good kebab is to completely overload it with herbs. This is what makes it both easy and impressively flavorful. My family uses a ton of cilantro and a decent amount of green onions, so that every bite has an intensely herby flavor. Feel free to experiment with this recipe, as long as you capture the essence of kebabeh—that is, the intensely herby flavor.

We usually serve them on samoon bread, which is available in many Middle Eastern markets, and if you can’t find it, you can always make your own samoon. But if you don’t feel inclined to bake your own, you can use any other bun or bread. Assyrian food is a diaspora cuisine, so it’s not unheard of to eat a kebab on a parker house roll or a Hawaiian roll. We shape kebabs into an oval shape, which nicely matches the oval shape of samoon, but you can use whatever shape makes sense for the bread you have.

My family often eats kebabs plain, but you can add a lot of toppings to make it more of a special occasion food. We sometimes add sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, as well as a dry salsa of sumac, parsley, and green onions.

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kebab burgers | kebabeh gu samooneh

  • Yield: 12 patties

Ingredients

1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons finely chopped green onions *
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sumac (or 2 tablespoons lemon juice)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt (or to taste)
2 1/2 pounds ground beef (a combination of chuck and sirloin, or a mix that is about 80% lean)
1 cup chopped cilantro leaves *
1/2 cup chopped green onions *
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt/table salt), or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste
About 2 to 3 thinly sliced plum tomatoes (for serving)
About 2 to 3 thinly sliced small Persian cucumbers (for serving)
Samoon or any other kind of bread (lawash, pita, or even burger buns all work great)

Instructions

  1. For the dry salsa: Combine parsley, green onions, sumac, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and set aside.
  2. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium high heat (or turn your oven’s broiler on 5 to 10 minutes before you’re ready to cook the patties).
  3. Combine the ground beef with the cilantro, green onions, kosher salt, and black pepper. Mix everything just until it comes together. Do not over-mix or your kebabs will be tough and rubbery.
  4. Shape the kebabs into approximately 12 ovals.
  5. Grill or broil for about 5 to 7 minutes per side until they are cooked all the way through. **
  6. Serve the kebabs on samoon (or your bread of choice), topping each with a heaping teaspoon of the salsa, and a couple slices of tomato and cucumber.

Notes

* For grocery shopping purposes, this normally comes out to about 1 bunch cilantro and 1 bunch green onions (with the onion bunch split between the two components of the dish).

** Kebabs are most often served medium-well or well, but you can serve yours medium rare if that’s what you prefer.

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jeweled rice and noodles | riza sh’ariyeh

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Friends often tell me that they find rice difficult to prepare well. I’ll tell you what I always tell them: the trick to making rice isn’t knowing more about rice, but knowing more about yourself. If you’re someone who does not have a tendency to micromanage, if you tend to entirely check a project off your mental check-list the minute you delegate it, you’ll probably be just fine. If you’re the kind of person who over-waters succulents and kills goldfish by loving them to death, you’ve got to be really careful when making rice and pay extra-close attention to the following suggestions:

First, set a timer and leave the rice alone while you cook it. Don’t peek under the lid and just let it do it’s thing. But, secondly, if you do need to check on it a couple times to make sure it’s doing ok, whatever you do, do not stir the rice. I’m not a food scientist, so I’m not entirely sure why this is so important, but it really will ruin the texture and doneness of your rice. Third, when you eventually turn the heat off, do not remove the lid for 10 or 15 minutes. Once the heat is off, the rice still needs the residual heat to steam the rest of the way. And finally, after it’s rested, fluff the rice with a fork or chop sticks and serve. When it comes to cooking rice, less is more.

Riza sh’ariyeh is the foundation of most Assyrian meals. It’s steamed basmati rice and toasted noodles, usually topped with butter-fried nuts and golden raisins. The raisins become succulent and caramelized while they baste in butter and everything else gets a golden toasted flavor and color. My grandmother‘s mother, Yemmah Sourma, would make this rice with tabouli or fatoushi every Friday night when they would fast from meat; we still make it exactly the same way.

If you don’t have a go-to method for making rice, riza sh’ariyeh is a good one to have memorized or bookmarked. You can quickly whip it together for weeknight meals or really carefully prepare it for a fancy dinner party. Without the decadent topping, it makes a perfect plain pot of rice. But with the almonds, pine nuts, and golden raisins, it’s really something else. Pine nuts are easier to come by in Lebanon, but they’re often prohibitively expensive in the United States, so feel free to leave them out or replace them with more almonds. But if you can include them, they elevate this dish to special occasion status.

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jeweled rice and noodles | riza sh’ariyeh

  • Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice (or other long-grain rice)
3 cups cold water
1 cup fine egg noodles, broken into pieces no longer than 3/4 inch *
1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), divided: 1/2 stick set aside for the rice, the other 1/2 stick cut into thirds **
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt (to taste)
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup pine nuts (optional)

Instructions

  1. Use a fine mesh colander to rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear and is no longer cloudy.
  2. After you’ve rinsed and drained the rice, add it to a large sauce pan or small stockpot along with the 3 cups of cold water, the 1/2 stick of butter, and the salt. Set the stockpot aside.
  3. In a frying pan, melt the first of the three chunks of butter over low heat. Add the egg noodles and stir constantly until they turn light brown.
  4. Once the egg noodles have toasted, add them to the rice, water, butter and salt in the stockpot. Turn the stockpot’s heat up to high. As soon as the rice comes to a boil, set the heat to low, cover, and cook for 13 minutes.
  5. Add another chunk of butter to the frying pan and melt it over low heat. Add the raisins, stirring constantly until they start to slightly caramelize and soften. Once they’re done, remove them with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined plate.
  6. Add the final chunk of butter to the frying pan with the almonds and pine nuts. Stir them constantly over low heat until they are golden-brown. Remove them with a slotted spoon and add them to the plate with the raisins.
  7. Once the rice timer goes off, do not lift the cover. Turn off the heat and let it rest for 15 minutes.
  8. After the rice has rested, fluff it with a fork, spoon it onto a large serving dish, and cover with the almonds, raisins, and pine nuts.

Notes

gluten free / vegan variations:

* If you don’t eat gluten or want to make the recipe egg-free, you can use a gluten- and/or egg-free pasta. Thinner pasta works better; angel hair/spaghetti broken into pieces or orzo would work great. Add an extra 1/4 c of water if you’re using a less voluminous pasta, since egg noodles aren’t very compact).

** If you want to make the recipe vegan or dairy-free, feel free to substitute olive oil for the butter. Just make sure you add an extra 2 tablespoons of water to the rice.

Note on making this ahead: The nut and raisin topping can be fried ahead of time and set aside until needed. If you need to keep the rice warm before serving, fluff it after it rests for 10-15 minutes, and then keep it covered in the stockpot.

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strained yogurt | labneh

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Labneh is a delicious Middle Eastern soft, fresh cheese that can be eaten for breakfast, a snack, or as part of a meze spread. It has a smooth consistency and a slightly sour, subtly sweet flavor. In Lebanon and Syria, my grandmother’s family would make their own labneh at home with mesta, (that is, homemade yogurt). In Beirut, they would buy milk in bottles at the market, but when they moved back to Syria, they bought a cow and used her milk. My grandmother’s mother, Yemmah Sourma, and her older sister, Masy, would milk the cow, then Yemmah Sourma would make mesta, put the fermented mesta in a cloth, tie the cloth together, and let all of the whey drain away until it reached the perfect consistency. They would save the whey to make booshala, a yogurt and swiss chard soup.

These days, we most often buy labneh at Middle Eastern markets, since there are lots of perfectly good brands available. Look for one with fewer additives—the best labneh is just dairy (some combination of milk, cream, whey) and salt (sometimes with a little pectin).

While making labneh at home is a really fun project, I’ve never really found it totally worthwhile to make labneh from store-bought yogurt, since commercial labneh is already so tasty and convenient. But all that recently changed when my friend, Mary, told me how phenomenal it is when it’s made from homemade yogurt. And it’s true—when it comes to labneh made from homemade yogurt, it’s hard to find anything better. So now I’ve become the kind of person who either buys ready-made labneh or goes all-in and makes it all the way from the beginning of the process, with whole milk, which I turn into yogurt overnight and then strain the next night until it is so perfect, you can’t help but eat the whole thing with a spoon straight from the refrigerator (no olive oil, spices, or pita bread required).

If you want to make labneh from store-bought yogurt, maybe because you can’t find labneh near you, or maybe because you want a more low-key cooking adventure, some yogurts work better than others.

I used to think Greek yogurt was best, since it’s already halfway there. But there’s something about the way it’s been processed that just doesn’t work out quite right (maybe since it’s strained by big mechanical centrifuges). After having my friends do a blind-tasting of a few different homemade labnehs, everyone determined that the one made from Greek yogurt was the least favorite of the group.

I’ve found that starting with plain-old unstrained yogurt works better than starting with Greek yogurt. The most important thing is to find one that’s been made from whole milk. I’ve made labneh with fat-free yogurt, but it’s definitely not the same (gritty, sour, and pasty) and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re already accustomed to the tastes and textures unique to a totally fat-free diet.

how to use labneh

Labneh is lovely spread thinly on a plate and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. You can top it with whatever herbs and spices you’d like—mint (especially dried), za’atar, sumac, or paprika each works great. Check out the archives for a full list of my recipes featuring labneh, or check out a few of my favorites, listed below:

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strained yogurt | labneh

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 12 hours
  • Yield: 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

4 cups plain unstrained yogurt, either homemade or store-bought
1 wooden spoon
1 pitcher or other tall container to catch the whey
A long sheet of cheesecloth
For serving (optional): salt, za’atar (or another spice blend), and extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

  1. Line a medium-sized bowl (approximately 1 quart) with several layers of cheesecloth. Make sure that the cheesecloth square is large enough to tie the corners around 1 quart of yogurt.
  2. Spoon the yogurt into the center of the cheesecloth-covered bowl, place the wooden spoon over the top then wrap the cheesecloth edges over the top, tying them around the wooden spoon.
  3. Place the ball inside the pitcher, with the wooden spoon allowing it to hang from the top. This will keep it away from the pooling whey, so that it can strain as it hangs.
  4. Cover with plastic wrap, give the fridge a sniff check to make sure there are no funky smells, and strain the labneh in the fridge for about 6-12 hours, depending on the consistency you want. It will be more like Greek yogurt after 6 hours and much firmer after 12. *
  5. To serve, spread thinly on a plate, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and spices.

Notes

* Don’t be surprised if the labneh loses a couple cups of whey during the straining process. You might need to empty the pitcher if the whey-line starts to get too close to the ball. Also don’t be surprised if the trickle of whey slows down dramatically after the first couple hours. It will lose most of its whey in the first 6 hours.

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assyrian egg rolls | burek

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Whenever someone immigrates, gets engaged or married, or visits from out of town, my grandmother celebrates the occasion by frying up a big plate of burek, which she usually serves unceremoniously on a plate lined with paper towels, since everyone is always lurking around the stove waiting for her to lift them out of the deep fryer. Burek doesn’t need to be served on fine china, dressed up with a fancy presentation, or served with a clever assortment of dipping sauces in order to be celebratory. It’s just inherently so! And if you make these for your next party, they will be the first thing to go (seriously, even if you triple the recipe), so make sure you save yourself a few in the back of the refrigerator, because they’re also fabulous left over (it’s a very cold-leftover-pizza experience).

This recipe is totally flexible—you can add more cheese, parsley, a clove or two of garlic, or a few pinches of allspice. My family loves to eat burek with salsa or Sriracha, but it’s also delicious just on its own. You can even make a special vegetarian version, with mushrooms instead of beef; I’ve included a note with the recipe about how to make this substitution. There are other vegetarian versions made with mostly cheese. Assyrian chef Lana Shlimon, who cooks Lebanese and Iraqi Assyrian food, recommends mixing a combination of mild and briny cheeses, for instance feta and mozzarella.

If you’d like to make your burek ahead of time, you can either roll them up the night before and then fry them at the last minute, or fry them earlier in the day and then later crisp them up in the oven before serving.

If you’re new to deep frying, don’t be intimidated! The thing is, it’s very easy if you know a few tricks. Just make sure to set up a safe deep fry station and to keep the heat at a constant temperature. If you do both, deep frying is a piece of cake. The easiest way to keep a constant temperature is to buy an inexpensive deep fry thermometer so that you can easily monitor and adjust the heat. As long as you keep it around 350°, the oil shouldn’t sputter or smoke. But if you don’t have a thermometer and need burek now, there are a few low tech workarounds. To keep your fry station safe, find a heavy pot, make sure you have several inches of space above the oil line so that it doesn’t bubble over, and keep the pot toward the back of the stove.

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assyrian egg rolls | burek

  • Total Time: 1 hour
  • Yield: approximately 20 rolls

Ingredients

2 tablespoons neutral-flavored oil
1 small onion (or half of a large onion), minced
1 pound sirloin, minced finely into very small pieces (or ground) *
1 cup loosely packed shredded mozzarella (not fresh mozzarella) *
1/2 cup loosely packed chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
1 package large wonton wrappers (1 pound / 20 to 21 wontons)
2 or 3 tablespoons water in a small bowl
1 to 2 quarts oil for deep frying (e.g., peanut, canola, olive oil, but not extra virgin)

Instructions

  1. Make the filling: Heat 1 tablespoon of neutral oil in a medium frying pan over medium heat. Once the oil has heated for a minute or two, add the minced onion and cook until it softens and becomes translucent, about 5 to 10 minutes.
  2. Once the minced onion has softened, turn the heat to medium-high and push the onion to the sides of the pan.
  3. Add the other tablespoon of neutral oil to the center of the pan and add the minced beef * to the center of the pan. Spread it out evenly and then let it sit there for about a minute while you season it with salt and pepper.
  4. After the beef has sat in the center for a minute, mix up the beef, trying not to disturb the onions, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan, and let it sit for another minute or two. Continue this pattern until it has browned nicely and any pooling liquid has been cooked off, about 6-7 minutes.
  5. Mix together the onions and the beef if they haven’t already mixed together.
  6. Take the beef and onions off the heat and let them cool (about 10 minutes).
  7. Stir in the mozzarella, parsley, and any additional salt and pepper.
  8. Set up a safe fry station on the stove or in a dedicated deep fryer. Turn the heat to medium so that the oil slowly rises to 350° F and keep an eye on it while you work.
  9. Wrap the burek: Place one wrapper on a cutting board.
  10. Put a couple spoon-fulls of the filling (approximately 2 tablespoons—pace yourself for 20 rolls) in the center of the wrapper in a diagonal line, from corner to corner, rather than side to side. Leave a large border all the way around the filling so that you can wrap it up.
  11. Place the wrapper so that the filling looks horizontal from your perspective and fold over the two side corners so that they meet in the middle. Then fold the triangle facing you over the top, and then roll everything tightly into a cylinder away from yourself. Make sure you roll them snugly, so that they don’t hold in big pockets of air.
  12. To seal the roll: raise the loose wonton flap, wet your fingers liberally, brush water all over the triangular wonton flap, and roll it back over until it sticks.
  13. Repeat with the remaining 19 or 20 rolls.
  14. Fry the burek: Once the oil has reached 350° F, add a few rolls at a time and fry for about 5 minutes, until golden-brown. Flip the burek over if they aren’t tumbling around on their own. Work in batches, don’t crowd the oil, and adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a temperature of 350° F.
  15. Once golden brown, remove the burek with a slotted spoon or spider and cool on a couple layers of paper towels.

Notes

* To make the vegetarian version, use 1 pound finely chopped mushrooms instead of minced beef and add an extra 1/2 cup of cheese. You’ll need to cook the mushrooms until they’ve given up their liquid and have begun to brown.

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homemade yogurt | mesta

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There’s something precious about the way mesta (homemade yogurt) is made. You slowly simmer milk, swaddle it in a blanket right before going to sleep, and then you wake up to the most perfect breakfast. But for all its preciousness, the process is not the least bit fussy. So if you’ve never fermented anything at home, yogurt is a nice first project. It doesn’t take very long, it doesn’t require any special equipment, it’s very hard to mess up, and the results are so much more delicious than anything you can buy in a store. All you need is milk and a little bit of leftover yogurt, which we call the khumsah.

If you have a lot of friends or relatives who make their own yogurt, you should be able to track down some real khumsah, left over from the last batch of homemade yogurt. The khumsah gets passed on from friend to friend and generation to generation, so that it eventually becomes impossible to pinpoint where or when it started. But if you don’t have a homemade yogurt fanatic friend, you can always start your first batch off with a scoop of store-bought yogurt. After you make the first batch, just be sure to set a little bit of yogurt aside to make more—you’ll be on a roll and soon your friends will start showing up at your house, asking you if they can borrow a scoop.

If you’ve never tried plain homemade yogurt, you don’t know what you’ve been missing. But there are also a lot of tasty ways to dress up this humble bowl. Try out some of these serving suggestions (crowd-sourced from my friends and family), whether you’ve got homemade or store-bought:

Sweet:
Rosewater, pistachio, and honey (pictured above)
Figs, dates, honey, and cinnamon
Slivered almonds and a dollop of jam or honey
Apple, pomegranate, and slivered almonds

Savory:
Za’atar and extra virgin olive oil (above left)
Oregano, garlic powder, and extra virgin olive oil (above right, pictured with Cuban oregano)
Mint or dill, cucumber, garlic powder (a variety of jajik)
+ Add some pita chips or prakhe (stuffed grape leaves) to any savory option

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homemade yogurt | mesta

  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 8 1/2 to 24 hours
  • Yield: 4 quarts, unstrained

Ingredients

1 gallon whole milk
1/4 cup yogurt with live active cultures (also known as khumsah) *

Instructions

  1. Heat the milk very carefully over medium-low heat so that it doesn’t scorch or boil over. Stir it every few minutes and keep a very close eye on it.
  2. As soon as it starts to simmer, take it off the heat and pour it into the container you’re going to store it in (either glass or ceramic). Or you can leave it in the same container you heated it in, as long as it’s a non-reactive metal and you have avoided scorching the bottom.
  3. Let it cool down a bit, checking periodically to make sure the milk doesn’t cool down too much. It should still feel warm, but should be cool enough that you can stick your finger in the milk without burning yourself. Once it’s at this point, add the khumsah to a small bowl and combine it with 1/4 c of the warm milk.
  4. Add this mixture back into the container, mix it together, and cover it with a loose-fitting lid or plastic wrap.
  5. Wrap the whole thing in a blanket. This will keep it insulated so that it keeps some of the residual heat from the milk.
  6. Store the blanketed container in the oven and put a note on the control board so no one turns it on while your yogurt is inside.
  7. Let it ferment anywhere between 8 to 24 hours, depending on how sour you want it to be. It will become more sour as it ages. 12 hours is usually perfect.
  8. Once you’re happy with the consistency, put it in the refrigerator to let it chill.
  9. Once it’s chilled, put a couple of layers of undyed paper towels or clean tea towels (washed without dryer sheets, fabric softener, or fragrance) on top to soak up some of the whey. Discard after they absorb as much liquid as they’ll hold.
  10. Enjoy the mesta as is, or hang it with cheesecloth to turn it into Greek yogurt (hung for about 4 hours) or labneh (hung for about 12 hours).

Notes

* The khumsah can be from a homemade batch of yogurt, or a scoop of store-bought yogurt.

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zesty lemon hummus

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Hummus is sometimes dense, cakey, clumpy, heavy, gritty, and bland—a dreadful combination. You can hold a drab bowl of hummus upside down, like a Dairy Queen blizzard, and the kneaded brick of ground-up chickpeas will stay in the bowl, slowly growing cracks across the dry surface as it hovers, completely forgotten, over the party appetizer table. My family makes hummus for just about every party we go to or host, and there’s never any left at the end of the night. There are a few easy tricks to making really good hummus.

I use a lot more lemon juice than you might think necessary. Most recipes call for just a couple tablespoons, which leads to a thick, bland, gritty paste instead of a zesty, tangy, smooth spread. Since it’s served with pita bread or lawasha, hummus has got to be super flavorful to stand out.

I also use a bit more tahini than you might think. The tahini balances the tartness of the lemons and gives the chickpeas a lot more earthiness. A good amount of tahini and lemon juice make this hummus very dynamic and balanced.

I don’t use a ton of garlic, just a medium clove, maybe two if you really love garlic. Extra garlic is not the way to make your hummus more flavorful. You don’t want it to actually taste garlicky, but to have a subtle note of garlic.

I particularly love the way my mother and grandmother taught me to present hummus, which is both beautiful and functional. Hummus is often served in a bowl with some oil drizzled over it and some spices, but that’s not the most efficient way to get a good amount of spices and olive oil with every bite. Instead, we spread it somewhat thinly over a plate or shallow bowl (about 1/2 to 1 inch thick), then dip the spoon over the surface to create indentations, which we fill with extra virgin olive oil and a dusting of spices. That way every bite is covered with the toppings. (See the above video for step-by-step instructions).

And speaking of toppings, there are so many tasty spices you can top your hummus with. There’s za’atar for herby earthiness, paprika for piquancy, and sumac for extra tartness. If you don’t have za’atar around, you can simply add a mixture of thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds. You can also sprinkle it with cayenne pepper, you can fill the center with red peppers, olives, capers, or preserved lemons—there are endless possibilities.

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zesty lemon hummus

★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 2 large plates of hummus

Ingredients

1 or 2 medium cloves of garlic (go easy on the garlic!)
2 15.5 ounce cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained *
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (about 2 to 3 lemons) **
1/2 cup tahini
Salt to taste ***
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
Spices or herbs for topping (for instance, sumac, za’atar, paprika, cayenne pepper)
For serving: pita bread (either store-bought or homemade), or whatever else you’d like to use for dipping (carrots, cucumbers, etc.)

Instructions

  1. Chop or mash the garlic clove in a food processor or mortar and pestle.
  2. Add the chickpeas and grind them until they look like a gritty paste.
  3. Add the lemon juice and continue to process for a minute or two, until the hummus becomes smooth.
  4. Add the tahini and process until combined.
  5. Add a little salt, to taste, depending on how well the chickpeas have already been seasoned.
  6. Spread half of the hummus in a thin, even layer on a plate (about 1/2 – 3/4 inch thick). Drag the back of a spoon across the surface, dipping the spoon into the hummus to create little pockets as you go. Moving in a spiral over the surface works well (see the video above this recipe).
  7. Use the rest of the hummus for another plate, or keep it in the refrigerator or freezer for another time.
  8. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and dust with herbs or spices.

Notes

* If you’d prefer to use dried chickpeas, check out my other hummus recipe for instructions.

** This hummus recipe is very lemony and vibrant. If you like less lemon, feel free to replace some amount of the lemon juice with an equal amount of water. For instance, replacing 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with an equal amount of water results in a less zesty, but still very tasty, hummus. Dusting it with something less sour than za’atar or sumac, like paprika, also keeps it on the mellow side.

*** Check the sodium content of the chickpeas you’re using and taste before seasoning.

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cardamom baklawa (baklava)

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Assyrian people are from all over the Middle East and many other parts of the world, so our food is as diverse as the regions we live in. It’s hard to find one recipe for a dish that we’ll all agree is the definitively authentic one. Baklawa is really representative of this diversity: Most Middle Eastern and Mediterranean regions have their own version of baklawa with different ingredients, preparations, presentations, and pronunciations (“baklawa,” “baklava,” “baqlawa,” etc.), and so baklawa varies from one Assyrian family to another.

There are literally thousands of possible combinations: baklawa can be layered with just about any kind of nut, most often pistachios, walnuts, or almonds. The sugar solution can be made from any combination of several different sugars, but usually includes some amount of honey. Rosewater or orange blossom water can be added to the syrup. All sorts of warm, sweet spices can be added, such as cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom. The dough is made with pastries ranging from delicate, crispy filo dough to soft, bready crust. It can be molded or cut into many beautiful shapes.

Among so many perfect combinations, it’s hard to go wrong, but my grandmother, Romy, makes a very special version that stands out as one of the best. Most importantly, it’s delicious. She uses 100% honey for the syrup along with some powdered sugar in the walnut mixture. She uses a combination of walnuts and pistachios, imbuing it with richness, color, and balance. And she uses cardamom, which gives it a really special flavor that reminds us all of the way her kitchen smells.

While enjoying this baklawa is absolutely delightful, I also love this recipe’s no-nonsense attitude, which demystifies the whole process. The recipe completely eliminates the most tedious step: individually brushing each of the dozens of filo sheets with butter before they dry out. No damp tea towel or pastry brush is necessary here, since it takes literally 5 minutes to deal with the filo. This is accomplished by slicing all the way through the layers of dough and walnuts, pouring clarified butter over the top, and then baking it. Butter seeps all the way through each layer, making its way to the center of each piece as it bakes and resulting in perfectly cooked baklawa without the tedious layering. And by slicing through before baking, you don’t end up shattering the delicately crispy tops before serving. The whole thing comes together so perfectly. There is not a thing I would change.

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cardamom baklawa (baklava)

  • Prep Time: 35 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 1/2 hours
  • Yield: approximately 3 to 6 dozen pieces (depending on how you slice them)

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks / 8 ounces) butter*, plus an extra tablespoon for greasing
16 ounces walnuts, about 4 cups medium-chopped
5 ounces powdered sugar, about 1 cup
2 tablespoons ground cardamom
16-ounce container of filo dough sheets (do not open until the recipe tells you to)
16 ounces honey
1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
  2. Use the extra tablespoon of butter to grease a 12″ x 16″ rimmed sheet pan.
  3. Melt the 2 sticks of butter.
  4. While the butter is melting, combine chopped walnuts, powdered sugar, and cardamom, and set aside.
  5. Once the butter has melted, get a fine mesh strainer ready (if you don’t have a mesh strainer, spoon the foam off the top of the butter) and then open the filo dough container.
  6. Place half of the filo dough on the sheet pan.
  7. Spread the chopped walnut mixture evenly over the filo dough.
  8. Place the rest of the filo dough on top of the walnut mixture.
  9. Cut the baklawa into diamonds by slicing straight across in one direction, then diagonally in the other direction (see photos above). It’s best to work with a very sharp or serrated knife so that you don’t tear, stretch, or dishevel the filo. It’s alright if a few of the pieces go a little awry, but you want everything to stay pretty lined up.
  10. Pour the butter through the sieve to capture the foam, slowly drizzling it evenly all over the baklawa.
  11. Cook the baklawa in the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes**, until it has lightly browned. (Start checking after 15 minutes of baking).
  12. As soon as it comes out of the oven, immediately pour the honey evenly over the top.
  13. Immediately top with ground pistachios.
  14. Let it sit until it comes to room temperature, at least one hour.
  15. Cut through the same lines you made before baking and serve.

Notes

* You can use either salted or unsalted butter. My mom and grandmother use unsalted, but I use salted. If you like your baked goods well-seasoned, salted works great.

** 20 to 30 minutes results in very traditional lightly browned baklawa, but you can let it bake for up to another 10 minutes if you prefer yours to be more golden brown. Just keep a close eye on it to make sure it doesn’t burn.

Note: If you have any leftover baklawa, you can freeze it and turn it into baklawa frozen yogurt. To store, keep in the refrigerator for about 1 week or the freezer for about 3 months. For more baklawa, also feel free to check out my recipe for dairy free botanical baklawa.

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