Lebanese cuisine is a symphony of freshness, spices, and the sunny Mediterranean. Today we're making three iconic dishes that made Lebanon famous worldwide.
🥗 Fattoush
A crunchy Levantine salad with fried pieces of pita bread, fresh vegetables, and a tangy sumac dressing—the calling card of a Lebanese feast. Bright, tart, with contrasting textures.
Ingredients:
• Pita bread—2 pcs.
• Tomatoes—3 pcs. (medium)
• Cucumbers—2 pcs.
• Romaine lettuce—1 small head
• Radishes—5-6 pcs.
• Green onion—1 bunch
• Fresh mint—1/2 bunch
• Parsley—1 bunch
• Olive oil—5 tbsp.
• Lemon juice—3 tbsp.
• Sumac—2 tsp.
• Garlic—1 clove
• Salt—to taste
• Pomegranate molasses (optional)—1 tsp.
Preparation:
Preparing the pita. Cut the pita into 3×3 cm squares. Heat a pan over medium heat, add 1 tbsp. olive oil. Fry the pita pieces until golden and crispy (3-4 minutes), turning with tongs. Doneness criterion: the pita became hard, breaks with a characteristic crunch. Transfer to a paper towel.
Chopping vegetables. Cut tomatoes into 1.5 cm cubes (remove excess liquid). Cucumbers—half-moons 5 mm thick. Radishes—thin circles (2-3 mm). Tear the romaine lettuce by hand into 4-5 cm pieces. Cut green onion diagonally into 1 cm segments.
Preparing herbs. Separate parsley and mint leaves from stems, coarsely chop with a knife (pieces about 1 cm). Herbs should make up roughly a third of the salad volume—this is fundamental for authenticity.
Dressing. In a small bowl, combine 4 tbsp. olive oil, lemon juice, sumac, pressed garlic, salt. Whisk until smooth emulsion. The dressing should be bright, tart, with a pronounced sumac aroma.
Assembling the salad. In a large bowl, combine all vegetables and herbs. Pour over the dressing, gently toss by hand so each piece is coated with sauce. Criterion: vegetables uniformly glisten with oil.
Final touch. Right before serving, add the crispy pita pieces, quickly toss. Transfer to a serving platter, sprinkle with an additional pinch of sumac. Pita is added at the last moment to preserve crunchiness.
Serving. Serve immediately before the pita gets soggy. Fattoush is traditionally served on a large flat platter as part of mezze (appetizer spread).
💡 Fact: The name 'fattoush' comes from the Arabic word 'fatt'—to crumble. This salad was originally a way to use stale bread, turning it into a crunchy base for the dish.
🍗 Shish Taouk
Juicy chicken skewers in a yogurt marinade with garlic and lemon, grilled to a golden crust. Tender meat with a slight tang and aroma of spices—the star of Lebanese grill.
Ingredients:
• Chicken breast fillet—800 g
• Plain yogurt—200 g
• Lemon juice—3 tbsp.
• Olive oil—3 tbsp.
• Garlic—4 cloves
• Tomato paste—1 tbsp.
• Paprika—1 tsp.
• Ground cumin—1/2 tsp.
• Turmeric—1/2 tsp.
• Ground cardamom—1/4 tsp.
• Salt—1 tsp.
• Black pepper—1/2 tsp.
• Wooden skewers—8-10 pcs.
Preparation:
Preparing the marinade. In a deep bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, olive oil, tomato paste. Add pressed garlic, all spices, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly with a whisk until smooth, orange-creamy colored. The marinade should be thick, coating.
Preparing the chicken. Cut chicken fillet into 3-4 cm cubes. Important: pieces should be the same size for even cooking. Remove sinews and membranes.
Marinating. Place chicken cubes in the marinade, mix thoroughly by hand so each piece is completely coated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, optimally overnight (up to 12 hours). Long marinating ensures tenderness and depth of flavor.
Preparing skewers. 30 minutes before cooking, soak wooden skewers in cold water—this prevents them from charring. Take chicken out of the refrigerator so the meat warms to room temperature.
Assembling skewers. Thread chicken cubes onto skewers tightly next to each other, leaving 3-4 cm free on each end. Per skewer—5-6 pieces. Shake off excess marinade slightly, but don't remove completely.
Grilling/pan-frying. Heat a grill or grill pan over medium heat. Grease the surface with oil. Lay out skewers and grill 4-5 minutes per side (4 sides total), turning 90 degrees. Doneness criterion: meat is covered with a golden-brown crust with characteristic grill marks, clear juice releases when pressed, internal temperature 75°C.
Resting and serving. Remove skewers from heat, cover with foil and let rest 3-5 minutes—juices will redistribute, meat will become even juicier. Serve on skewers with pita bread, garlic sauce toum, pickled vegetables and fresh tomatoes. Traditionally served with rice or french fries.
💡 Fact: Shish taouk translates from Turkish as 'chicken skewers'. The dish became iconic in Lebanon thanks to Beirut street kiosks, where it's been cooked over open flame right in front of customers since the 1950s.
🥮 Maamoul
Crumbly shortbread cookies with date, walnut, or pistachio filling, decorated with traditional patterns. Melts in your mouth, leaving a sweet aftertaste of spices and flower water.
Ingredients:
For dough:
• Flour—500 g
• Butter—250 g (softened)
• Powdered sugar—100 g
• Fine semolina—100 g
• Milk—50 ml
• Orange blossom water (or rose water)—2 tbsp.
• Baking powder—1 tsp.
• Salt—pinch
For date filling:
• Dates (pitted)—300 g
• Butter—30 g
• Ground cinnamon—1/2 tsp.
• Water—2-3 tbsp.
For serving:
• Powdered sugar—for dusting
Preparation:
Preparing dough (day 1). In a large bowl, mix flour, semolina, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center. Add softened butter in pieces. Rub the butter into the dry mixture by hand until it resembles coarse crumbs—texture should look like damp sand. This process takes 5-7 minutes.
Forming dough. Add powdered sugar, flower water and milk. Knead the dough by hand until smooth. It should be soft, pliable, not stick to hands, but not crumble either. If too dry—add 1 tbsp. milk. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or minimum 4 hours). Aging is critical: semolina will swell, dough will become workable.
Making filling. Finely chop dates with a knife or blend until paste-like. In a saucepan, melt butter, add date mixture, cinnamon and 2 tbsp. water. Simmer over minimal heat 5-7 minutes, constantly stirring with a wooden spoon. Doneness criterion: mixture thickened, easily forms into a ball, doesn't stick to hands. Cool to room temperature.
Shaping cookies. Preheat oven to 180°C. Take dough out of refrigerator, let sit 10 minutes. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of dough (about 30 g), roll into balls. With your thumb, make a deep well in the center, forming a cup with 3-4 mm thick walls. Place 1 tsp. date filling inside.
Sealing and decorating. Carefully pinch the dough edges over the filling, completely closing it. Roll between palms, forming a smooth ball or slightly flattened dome. If you have a special maamoul mold (or cookie tweezers)—press the cookie, creating traditional relief pattern. Without a mold: use a fork to make decorative lines on the surface. Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment, 3 cm apart.
Baking. Bake 20-25 minutes at 180°C. Cookies should NOT brown—this is important. Doneness criterion: bottom of cookie turned light golden, top remained almost white, springs slightly when lightly pressed. Maamoul finishes baking from residual heat.
Cooling and serving. Remove baking sheet from oven, leave cookies on it for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a cooling rack for complete cooling (30 minutes). When maamoul is completely cool, dust generously with powdered sugar through a fine sieve. Serve with Arabic coffee or mint tea. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.
💡 Fact: Maamoul is an ancient cookie over 3000 years old. In Lebanon it's traditionally baked for Easter and Muslim holidays. Special wooden molds with carved patterns (tabe) are passed down in families from generation to generation as heirlooms.