Tag Archives: blog

finger – licking lebanese taboule as it should be done


When you type “taboule” in the search engine, you get endless recipes, some don’t even resemble the original one.

This recipe is the traditional lebanese taboule as it should be done!

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Ingredients:

  • 4 medium bunch of parsley
  • 2 medium tomatoes
  • 1 small fine chopped onion
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1 tbsp of chopped mint
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp sweet pepper
  • 2 tbsp bulgur (aka burghul)
  • lemon zest

Method:

Gather the parsley in small bouquets, easier to be chopped. Choose the tomatoes half ripe and cut in medium cubes

tomatoes parsley

These parsley were sent to me overseas from lebanon, thanks to my father, knowing that i love taboule.

Add the mint, onion, salt and pepper to taste, lemon, olive oil and burghul.

condiments

Soak the burghul in room temperature water for 5 mns before adding them.

the lemon zest is not a main ingredient but it gives the zing flavor (mom astuce).

Mix all together and taste. You can always add salt or lemon depending on how sour you like it to be. Taboule is the healthiest salad ever. Some have it as an entree and others as a main dish since it’s a complete meal full of nutrients.

I like to eat taboule with lettuce, cabbage, vine leaves and even bread!

tabboule in lettuce

Sahtein! wishing you double health, the lebanese way 🙂

how to make elegant easter eggs- step by step


elegant eggs

For elegant yet simple Easter eggs, it’s a must to use gold or silver color and it’s the material that will make it look fancy.

I chose to dye the eggs with acrylic gold paint using my hand to make it look like patina effect.

colouring gold

all gold

Give it some time to dry before applying the paillette line. Fix it with glue for safe results, I used super glue.

paillette line

paillette 2

all apillette

The richness, neatness and somptuous elegance will mark you Easter!

how to make quick, easy and delicious coconut balls


A pleasure to the palate of coconut lovers. Originally comes from Balkan, it’s a traditional dessert in Croatia.

ccoconut balls 2

You find so many recipes, but this one is simply the best!

Ingredients:

  • 11/2 cup coconut flour
  • 200g butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 2 cups powdered milk

Method:

Combine water, butter and sugar and bring to boil. Put it aside and add the powdered milk, vanilla and 1 cup of the coconut. Mix well until they become consistent. Shape into balls, rolling them on the remaining coconut flour. Meanwhile turn on your oven on 175°C. When the balls are ready, place them on parchment paper, and bake on middle shelf for only 10 minutes just to have a light golden color on the surface.

Eat one and you can never stop!

coconut balls

how to dye noodles for rainbow sensory play


rainbow noodles

Cooked noodles are so much fun for a sensory play. Dye them in rainbow colors and let the amusement begin.

Boil the noodles as instructed on the box, better al dente so they are not sticky or coat them with a touch of oil. Divide them into bowls for each color. Mix with the food coloring, (I always recommend the wilton icing gel to save yourself from stains) and let them dry for 15-20 mns. Now they are ready for play!

I wanted this experience to be even more fun, I packed the rainbow noodles in a plastic container and head to Aspire park, one of the beautiful parks in Doha.

container

noodles

For the first 10 minutes, the rainbow remained  intact. He was just contemplating the beautiful rainbow. So we decided to take it out of the container to start playing.

noodle play

noodle play2

nodle play 3

More squeezing and squashing were expected but my boy was a bit repelled since he is not used to touch food with his hands, my mistake for having OCD tendencies 🙂 so i decided to participate in the play to encourage him.

noodles with mommy 1

noodles with mommy 3

We shaped them into balls, his favourite toy!

noodle balls

ball noodles

Happy times with your kids, are unforgettable precious moments!

noodles with mommy 2

mouth watering kousa mehche (stuffed zucchini)


Who said traditional lebanese dishes can’t be presented in a modern creative way?

Mehche kousa or stuffed zucchini is one of the delicious traditional dishes that all lebanese families cook at least twice a month. Kids as adults love it. So succulent that people never bothered themselves to think of the esthetic presentation on the table .

Personally it’s one of my favourite dishes and i want to take it to the next level, by showing you how the presentation can be equivalent to the taste.

kousa mehche

Isn’t mouth watering?

Usually kousa mehche is accompanied with wara’ arich or stuffed vine leaves to make the dish a killer.

Recipe:

  • 1 kg kousa
  • 200g ground beef
  • 1 cup rice
  • 2 medium tomatoes chopped
  • tomato paste
  • salt & pepper to taste

First you need to empty out the zucchini pulp with a special corer. Carve it as much as you can but try not to break it 🙂

zuchini empty

Mix together the meat, rice, salt and pepper to stuff the zucchini to 3/4 full. The same stuffing is used also for the vine leaves.

Put the zucchini in the pot vertically, open side to the top so the rice will not go in the sauce. Add the chopped tomatoes, the paste and salt to taste then cover with water.

Bring it to boil then reduce to medium low flame and cook for 45 mns approx.

My mom is the queen of kousa mehche, she taught me!