Original news, features, opinions from Chicago to Jerusalem
Zalatimo offers great tasting Arabic sweets with free serving dish In 1860, Mohammed Zalatimo opened a small pastry shop in the Old City of the Holy City of Jerusalem, within the ancient Walls of the city surrounded by the world’s most important religious icons including the Roman built Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Zalatimo began…
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Recipe: M’Sakhan sumac chicken, caramelized onions, traditional Arab chicken meal By Ray Hanania One of my favorite Arabian food dishes is M’Sakhan (Musahkhan, M’Sahkhan), spiced sumac chicken on a bed of chicken broth soaked Pita Bread and covered in caramelized onions. M’Sakhan literally means “warming the bread” in Arabic. The recipe is very popular in…
Shesh Besh Arab-Israeli recipes: Lamb and rice Stuffed Grape Leaves recipe. Aaron Hanania and Ray Hanania make stuffed grape leaves and show you how you can make it too, whether you are Arab, Israeli, Palestinian or Jewish. It’s one of the most popular Mediterranean food recipes. Video and story By Aaron Hanania and Ray Hanania Your…
Medjool Dates are considered the best tasting dates in the world, which is why so many people throughout the world enjoy them. They are the preferred dates to enjoy also during the Holy Month of Ramadan observed by billions of Muslims around the world By Ray Hanania Ramadan is a very important holiday not only and especially…
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The owner of a Middle East restaurant in Columbus, Ohio continues to struggle more than a month after a brutal machete attack on his customers. The owner, Hany J. Baransi, lives in a world of limbo. He is Palestinian Arab and Israeli from Nazareth, the name of his deli, and he is Christian. The Muslim…
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Christian Arab, Chaldean Arabian omelette pita sandwiches. An unusual breakfast sandwich of egg omelettes, cheese, pita bread and your favorite meat (bacon, ham or lamb slices) By Ray Hanania Christian Arabs throughout the Middle East and the Levant and Chaldeans, Middle East Christians mainly from Iraq, often enjoy a breakfast sandwich omelette prepared with flat…
If you have never had your coffee grounds read, you are missing out on understanding your potential future. The art of reading coffee grounds in the Middle East traces back to thousands of years of practice, fortune tellers and seers By Ray Hanania When I was younger, my mother and aunts used to read my…
Recipe: Nenae ma’a Lemon (Lemon with Mint) drink This is a very popular and tasty Middle Eastern refreshment. It’s easy to make but requires fresh mint leaves. Mint (nenae in Arabic) is an easy to grow plant that produces a wonderful and essential flavor and ingredient in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Arab recipes. The plant grows…
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Recipe: Arabian fried rice with lamb. Diced lamb mixed with fried rice, served hot. Blending Mediterranean and Asian cuisine into the perfect mix. Arabian fried rice with lamb is an easy to prepare variation of a very popular Asian food dish and it might open the door to learning more about the spread of the Arab World…
Long before we had technology to chill food, the early bedouins and family clans in Palestine, Jordan and the Levant including Syria and Lebanon, learned to cook using common sense. Lamb and goat were small animals and turned out to be a great meat source. Cattle would have been wasted. A breakfast was always an…
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While it takes a labor of love, and time, to make stuffed grape leaves and stuffed zucchini, an faster recipe alternative is stuffed green peppers. Stuffed with small lamb chunks and rice in a spicy pre-broth, stuffed green peppers make for an exciting meal. By Ray Hanania Arabs love to stuff vegetables with spiced lamb…
Growing up, I watched my mom cook almost every night and every weekend. It’s what Arab mothers like to do. And they were good at it. But you learn a lot about Mediterranean and Middle East recipes from watching. My favorites were stuffed grape leaves and this one, koosa, lamb and rice stuffed in zucchini…
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The Mediterranean Diet continues to be considered one of the top choices for people concerned about their healthy. The diet consists of many food products from the Middle East and the Arab World. A recent conclusion by major nutritional scientists (detailed below) suggests that the public needs to be more educated about their food choices….
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Dearborn is the Plymouth Rock of the American Arab community, but it is also the culinary capitol of Middle Eastern food. If you want to truly enjoy Middle East — or more specifically Arabian food, Dearborn is the place to go. The Arab National Museum has announced a new program called “Yalla Eat!” to introduce the…
Veteran Lebanese American Arab writer Maureen Abood has just released her debut book and of course, it is about the richness of Lebanese and Arab foods. “Rose Water & Orange Blossoms” is not just a book of recipes but the story of Arabian life which revolves around great tasting foods By Ray Hanania Michigan writer…
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This week, another major grocery retailer entered the battle for the growing Middle Eastern food market in Chicagoland offering a wide range of Arab food products. The past half century has seen Arab food migrate from the shelves of small ethnic neighborhood food stores to the premium shelves of the largest national chains. Chicagoland has been no exception, just…
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May is Mediterranean Diet month and many companies offer a wide range of Mediterranean foods, ingredients and recipes including Ziyad Brothers Importing at www.Ziyad.com. The Mediterranean Diet is one of the healthiest diets for consumers. . The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Council that helps shape the country’s official dietary guidelines, recently suggested that Americans follow a Mediterranean-style diet….
By Ray Hanania Great tasting Middle Eastern food is growing in popularity. We have a new Facebook Page where you can find the best Arab restaurants in America As an Arab born in America, I have been on a constant hunt for great tasting Middle Eastern food, besides the great recipes that my mother used to…
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