Recipes

Labna is a fresh cheese made from hung yoghurt. It’s so easy to make at home, and very tasty rolled in this dukkah spice blend.

This Tunisian-style dukkah is divine, with a little warmth from the chilli powder and an intriguing twist from the saffron and turmeric. You’ll never buy dukkah again once you’ve made your own. It keeps well in an air-tight container in the fridge but it won’t last long once you start scattering it on everything from scrambled or poached eggs to freshly cooked vegetables and pan-seared fish!

Nacatole by Liliana Battle

Braised pickled baby octopus with red wine and oregano by Karen Martini

Antipasto salad with torn rosemary croutons by Dominique Rizzo.

Chicken and Century Egg congee by Derek Lau.

Potica is a traditional holiday cake in Slovenia. It is baked on important occasions, like Christmas and Easter.

Syria’s national dish of minced meat and burghul is so deeply loved that over the years its fans have found many different ways to prepare it. The secret is using fresh, very finely minced meat. This is carefully spiced then served raw, baked or fried in endlessly varying shapes, often with delicious fillings (that often include more minced meat). This recipe is for a kind of kibbeh sandwich: a layer of cooked, spiced meat and pine nuts is pressed between two layers of fine kibbeh, then baked and served in wedges like pieces of cake. Serve with salad and drained yoghurt (natural yoghurt that has been drained in muslin until thick).

A Palestinian tradition, maqluba means “upside down” in Arabic and is a pot of stewed meat, rice and fried vegetables, cooked and flipped onto a serving dish to form an impressive tower. In Maha Sarsour’s version, the rice is richly spiced with cinnamon, allspice and more, and the chicken simmers to tenderness as it gives its flavour to the rice.

The thing I love about Hairtail is there aren’t many bones. Makes for easy eating!

The sound of the hot syrup as it’s poured onto the hot pastry is one of the best things, only surpassed by the sound of your first crunchy bite into this golden delicacy. Yum! This is a fantastic recipe for baklava.

This dried eggplant dolma recipe is a speciality of Somer’s mother. Traditionally in Turkey, small long eggplants are cut in half, hollowed out, then put on strings and dried out in the sun. In the rural areas, it is not possible to find eggplant in winter, so this is a great way of preserving them.

This pancake has been known for its soft and delicate texture, therefore is also given the name Pumpkin Soft Cake.

Borscht is a sour soup popular in several Eastern European cuisines, including Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, Belarusian, Lithuanian, Moldavian cuisines. Begin well ahead of serving because it takes time.

I like this main dish because it’s delicious and easy to make.

This hearty dish is perfect for a wintery lunch.

Nihari is a very well-known dish in Pakistan. It tastes very good with bread and rice. I like it very much and cook it once in a month.