Dates are an integral part of my life. And by dates, I mean the fruit and not a romantic evening out. If you have never had a date, I suggest you buy yourself some medjool dates and give them a try. They have a lovely caramel taste to them. When I am trying to be… Continue reading My Favorite Kind of Date: Stuffed Dates, Three Ways
I’d like to introduce you to my first memory of coffee. It’s my mother’s favorite and a little known recipe outside of Libya. We call it Libyan coffee. In Libya, it’s just “coffee.” Kind of like how Libyan soup is just soup in Libya, and everyone just happens to know exactly what you are referring… Continue reading Caffeine Stories – Libyan Coffee
Imbattin is made of a spicy ground beef filling, nestled between two slices of potato, dipped in a tomato-infused batter and fried.
Libyan Magrood is a delicate semolina cookie stuffed with dates, soaked in a honey-syrup, and sprinkled with sesame seeds. It melts in your mouth and is perfect with a hot cup of tea.
Aslooz is one of my favorite summertime dishes. It’s a couscous-based dish and I love couscous; however, only steamed couscous. If you haven’t eaten steamed couscous, you just haven’t truly tasted real couscous. Steamed couscous has a delicous fluffiness to it that you cannot achieve with any other cooking method. Someone once served me a couscous… Continue reading Tastes Like Summer – Libyan Aslooz
Ramadan in the summer calls for a refreshing dessert that is both light and cool. Here in Germany, our fasting days are 19 hours long. From 3am to 9:50pm. Honestly, I have no interest in food on these long summer days. All I really want is a tall glass of ice-cold water or iced tea.… Continue reading Ramadan Nights – Mhalabeeya
Back when I worked 50-60 hour work weeks as a process engineer, I always craved a homemade dinner. Unfortunately, when you are living alone…you have to make that homemade meal yourself. After being at work 9-10 hours, I really didn’t have the energy to cook something that took long or required a lot of effort.… Continue reading Rooz fil Furoon (Libyan Rice Casserole)
Libyan soup, or more simply called “shurba” in Libya, is my favorite soup. No one calls it “Shurba Libeeya” in Libya because it’s just known as “shurba,” which translates to “soup.” Such a simple name. And there is never any confusion if you say you are making “shurba” to a Libyan, they’ll know exactly which soup you… Continue reading Soup Adventures, Part 2 – Libyan Soup
My siblings and I were raised on spicy food. If the food wasn’t spicy to begin with, we supplemented it with hot sauce. The hot sauce in our house was either homemade hareesa or Sriracha’s spicier sister called Huy Fong’s Garlic Chili Sauce. The homemade hareesa is hands-down my favorite of the two; however, it’s availability… Continue reading Spice Up Your Life/Dinner – Libyan Hareesa (Hot Sauce)
A unique, western Libyan dish of steamed rice with a tomato-meat sauce. It’s ready in just 45 minutes, so it makes for a wonderful weeknight meal!
Sugar, Spice and Life 