Non-Fasting Recipes

Feast-day recipes containing meat, dairy, and eggs — for Pascha, Bright Week, and other days when the fast is lifted.

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Fatayer Jibneh — Cheese Pies

Small triangular pies filled with a bright, minted cheese mixture — Lebanese fatayer come in spinach (fasting-friendl...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Basbousa — Semolina Yogurt Cake

Dense, fragrant semolina cake soaked in rose-and-orange-flower syrup, topped with blanched almonds. Basbousa appears ...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Mujaddara Hamra with Lamb — Bulgur, Lentils, and Lamb

A heartier, meat-enriched cousin of the classic lentil-rice mujaddara — bulgur and brown lentils simmered with carame...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Sfeeha — Meat Hand Pies

Small open-faced meat pies, a specialty of Baalbek — a yeasted flatbread boat filled with a tart mixture of minced la...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Knafeh — Cheese Pastry with Syrup

Shredded phyllo (kataifi) baked around a layer of stretchy unsalted cheese, drenched in rose-scented syrup, and crown...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Maamoul — Semolina Cookies with Date and Nut Fillings

Buttery semolina shortbread stamped in wooden moulds, filled with dates, walnuts, or pistachios, and dusted with powd...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Warak Enab bi Lahmeh — Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lamb

The Levantine version of stuffed grape leaves — filled with a hot mix of lamb, rice, and warm spices (unlike the cold...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Sheikh al-Mahshi — Stuffed Zucchini

"The Sheikh of Stuffed Things" — small zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with a filling of spiced ground lamb, pine n...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Fatteh — Chickpeas, Yogurt, and Crispy Bread

A layered dish that is pure pleasure: crisp fried pita, warm chickpeas, tangy garlicky yogurt, and a drizzle of brown...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Molokhia — Jute Leaves with Chicken

A singular dish — finely minced jute mallow leaves simmered with chicken broth and garlic until thick and slightly mu...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Lahmajun — Thin-Crust Meat Flatbread

Thin, crispy flatbread topped with a bright-red paste of ground meat, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs, baked until the m...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Shawarma — Spiced Marinated Meat

Traditionally slow-cooked on a vertical rotisserie, this home version captures the same deeply spiced, caramelised la...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Mansaf — Jordanian Lamb with Yogurt and Rice

The national dish of Jordan and a signature Bedouin celebration meal — lamb slowly cooked in jameed (tangy fermented ...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Kafta Meshwi — Grilled Spiced Meat Skewers

Seasoned lamb and beef, shaped by hand around long skewers and grilled over charcoal — kafta is the Arab world's answ...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Shish Tawook — Marinated Grilled Chicken Skewers

The great chicken kebab of the Levant — yogurt-marinated chicken cubes, softly tangy from lemon, grilled over coals u...

Middle Eastern Non Fasting

Kibbeh bil Sanieh — Baked Stuffed Kibbeh

The queen of Levantine tables — a tray-baked version of Syrian-Lebanese kibbeh, with two layers of spiced bulgur-and-...