Fatet recipes use day old pita bread that is soaked in a special sauce and layered with a main ingredient like chicken or eggplant. This recipe uses chicken and rice. In Palestine and across the Middle East, wasting bread is Haram, and these recipes are a way to use bread that has gone stale in a tasty dish. This is also an ideal recipe for leftover rice or roasted chicken. Continue reading
Seniyat Reyash is baked lamb chops topped with onions, tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers. It takes about 10 minutes to prepare, and the oven does the magic. In Palestine, Seniyat Reyash is usually served with rice next to a side dish of grilled or baked vegetables. This meal is also my mom’s favorite. Continue reading
Musakhan is a traditional Palestinian dish made in villages in outdoor ovens. It’s a large, toasty bread, smothered with onions and sumac and topped with chicken. It’s still a popular dish in every household throughout Palestine. Here in Seattle, replicating this dish is tricky because we don’t have the outdoor ovens to make the fresh taboon (bread). BUT, we do have access to naan, which is similar, and even more recently taboon can be found at some Arabic stores. If you are out looking for the bread, it is also called tanour.
Freekeh is fire roasted, young, green wheat, it’s often cooked like rice or in a soup. Freekeh is one of the traditional favorite foods in Palestine. It’s an excellent source of protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. It has an earthy, delicious flavor. Mansaf freekeh is cooked freekeh topped with your favorite meat and toasted almonds.
Mejadara is a filling, rich, rice and lentil dish, topped with caramelized onions, served with yogurt and/or salad. It’s a gluten free meal, and a great source of protein. Mejadara is well known all over the middle east and there are many different recipes. This is the one from my home town, Hebron (الخليل).
Bamia, or okra, is the main ingredient in this tasty spring stew, and served over rice. It can be made with meat or vegetarian. Even if you think you know okra, give this recipe a chance! Prepared this way, there isn’t the “slime” factor that okra is notorious for. Okra also has a myriad of health benefits. The superior fiber in okra stabilizes blood sugar, has an abundance of vitamins A and C, and contains calcium, magnesium, potassium and folic acid. I ate a ton of this while I was pregnant, and now my little one loves bamia, too!
Seasons of Palestine - فصول فلسطين 