Tabbouli / Tabouli / Tabbouleh Salad (Parsley Salad)

This salad made with parsley along with tomatoes, green onions and bulgur and dressed with freshly squeezed lemons added freshness to this Syrian dish. 

Three large bundles of parsley were used, the leaves were gathered together and the stems were cut and discarded.  I was surprised the stems of the parsley were not thrown into the stock.  The Parsley leaves were chopped, washed and drained before adding the bulgar to the parsley. The spices used were 1/2 tsp sumac pulv, salt and pepper.   Three tomatoes along with three green onions were chopped finely.  Juice of three lemon, 1 tablespoon of finely chopped lemon rind were added and seasoned with salt, pepper and olive oil to taste. 

About a cup of fine Bulgur #1 was used for the salad. It had been soaked in hot broth, the extra moisture was squeezed out.  

Slices of lemon were added to decorated the salad. Another visually attractive dish!

The setting of the table was most interesting and decorative. Fresh Pita bread was fold in half and place under and to the left of the plate. The salad was served in separate bowls and according to the eight year old not mixed with the Bulgar which I was so tempted to do!

Spicy Arabic Chicken, Ouzi

Another beautiful Syrian Dish that was prepared in my kitchen over the holidays by the Syrian family we hosted for three weeks.   The beauty of this dish was that everyone took part in making the Arabic dish. The ten year old loved to help and peeled all the skins of the blanched almonds.  A task I remember doing as a young child as only Natural almonds were available for baking. I remember it leaving my hands feeling odd! 

The blanched almonds were dried and sautéed in about 1/2 cup of sunflower oil.

Chicken Breasts were poached in water, seasoned with Cinnamon sticks, Cardamon Pods, Bay Leaves, Salt and Black Peppers.

The Broth had been skimmed and only the clear broth was used to cook the rice in a covered pot on the stove top.

To the broth spices such as Premixed Arabic spices; cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, cloves, nutmeg,

Along with Turmeric and Curry powder were also added to give a wonderful color and taste to the rice. 

The chicken breasts were cut into small pieces and sautéed in butter until golden brown. 

Using a larger platter, the rice was added first, then the chicken, next the green peas along the ends and garnished with the sautéed Almonds!

Syrian Pizza

Having refrigerator dough ready to go was such a great life saver while hosting the Syrian family.  The two young boys took turns rolling out the dough for their pizza.  With different food preferences, Pizza was the perfect solution. 

Chicken breast slices, mozzarella cheese, Za'atar spice, tomato sauce, sliced mushrooms, caramelized onion, sliced bell peppers, jalapeños peppers were added to different pizza depending  likes and custom made!

Lime Dressing for Salad

Fresh squeezed lime makes the freshest and tastiest salad dressing.

To a small jar add chopped green onion, juice of 2-3 limes, minced garlic chop, salt and Olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. 

Adjust ingredients to taste.. Simple but such a delicious dressing

Lamb Ouzi with Rice, Almonds and Peas

A traditional Syrian Meal full of flavour and deeply aromatic was prepared using lamb.  This was the first meal the Syrian couple we had hosted during the Christmas holidays prepared for our family.

This proved to be an interesting journey through the world of spices and transcribing the recipe for me!  The couple had brought a bag of spices that the wife used all the time in her home.  With the help of google search and google translate, we were able to find most of the spices in my kitchen.  

Kabsa, Kabseh is a mix of both pungent and floral spices such as black pepper, bay leaves, ginger, saffron, cayenne, black lime, cardamom and cloves. 

Curcuma is Turmeric and a Indo European Hot Curry Mix that I had added even more flavor to the rice. 

The adding of spices was not measured, but done to taste.

The Natural almonds were blanched to remove the skins.  This has been a long since I'll seen this done as now one can buy skinned almonds, but at an increased price.

The blanched almonds were dried and fried in canola oil until golden

The lamb was cooked in a pressure cooker. When cool to handle the lamb was cute into bite size pieces.   

Butter was melted and the pieces of lamb were fried in the melted butter

The next step was to cook the rice stove top with aromatic spices;cardamon pods, curry, turmeric, cinnamon, bay leaves, salt and black pepper along with juices from cooking the lamb. 

The lamb dish was beautifully served Family Style, the rice was topped with the lamb and garnished with the sautéed golden almonds and peas. 

This Syrian meal was not only colorful but flavorful and fresh!

This beautiful meal was prepared by a young Syrian couple to mark one week in Canada . What an accomplishment to be able to pull this meal off using two unfamiliar Canadian kitchens!

Christmas Party

Over the holidays, I hosted a Christmas party for our friends to meet our new son in law.  Unfortunately I was not taking many pictures and only have pictures of a few of the dishes I had prepared for the party.

This became an interesting party as we had opened our house to host a young Syrian family  just before Christmas.  The flavors of Serbia were introduced in the menu to our guests. 

The menu 

Asian Pork Meatballs with Nouc Cham Sauce

Lamb Kofta Kebabs with Tzatziki Sauce

Cheese platter

Marinated peppers 

Spinach and Artichoke Bread Ring Dip Baked in a Cast Iron 

This was such a hit that it quickly disappeared when taken out of the oven, before being place on the table

Two rows of small dough buns were arranged around the edge of a greased Cast Iron pan. In the centre was Spinach and Artichoke dip. 

Pate in Puff Pastry

Sweet Spicy Honey-Sriracha Roasted Mix Nuts

Christmas Tree pull apart Scones 

Savory Crackers 

Season these crackers with whatever you like!  I layer hot and spicy crackers with ones that where not so spicy.  Chilli flakes, cracked pepper, oregano, basil and paprika, chunks of fresh Garlic and Parmesan cheese, Sesame seeds with hot chilies, Za'atar spice! 

An assortment of smoked and spicy sausages with Homemade pickles

Syrian Chicken with rice

Arabic Eggplant Dip (Mutabal) 

The two dishes, Mutabal and Spicy Arabic chicken were prepared and brought to the party by a friend of the family were hosting. 

Chicken Liver Pate in Puffy Pastry

Syrian Hummus

This recipe was prepared and plated by the young family we were hosting. 

Asian Chicken Meatballs with sweet and sour sauce

Assortment of desserts

Cranberry Bundt

Serbian custard filled pastry

Assortment of Heritage Quebecois desserts 

Cinnamon-Walnut Crescent Cookies 

What's in your suitcase?

What would you take if you were fleeing your home and country?

My brother has always wanted me to write about my experiences of staying with my grandparents from Grade One to Three.  Here I learned to appreciate some of the stories that my grandmother told me about leaving her country.  Her eyes would fill with tears as she spoke of a large brown trunk that she had to leave on the East coast.  My Grandmother and her husband had arrived by ship and the trunk was just too big to bring with her to the prairies.  I remember as a child fantasizing finding this trunk and opening the lid to look at what was inside.  I do know that she had packed; her china and linens. What did they look like?  I often ponder on what else was in this trunk and what had happened to it.  It surprised me when I asked my Aunt about this, she was unaware that her Mother had left a trunk behind.  Yet, I remember her talking about this and becoming very emotional.

This week, my husband and I visited the young Syrian family that we had hosted over the Christmas holiday's.  They had arrived to Canada with two huge heavy suitcases just before Christmas.  As I looked around their new home, a couple of icon medium sized wooden mosaic pictures were in the corner waiting to be hung.   A huge Wooden Rosary and another icon wooden wall plague was given to us as gifts!  

 I look around my house wondering what I would take.  Would it be my Expresso coffee maker, the Royal Alberta "Memory" China I had bought my Mom for helping me through University or would it be the cross in our bedroom given to us by the priest who married us.  

What would you take?