From Maha's own hand.

Maha's everyday soup. Orange lentils, blended smooth, brightened with lemon at the very end. Simple, but the order matters — the onion comes first, alone with the olive oil, until it gives up its fragrance.

ingredients

• orange (red) lentils1½ cups
• onion, finely minced1 medium
• carrot, chopped1 medium
• olive oil3 tbsp
• hot water6 cups
• chicken stock cubes1–2 cubes
• ground cumin1 tsp
• turmerica small pinch
• saltto taste
• fresh parsley, choppeda sprinkle, to serve
• fresh lemonto serve (essential)
• pita, toasted, to serveoptional

how Maha makes it

1. Start with the onion. Heat the olive oil in a pot, add the minced onion, and toast it gently — let it soften and turn fragrant.
2. Add the lentils and carrots. Stir for a minute so they pick up the oil.
3. Pour in the hot water. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cook until the lentils are completely soft — about 25–30 minutes.
4. Blend the whole mixture until smooth — an immersion blender right in the pot is easiest.
5. Add the stock cubes, salt, cumin, and a little turmeric. Stir until the cubes dissolve. Let it sit on a low heat for another 10 minutes so the flavours come together.
6. Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley. The lemon is the most important part — squeeze it over each bowl, not into the pot. Toasted pita on the side, if you like.

Freekeh is young green wheat, smoke-roasted in the field. The smoke goes into the grain, and the grain goes into the soup. Maha boils it long, then folds in onions toasted in olive oil and a little chicken stock — that's where the depth comes from.

ingredients

• freekeh (green wheat)1½ cups
• water6–7 cups
• cooked chicken, shredded2 cups (about 1 large breast)
• onion, finely minced1 medium
• olive oil2 tbsp
• chicken stock cube1 cube
• ground cumin1 tsp
• turmerica small pinch
• saltto taste
• fresh lemonto serve, as preferred

how Maha makes it

1. Rinse the freekeh well in a fine sieve — there can be small stones, check it.
2. Boil it. Add the freekeh to a pot with the water and bring to a boil. Lower to a steady simmer for 45 minutes, until tender.
3. Meanwhile, in a small pan, heat the olive oil and fry the minced onion until soft and just turning golden.
4. Add the toasted onion into the freekeh pot.
5. Stir in the stock cube, cumin, turmeric, and salt. Add the shredded chicken. Simmer everything together for another 10 minutes so the flavours marry.
6. Serve hot, with fresh lemon at the table — let each person add as much as they like.

The salad that solves the bread problem. Stale pita gets crisped — fried, baked, or air-fried — and tossed at the last moment with chopped vegetables and a sharp dressing of pomegranate molasses and lemon. The trick is to dress it just before serving so the bread stays crunchy.

ingredients

• pita bread, chopped into squares2 loaves
• tomatoes, chopped3 medium
• cucumbers, chopped2 medium
• romaine lettuce, torn1 small head
• sweet peppers (mixed colours), diced2 medium
• green onions, sliced3–4
• fresh mint, chopped¼ cup
• fresh parsley, chopped½ cup
• pomegranate seeds½ cup
• olive oil¼ cup
• pomegranate molasses2 tbsp
• fresh lemon juice2 tbsp
• saltto taste
• oil for frying the bread (if frying)soybean or avocado

how Maha makes it

1. Crisp the pita first. Chop it into bite-sized squares. Air-fry until golden, bake on a tray in a hot oven for a few minutes, or fry in soybean or avocado oil until crisp. Set aside.
2. Chop all the vegetables — tomatoes, cucumbers, romaine, sweet peppers, green onions. Roughly the same size, none too fine.
3. Combine in a large bowl with the mint, parsley, and pomegranate seeds.
4. Dress at the last moment. Drizzle with olive oil, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, and salt. Toss gently.
5. Add the toasted pita and toss once more — just enough to coat it. Serve right away, before the bread softens.

A real tabbouleh is green. Not pink, not beige — green. Parsley is the dish; bulgur is the texture; everything else is supporting cast. Maha chops everything fine, by hand, and never adds more than a single small piece of tomato.

ingredients

• flat-leaf parsley, very finely minced3 large bunches
• romaine lettuce, finely minced1 small head
• sweet peppers, finely minced1 medium
• cucumber, finely minced1 medium
• green onions, finely sliced3–4
• tomato, finely dicedjust one small piece
• fine bulgur⅓ cup, soaked & drained
• fresh lemon juice3 tbsp
• olive oil¼ cup
• saltto taste

how Maha makes it

1. Soak the bulgur in cool water for about 15 minutes, then drain it well — squeeze it dry between your hands.
2. Mince everything fine. Parsley first, lots and lots of it. Then the lettuce, peppers, cucumber, green onions — all the same fine consistency. By hand if you can; a sharp knife and patience.
3. Add the bulgur to the greens and toss.
4. Add just one small piece of tomato — finely diced. Not more. The tomato is a guest at this dish, not the host.
5. Dress with lemon, olive oil, and salt. Toss again. Taste — adjust the lemon if it needs sharpening.

Start the day before. The chicken needs an overnight bath in a thick spiced marinade — yogurt, tomato, lemon, hot pepper. The next day, you build the rice from the ground up, bake the chicken until the skin lacquers, and (if you want the real thing) smoke it all at the end with a piece of charcoal under a covered dish.

ingredients — for the chicken marinade

• whole chicken1 (about 1.5 kg)
• plain yogurt1 cup
• tomato paste1 tbsp
• ketchup1 tbsp
• fresh lemon juice1 whole lemon
• hot green pepper, minced1 small
• olive oil2 tbsp
• mandi spice blend2 tbsp
• Cajun seasoning1 tsp
• paprika1 tsp
• saltto taste

ingredients — for the rice

• basmati rice, washed3 cups
• onion, finely minced1 medium
• garlic, minced3 cloves
• carrot, finely minced1 medium
• olive oil3 tbsp
• raisins (zabeeb)1 tbsp
• mandi spice blend1 tbsp
• boiling water6 cups (2 per cup of rice)
• saltto taste

ingredients — to finish

• parsley, chopped, to garnisha handful
• almonds, fried in oil until golden½ cup
• charcoal piece + 2 tbsp oil (for smoking, optional)if you want the smoke

how Maha makes it

1. The day before: mix the yogurt, tomato paste, ketchup, lemon juice, hot pepper, olive oil, mandi spices, Cajun, paprika, and salt into a thick marinade. Coat the whole chicken inside and out. Cover and leave in the fridge overnight.
2. Start the rice. In a deep pot, heat the olive oil and toast the minced onion, garlic, and carrot together until softened.
3. Add the raisins and mandi spices and toast for a moment more — let everything come together.
4. Pour in the boiling water — for every cup of rice, use two cups of water. Add salt.
5. Add the washed rice. Bring back to a boil, then lower the heat and cover. Cook until the rice is done.
6. Bake the chicken at 180°C (350°F) for 1 hour 15 minutes. Check every 20 minutes — baste with its own juices if it looks dry. The skin should turn deep gold and lacquered.
7. Plate it. Spread the rice on a large serving dish. Lay the chicken on top.
8. For the smoke (optional but worth it): place a small bowl in the centre of the dish, drop in a piece of lit charcoal, and pour 2 tablespoons of oil over it. Cover the whole dish tightly for 7 minutes. The smoke goes everywhere it needs to.
9. Uncover, garnish with parsley and fried almonds. Serve immediately.

The dish we cook for weddings, for guests, for anyone we want to honour. Slow-cooked lamb in a sauce of jameed — fermented dried yogurt — served over rice on a layer of shrak bread, finished with fried almonds and parsley. Maha's ratios are specific, and they matter.

ingredients

• lamb (shoulder or leg, on the bone)2 kg
• jameed (dried fermented yogurt)240 g (120 g per kg lamb)
• water for the jameed2 L (1 L per 120 g jameed)
• turmeric¼ tsp, at the end
• short-grain rice2 cups
• water for the rice2½ cups (1¼ per cup rice)
• soybean or sunflower oil2 tbsp (1 per cup rice)
• saltto taste
• shrak bread (thin flatbread)to cover the serving platter
• flat-leaf parsley, finely choppeda handful
• almonds, fried until golden½ cup

how Maha makes it

1. Wash the lamb thoroughly in cool water — let the water run off until it's clear. This matters; it keeps the broth clean.
2. Prepare the jameed. For every 1 kg of lamb you have 120 g of jameed. Break it down into pieces. For every 120 g of jameed, add 1 litre of water. Blend it all in a mixer until smooth.
3. Pour the blended jameed into a large pot. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly in one direction — clockwise. This keeps the yogurt from breaking.
4. Once it boils, add the lamb. Lower the heat to medium. Cook for 2 hours, checking the consistency as you go. If the jameed gets too thick, add boiled water gradually until it's right — like a loose cream.
5. At the very end, stir in a quarter teaspoon of turmeric.
6. For the rice: use short-grain rice. Wash it, then soak it for 40 minutes in cool water (not hot, not cold).
7. In a pot: for every cup of rice, add 1 tablespoon of oil. Drop in the rice, then add the boiled water at a ratio of 1¼ cups water per cup of rice.
8. Cook on high heat for 7 minutes, then turn the heat down very low and cover. Leave it alone until done.
9. To plate: spread the shrak bread across a wide serving platter. Layer the rice over it. Lay the lamb on top.
10. Pour some of the jameed sauce over everything; serve the rest in a small jug on the side. Garnish with minced parsley and fried almonds.

A layered dish, built in a deep bowl. Toasted pita at the bottom, fried eggplant cubes over it, then ground chicken roasted with onions. Topped with a garlicky yogurt-tahini sauce. Finished with pomegranate seeds, more crisp bread, and fried almonds.

ingredients

• pita bread, toasted & broken into pieces2 loaves
• eggplants, cubed2 medium
• soybean or sunflower oil for fryingenough to fry the eggplants
• ground chicken (or finely minced)500 g
• onion, finely chopped1 medium
• olive oil2 tbsp
• salt & black pepperto taste
• plain yogurt1 kg (about 4 cups)
• tahini1 tbsp
• garlic, crushed1 clove
• fresh lemon juice1 lemon
• pomegranate seeds (to garnish)½ cup
• pomegranate molasses (to drizzle)1 tbsp
• almonds, fried in oil until golden¼ cup

how Maha makes it

1. Toast the pita until crisp. Break into pieces and set aside.
2. Cube the eggplants and fry them in soybean or sunflower oil until golden and soft. Drain on paper.
3. Cook the chicken. In another pan, heat olive oil and add the chopped onion. Stir in the ground chicken with salt and pepper. Roast until cooked through and lightly browned.
4. Make the yogurt sauce. Mix the yogurt with tahini, crushed garlic, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Stir until smooth.
5. Layer everything in a deep dish: first the toasted bread, then the fried eggplants, then the chicken with its onions.
6. Pour the yogurt sauce over the top, covering everything.
7. Garnish with pomegranate seeds, a drizzle of pomegranate molasses, more toasted bread pieces, and fried almonds. Serve immediately, while everything still has its layers.

The dessert for hot summer evenings. A soft semolina pudding cooked on the stove, chilled, topped with cream, finished with pistachios, and served cold with a rose-and-orange-blossom syrup poured at the table.

ingredients — for the pudding

• whole milk4 cups
• semolina (fine)1 cup
• cornstarch1 tbsp
• vanilla1 tbsp
• sugar½ cup, to taste
• clotted cream (qashta) or thick whipped cream1 cup, to top
• pistachios, chopped¼ cup, to garnish

ingredients — for the sugar syrup

• sugar2 cups
• water1 cup
• orange blossom water (and/or rose water)1 tsp, when cool

how Maha makes it

1. In a bowl, mix the milk, semolina, cornstarch, sugar, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
2. Pour into a pot on medium heat. Keep stirring — don't stop — until the mixture thickens enough to pour but not slump.
3. Pour into a serving dish (a wide, shallow one) and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours, until completely set.
4. Spread the cream evenly across the top of the chilled pudding.
5. Make the syrup: bring 2 cups sugar and 1 cup water to a boil. Let it boil for 7 minutes. When it has cooled, stir in the orange blossom (or rose) water. Chill the syrup in the fridge.
6. Pre-cut the pudding into squares while it's in the dish.
7. Garnish with chopped pistachios. Serve cold, with the cold syrup on the side — each guest pours as much as they like over their portion.