MUJADARA

Red beans with bulgur wheat and fried onions

Serves 4

400g dried red beans (you could use any small bean if you prefer)

1 litre cold water

2 onions

vegetable oil

salt

100g coarse bulgur wheat

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Wash the beans thoroughly in running cold water. Put them in a pan with the cold water and bring to a simmer over a gentle heat.

Remove the two outer layers of the onions and dice them finely. Put the vegetable oil into a small pan, add the onions, stir well and place the pan over a medium heat. Stir-fry them gently until very dark brown. Drain on a paper towel and discard the oil. Season the onion lightly with salt.

Mix the onions and beans together in a pressure cooker and cook over a low heat for 30 minutes. Carefully release the pressure then add the bulgur wheat and allow to simmer on a very low heat for a further 30 minutes. Taste for seasoning and finally add 1 tbsp or so of good olive oil and serve, ungarnished, in a big wide bowl in the centre of the table. Allow to cool slightly before serving. Eat it by serving yourself a small portion and dipping bread into it on your plate, or take just enough bread for one mouthful and dip directly into the bowl – it is considered very impolite to bite your bread and then dip again.

KEBBEH BATATA

Potato kebbeh

This is a vegetarian kebbeh, also known as false kebbeh – kebbeh is often a purée of minced meat coated in fine bulgur wheat, stuffed and shaped into balls – and is eaten during Lent or when meat is not available. The story is that it was first made by Christians who were avoiding persecution. One Friday, soldiers were looking for Christians – who were obvious because they didn't eat kebbeh, which were always made with meat, on Fridays. A Christian soldier secretly warned them, and eating this false kebbeh saved them. Although in Britain kebbeh is mostly served as torpedo-shaped meatballs, there are lots of variations to the recipe across the region, some with fish or vegetables, some raw and some tray-baked (for both, see below). This could also be made with lentils or puréed pumpkin.

Serves 4

4 large potatoes

1 shallot

7-8 mint leaves

100g fine bulgur wheat

1 tsp salt

1 tsp white pepper

Slice the potatoes into rounds about 1cm thick and boil until cooked and just floury. When cooked, peel and mash finely. Chop the shallot very finely and add that to the potato mixture with the bulgur wheat, then do the same with the mint leaves. Add the salt and white pepper. In a large bowl, mash together with your hands, then knead like bread with your knuckles. Turn out on to a serving plate and use your hand to create grooves in the mash. Drizzle with olive oil.

MEHCHE SELEE

Stuffed chard

Lebanese seven spice is a key ingredient for this style of cooking. It is available in all Middle Eastern food shops or online from steenbergs.co.uk.

Serves 4

12 large chard leaves (or more if the chard is small) and their stalks

small bunch of mint

large bunch of parsley

2 large tomatoes

100g cooked chickpeas

100g uncooked long grain rice

1 tsp Lebanese seven spice

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp sea salt

olive oil

juice of 2 lemons

Remove and reserve any chard stalks that extend beyond the leaves and chop into batons around 6cm long. Slice the leaves into 3 or 4 large pieces, crossways. Fill a frying pan with water, add 1 tsp of salt, bring to a simmer and blanch the leaves, in batches if necessary, for just a minute until wilted but still green. Then do the same with the stalks for slightly longer.

Remove and discard the stalks from the herbs, chop finely, then rinse in a sieve. Dice the tomatoes finely and add to the herbs. Add the chickpeas, rice, spices and seasoning. Dress with 5 tbsp of olive oil and the juice of the 2 lemons. Mix this filling well, using your hands.

Take a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, coat the base in a little oil and then line the pan with the chard stalks – these will protect the fragile chard leaves from the heat later. Then stuff the chard: place a single leaf flat on a board and put a generous tsp of filling in the middle. Gently tuck the sides of the leaf in, over the stuffing, then roll the leaf up from the side nearest to you. Place the rolled-up leaf in the palm of your hand and squeeze out firmly over the bowl of filling (to retain the juices). Put the stuffed chard into the pan, layering them up over the stalks. If you find your chard leaves are too small or are torn, you can layer up two at a time to make a big-enough whole leaf. The stuffed chard will only be about 6cm long and 2cm wide after they are squeezed out.

When you've run out of leaves and stuffing, strain the juices from the stuffing bowl into the saucepan and add 125ml of water and 1 tsp salt. Place the pan on a very low heat for 30 minutes. Finally, carefully invert the pan over a large serving plate and turn out. Add a splash of olive oil and serve. These can be eaten hot, warm or cold.

KEBBEH BASSALYIEH

This is a baked kebbeh which is cut into pieces and served. It's much easier to make than the better-known kebbeh meatballs.

Serves 4-6

5 medium shallots

vegetable oil

75g pine nuts

2 tsp Lebanese seven spice

salt and pepper

175g fine bulgur wheat

1 onion

450g very finely minced goat meat (you can also use lean beef)

1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 180C. Peel and thinly slice the shallots. Spread a thin film of vegetable oil over the bottom of a wide pan and fry the shallots on a medium heat until just slightly browned. Remove from the heat and add the pine nuts, 1 tsp of seven spice, salt and pepper, and mix. Wipe a medium-sized cake tin or flan dish with vegetable oil and spread the onion and spice mix on the bottom.

Rinse the bulgur wheat in a sieve and then squeeze out the water with your hands – it should resemble wet sand. Put it in a bowl and grate the half onion in as well. Mix with the rest of the seven spice and minced meat and 1 tsp salt. Mix together thoroughly with your hands and knead until smooth. If possible, use a large pestle and mortar to really pound the meat.

Make patties of the meat and press a layer about 2cm thick over the onion mixture. Wet your hands and smooth the meat, pressing it right to the edges of the tin. Then mark out portions with the blunt side of a knife: first draw lines to halve, then quarter, then fill in each section with a diamond pattern – each diamond should be bite-sized. Drizzle generously with olive oil, then place in the oven at 180C for half an hour. When you're ready to serve, turn out on to a plate so that the onions and pine nuts are on top, and the lines scored on what is now the base will allow people to break off portions to eat.

SFOUFF B'DEBS

Carob molasses cake

This cake is delicious. It's very moist and also completely vegan.

2 tsp baking powder

600g plain flour

450ml vegetable oil

700g carob molasses (available from most Middle Eastern food shops or online at oliveoilstore.co.uk)

700ml water

4 tsp anise seeds

Preheat the oven to 200C. Fill a pan with the water and anise seeds. Bring to the boil and allow to reduce slightly. Strain and cool the remaining liquid.

Mix the carob molasses and the baking powder together and allow the mixture to sit for 3 or 4 minutes as it slowly changes colour. Add the vegetable oil and 600ml of the anise water.

Add the flour gradually, stirring well (this is a bit easier if you have a mixer). Grease two 6cm deep medium-sized cake tins with vegetable oil (or butter if you're not vegan) and pour in the batter. You can decorate with pine nuts or sesame seeds at this point if you like. Bake for 35-45 minutes – when it's done it will feel springy and moist like a traditional sponge cake.