Appetizers
Silky Hummus
Silky, pourable hummus with far more tahini than most recipes dare, whipped for five minutes with ice water. Peeling…
🌍 Cuisine
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Middle Eastern recipes
Tahini, sumac and charred vegetables across the Levant. 60 Middle Eastern recipes, from the everyday to the ambitious.
Mezze, grills, rice dishes, stews and sweets from across the region. Plenty of the small plates keep for a day or two in the fridge, so a table of several dishes can be spread over the days before you serve them.
The 60 recipes cover 8 of the site’s categories, among them 27 dinners, 13 appetisers and small plates, 6 healthy dishes, 5 desserts, 3 bakes and 3 lunches. Of these, 15 are ready in 30 minutes or less, start to finish; the quickest are Lamb Marinade (5 min), Lemon Tahini Dressing (5 min) and Beetroot Hummus (10 min). For 29, the method times a wait such as rising, chilling or marinating, and the time at the top of the recipe includes it. By difficulty: 39 easy, 17 medium and 4 hard.
As written, 37 are vegetarian, 20 vegan, 19 gluten-free and 27 dairy-free. Another 8 meet a diet label only with a swap the recipe names, and the recipe says which.
Middle Eastern recipes — all 60 recipes
Breakfast
Shakshuka
Eggs poached in a smoky, cumin-scented pepper and tomato sauce, served straight from the pan with bread for…
Dinner
Chicken Shawarma
All the flavour of a shawarma spit from an oven tray: thighs marinated in warm spices and yogurt, roasted hard, then…
Lunch
Crispy Falafel
Made only from soaked dried chickpeas — never tinned, never cooked — so the outside shatters and the inside stays…
Dinner
Lamb Kofta Kebabs
Spiced lamb worked until it turns sticky, moulded around skewers and grilled hard so the outside chars while the…
Side dish
Tabbouleh
A Lebanese tabbouleh is a parsley salad with a little bulgur in it, not the other way round. Chopped by hand…
Desserts
Knafeh Nabulsi
Semolina-orange dough over a layer of fresh white cheese, baked until the base is crisp and the top is orange, then…
Appetizers
Baba Ganoush
Aubergine charred directly over a flame until the skin is black and the flesh collapses, then whipped with tahini…
Appetizers
Labneh with Za'atar
Yoghurt strained through cloth for a day until it is thick enough to hold a spoon upright, spread on a plate, pooled…
Healthy
Mujadara
Lentils and rice cooked together under a mountain of onions fried almost to the point of burning. A dish of the poor…
Desserts
Knafeh
Shredded pastry over a layer of stretchy cheese, baked until the top is crisp and orange, then soaked in…
Breakfast
Manakish Za'atar
Flatbread spread with za'atar mixed into olive oil and baked until the edges crisp. Bought hot from the bakery for…
Side dish
Fattoush Salad
The Levantine bread salad: crisp fried pita, cucumber, tomato, radish and herbs, dressed with sumac and pomegranate…
Dinner
Maqluba
Rice, meat and fried vegetables layered in a pot and flipped out whole at the table so it stands as a cake. The name…
Desserts
Basbousa
A semolina cake soaked in syrup and cut into diamonds with an almond pressed into each. Found from Egypt to Turkey…
Holiday Specials
Lamb Mandi
Yemeni lamb steamed over spiced rice until it falls off the bone, then finished with a piece of burning charcoal…
Dinner
Musakhan
Palestinian roast chicken on flatbread soaked in olive oil, with a great quantity of sumac-stained onions and…
Dinner
Baked Kibbeh
Bulgur and lamb pounded to a paste, layered around a spiced filling of more lamb and pine nuts, scored into diamonds…
Dinner
Harees
Wheat and meat cooked together for hours and then beaten into a smooth, savoury porridge, finished with ghee and…
Dinner
Mansaf
Lamb cooked in fermented yoghurt, spread over rice and flatbread with toasted nuts. Jordan's national dish, and a…
Desserts
Dubai Chocolate Bar
A chocolate bar filled with crisp toasted kataifi pastry, pistachio cream and tahini. The viral sweet inspired by…
Lunch
Hummus Veggie Wrap
Hummus spread over a whole-wheat tortilla and rolled around spinach, cucumber, red pepper, carrot and red cabbage…
Appetizers
Cucumber Hummus Bites
Thick cucumber rounds filled with hummus and topped with cherry tomato, parsley, pine nuts and paprika. Six servings…
Dinner
Chicken Kofta
Spiced chicken kofta of cumin, coriander, cinnamon and paprika with parsley and mint, cooked on a hot grill pan and…
Bread
Flatbread
Soft, no-yeast flatbreads made from flour and yogurt and cooked on a dry hot pan. Makes 8 in 22 minutes.
Appetizers
Air Fryer Halloumi
Thick slices of halloumi cooked in the air fryer until golden and squeaky, served with honey and chili. Four…
Kitchen basic
Lamb Marinade
Olive oil, lemon, garlic, rosemary, cumin and pomegranate molasses whisked into a fragrant marinade for lamb. Six…
Bread
Pita Bread
A yeast dough rolled into rounds and cooked on a very hot tray for 15 minutes until the breads puff into pockets…
Appetizers
Pita Chips
Pita breads cut into triangles, tossed in olive oil, za'atar and salt and cooked for 10 minutes until crisp. Four…
Dinner
Chickpea Patties
Chickpeas, herbs, garlic and spices mashed and fried for 12 minutes into golden patties. Four servings in 27 minutes.
Dinner
Kebab Wraps
Spiced beef and lamb mince shaped around skewers and grilled for 12 minutes, wrapped in flatbread with salad and…
Dinner
Beef Kebabs
Beef sirloin cubes marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic and oregano and grilled on skewers with peppers and onion…
Dinner
Lamb Meatballs
Lamb mince with cumin, mint and breadcrumbs shaped into small meatballs and fried for 12 minutes, served in a tomato…
Dinner
Tahini Chicken
Chicken thighs roasted for 40 minutes in a lemon, garlic and tahini marinade, served with a drizzle of tahini sauce.
Dinner
Za'atar Chicken
Chicken thighs rubbed with za'atar, olive oil and lemon and roasted for 40 minutes with red onion until crisp.
Lunch
Lebanese Lentil Soup
Red lentils simmered with onion, cumin and carrot for 30 minutes, blended and finished with a squeeze of lemon.
Appetizers
Halloumi Fries
Sticks of halloumi dusted in seasoned flour and fried until golden, with a lemon and mint yoghurt dip.
Baking
Pistachio Cake
A tender cake made with ground pistachios, yoghurt and a little cardamom, soaked with lemon syrup.
Appetizers
Beetroot Hummus
Hummus blended with cooked beetroot, tahini, lemon and cumin into a deep pink dip.
Appetizers
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
Hummus blended with roasted red peppers from a jar, tahini, lemon, garlic and cumin into a sweet, smoky dip.
Healthy
Grain Bowl with Tahini
Bulgur wheat topped with roasted cauliflower, chickpeas, cucumber and tomato, finished with a lemony tahini sauce…
Dinner
Beef Shawarma
Thin slices of sirloin marinated in lemon, cumin, turmeric and garlic, seared and rolled in flatbread with garlic…
Side dish
Harissa Roasted Carrots
Carrots tossed in harissa paste, olive oil and honey, roasted until caramelised and served with yoghurt.
Side dish
Rice Pilaf
Long-grain rice toasted in butter with onion and vermicelli, then cooked in stock with a bay leaf.
Dinner
Chicken Pastilla
Spiced shredded chicken, almonds and egg wrapped in layers of crisp filo, baked and dusted with cinnamon and sugar.
Dinner
Lamb Shawarma
Thin lamb strips marinated in warm spices and lemon, roasted until crisp at the edges and served in flatbreads with…