Fattet Hummus: The Ultimate Chickpea Breakfast

When you first see this dish being served in popular breakfast spots in Beirut, you assume someone has ordered lunch and not breakfast. It looks heavy and a bit too rich to start your day off with, but in fact, fattet hummus, the ultimate chickpea breakfast, is healthy, satiating and packed with great flavor. 

A savory dish, it helps expand possible breakfast options for those who lean away from sweet breakfasts. It’s most delicious when eaten warm and fresh. 

Fattet hummus looks a lot like fattet djaaj or fattet bidinjaan, two lunch staples that are filling and much beloved recipes in the Middle East. Fatteh is the layering and combination of baked or fried pita bread with a vegetable such as bidinjaan (eggplant) or djaaj (chicken) and a garlicky yoghurt sauce. Combining tahini with garlic and soft chickpeas with slices of toasted pita bread, it marries simple base ingredients with a combination of spices including chili and sumac. 

Fatteh can be heavy owing to some of the ingredients being fried or cooked in rich butter and then combined with garlic, but it can also be a rich and flavorful breakfast to serve for a good start to the day. You can substitute frying the pita bread by air frying it or baking it instead, and using olive oil to fry the pine nuts that are meant to garnish the dish instead of using butter. Because the dish is made by layering the ingredients together, there’s no right way to plate this dish. Just don’t forget the garnish of pine nuts and fresh parsley before serving: the green and herby punch of the parsley and the particular flavor of fried pine nuts really benefit from the parsley. 

Fattet hummus seems elaborate to make for breakfast, but it doesn’t need to take more than 15 minutes if you’ve prepared the pita bread chips the night before and if you rely on canned chickpeas- no harm in short cuts! Make the effort to serve this during a cold winter’s morning, or for brunch on the weekend with family when you can make a generous sized portion of this dish and enjoy it with many people. Fattet hummus works best with thin pita bread whereas fattet bidinjaan works best with thicker pita so that it can hold up along with the other ingredients. We recommend the thin Lebanese version of pita bread that’s almost almost white in color and paper thin. You can find it at Arabic grocery stores.

TAHINI MEDJOOL DATE OATMEAL COOKIES

Our tahini medjool date oatmeal cookies are a riff on the classic oatmeal raisin cookie. Why? We love the idea of updating an American classic by creating another classic with a Middle Eastern touch. Biscuits and cookies are really popular in the Middle East, and there are hundreds of recipes for biscuits and cookies such as date-stuffed cookies, butter biscuits, vanilla cookies and savory varieties. Most of these recipes were originally meant to be made at home, and multiple generations of one family would spend the day mixing batter to pipe or hand mold cookies for various occasions including everyday eating pleasure, wedding celebrations or births, or religious holidays such as Bayram or Easter where crumbly kahk cookies or petites fours would require hours of diligent preparation. 

The history of the medjool dates back to 6000 years ago. Originating in Morocco, this variety spread throughout the Middle East over the past eighty years by being grown and cultivated throughout the region. Prized for its soft texture and intensely toffee-like flavor, the medjool date is appreciated for its flavor, texture and versatility in various recipes. They’re eaten raw, or stuffed with walnuts or almonds, or cooked in tagines with meat or chicken.  

By creating a recipe for tahini medjool date oatmeal cookies we blend our love for the nice, chewy, texture of oatmeal and the joy that is the experience of finding soft hidden nuggets of fruit exploding on your tongue. Tahini medjool date oatmeal cookies don’t skimp on that satisfying experience you get with your first bite– or five– of a great cookie. The combination of tahini paste and medjool brings together the warm, earthy flavors of rich sesame and the intensely sweet notes of this extraordinary date variety. 

Tahini is known to be filled with high amounts of protein, and it's a rich source of vitamin B which is great for brain function and high energy levels. We believe our tahini medjool date oatmeal cookies are better than breakfast bars for families on the go! They can also be served with a warm glass of milk or cup of coffee– as is always a perfect pairing with a great cookie recipe.

Molasses-Glazed Carrots

Molasses carrots is our spin on the holiday crowd pleaser of honey-glazed carrots. Using Egyptian molasses, which is derived from sugar cane, Egyptian molasses is known for its sweet, earthy and almost floral flavor notes. Dukkan Molasses is sweeter than its American counterpart which is usually more dark and bitter in flavor. The difference between honey-glazed carrots and molasses-glazed carrots is that molasses lends a more umami-like sweetness to the dish rather than a cloying sweetness that often occurs from the combination of a strong honey with carrot, a vegetable that we often forget comes with plenty of natural sweetness of its own.

This dish is great for lunches or dinners, or can be served as a side along with some grilled chicken. Children particularly enjoy this dish owing to the combination of crunch, flavor and color. 

We recommend doing one of two things: adding Dukkan Dukkah spices if you’d like a combination of flavors that delivers punches of both sweet and savory; or a drizzle of tahini if you’d like something warm and nutty. Either way, we recommend serving this dish with a green salad dressed with a lemon-based vinaigrette. Surprisingly enough, lemon flavors pair well with this dish whether you dress it with tahini or dukkah in the end. Bon appetit! 

LEMON TAHINI SALAD DRESSING

In the Middle East, the most popular salad is a basic green salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, purple onions or shallots sliced into small pieces and dressed with lemon, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and maybe some cumin. A humble basic salad, after being dressed in the simple salad dressing, the flavors of tomatoes and onions and cucumbers start to dance together and produce an intense almost pickle-like taste owing to the vinegar. Such a simple salad is always served so that its vinegary goodness can help make heavy meat and stew dishes feel lighter and well-rounded. 

More complex salads are often part of the repertoire of mezzes offered at a restaurant or served during drinks with family and friends at home. As the trend to grow leafy greens hydroponically such as various types of lettuces continues to develop, you find lettuce year round in markets in the Middle East rather than only in the winter months when cooler temperatures would allow for lettuce to grow. 

A simple salad dressing can elevate a boring salad from one you want to skip to a fantastic salad you want to eat again and again. Owing to tahini’s versatile flavor, this lemon tahini salad dressing recipe can be added to any base of greens or vegetables being served as a side dish, and help expand your repertoire of salads. Just combine and toss together an hour or two before you intend to dress your salad so that the ingredients mix well together and bring out all their flavors.

Baharat Bone Broth Soup

How to make a basic bone broth tasty? Easy: just add a combination of great spices. Our baharat spices are great on any dish you want to give deep flavor to, and our bone broth soup uses Dukkan Baharat spices to make a flavorful and tasty soup. Bone broth is a super-nutritious option for a light dinner, post-workout meal or snack during cold days. We love making ours with our baharat spices, a traditional combination of seven spices that is a pantry staple in any Middle Eastern home that's added to meat stews. 

Bone broth has been incredibly popular in recent years owing to its high-nutrition content, and peoples’ willingness to spend more time exploring their individual kitchen skills! Bone broth soup should not scare anyone from taking a stab at making this at home, the process isn’t laborious, it just requires a willingness to regularly monitor your soup. We use baharat spices not only to add flavor, but to mask some of the gaminess of bone broth soup. 

Arugula Salad with Feta and Molasses

We all try to get a healthy dose of greens in our diet on a daily basis, but sometimes the thought of the same salad with the same toppings and dressings stops us from reaching for that healthy lunch option... amiright? 

We’ve discovered molasses is a great way to flavor a salad, a super easy way in fact to dress your salad in multiple ways. Think of how often, and easily, you can use a balsamic glaze. You can do the same with Dukkan Molasses whether by using it as a base for salad dressing, or drizzling it on your salad as a finishing flourish or using it as a glaze. 

To use it as a base for salad dressing, you can combine it with two parts olive oil, one part lemon juice and two tablespoons of molasses. Otherwise, we absolutely love drizzling Dukkan Molasses on a block of feta cheese and then baking it so that the molasses glaze can caramelize as the feta cheese bakes. By adding the molasses baked feta to a bed of greens, you can build a super-healthy, well-rounded and flavorful salad. With crunch from fresh greens such as arugula; softness and saltiness from the baked feta; and sweetness from the molasses, this salad becomes a star of a salad dish. 

We recommend serving this for lunch and adding some chopped almonds on top for an extra punch of protein. If feta is too briny for your palate, you can swap out the process of baking feta with the molasses glaze and instead use mozzarella to dress your arugula greens like you would a caprese salad but use the molasses salad dressing to bring in that beautiful and delicate Dukkan Molasses flavor.

Avocado Tahini Dip

Avocado tahini dip sounds weird, but until you try combining these two ubiquitous ingredients you won’t understand how you can make your average avocado dip AMAZING! Rather than guacamole, think of it as a Middle Eastern mezze–that’s like tapas– with a twist. 

Mezzes form such a big part of Middle Eastern meals, particularly when dining in large groups or with your family on weekends. They’re oftentimes served first as appetizers before a big family-style meal. Mezzes are also like tapas in that they’re served with drinks as an aperitivo in the early evening. Usually taking the form of dips, salads, or pickles, mezzes are so delicious that if you’re not careful you can get full just noshing your way through bowl after bowl of flavorful appetizers. Whatever their base ingredients, they’re served in bowls to be passed around, and their visual appeal of assorted colors, textures and shapes is meant to get you excited about what’s to come.

This avocado tahini dip recipe incorporates Dukkan Tahini to give the avocado a creamier texture and an added punch of flavor. Putting this recipe together doesn’t take much time, and you can add more or less lemon juice or tahini  as per your preference.

Best of all, this healthy recipe can be made for breakfast as a spread and smeared on a sesame bagel, or served alongside some eggs, or with carrot sticks as a dip for children.

Don’t forget, a sprinkling of Dukkan Dukkah spice blend to the avocado tahini adds even more flavor to this dish!

Cheese and Za'atar Pie

Cheese-based pastries and pies, in various shapes and forms, are a staple throughout the Middle East. They’re eaten either at breakfast with a cup of tea, or as a snack by school children who stop by their local bakery when school lets out to grab a bite with friends before each goes home for dinner with their families. 

The trick to a good cheese pie simply comes down to good ingredients and a sprinkling of pungent herbs. Za’atar makes any savory pie better, but za’atar makes cheese pies seem absolutely decadent! We like combining ricotta and feta cheese together to combine the briny saltiness of the feta with the almost cream-like taste of a fresh ricotta cheese. We add green olives to add more flavor and bring in another ingredient that often accompanies cheese in the Middle East. Black olives won’t impart the same flavor, but if you prefer black olives, those would work also. 

Similar to a Greek cheese tiropita pie, this cheese puff pastry pie is a regular on the dinner table, oftentimes served as a side during gatherings in Ramadan. Some add nigella seeds, some add mint, but we love using our za’atar. You can make this a whole meal by adding a fresh green side salad dressed with a simple lemon, olive oil and sumac dressing.

Peppermint Iced Tea

In the Middle East, hot temperatures during the summer have people reach for cold beverages throughout the day. Soda, juices and iced water are on constant rotation along with hot tea during the cooler evenings. Peppermint in the Middle East is often brewed with black tea and sweetened with lots of sugar for a post-meal digestif.

During the month of Ramadan, peppermint tea is served after the meal of iftar, or breakfast, after a long day of fasting. It’s often prescribed by moms and grandmothers to soothe all sorts of ailments: stomach aches, indigestion, a cold or as a general pick-me-up. The sweet herbal taste of Egyptian peppermint is unique owing to the amount of sunshine peppermint receives in Egypt which makes peppermint grow in abundance. 

Our recipe for peppermint iced tea is a refreshing twist on regular iced tea. It’s a very easy drink to make to serve friends or family coming over during summer days and can be combined with lemongrass for a cleansing palate-cleanser after a big meal. Substitute honey for sugar or your preferred sweetener. 

Classic Vodka Gimlet with Hibiscus

As America’s love for cocktails grows, we can’t help but be proud of what we know will be a new classic: Vodka gimlet with hibiscus.  

Hibiscus tea is derived from hibiscus flowers which grow abundantly throughout Egypt. It’s found planted in public spaces, peoples’ gardens and along the Nile banks. Blooming in red, orange, white and pink flowers, it’s the red variety which is made into tea and yields the most potent flavor. 

The best hibiscus grows in the hot, dry climate in Aswan, Egypt’s southernmost ancient town. Egyptians boil hibiscus with sugar to yield a syrupy juice that’s unique in its flavor, serving it over ice in the summer; and they also boil the flowers and serve it hot during winter months. 

Hibiscus tea is a beautiful ruby color, and it looks so pretty when served in clear glasses as the light filters through the juice. Because of its beautiful color, it’s served at birthday parties, marriages, during family lunches or when guests come to visit. Egyptians also believe it has medicinal properties, helping to lower high blood pressure, but with all the sugar that’s so often added, it might be wiser to simply drink this iced tea in moderation. 

This refreshing classic vodka gimlet with hibiscus made by Moroccan-American mixologist Dia Bennani can also be made with a gin base if you prefer gin. Either way, this classic vodka cocktail with hibiscus is refreshing and evokes soft evening breezes by the Nile. Serve it during aperitivo, or when having friends and family over for a summer barbeque. You can make a large batch of the hibiscus syrup base before guests come over and mix drinks throughout the evening. They’ll surely ooh and aah over the flavor and ruby color as much as we do.

Ultimate Moist Banana Bread with Tahini and Molasses

In the Middle East, all sorts of cakes are baked at home for various meals and for different occasions. Rarely does one buy cake from a cake shop in the Middle East, many families bake cakes and biscuits regularly at home. Although occasionally some buy elaborate French pastries or birthday cakes from a baker, many execute elaborate recipes in their home kitchens. No Middle Eastern grandmother  doesn’t have a few pound and sponge cake recipes up her sleeve. You’ll often find a teta whip out a recipe for create orange pound cake during the orange season in the winter months when large, juicy oranges are abundant in the farmers’ markets; or a moist chocolate cake to serve guests coming for a cup of tea. 

Although bananas are plentiful in North Africa and the Levant, banana cake only caught on in more recent years with the introduction of American recipes through American-style bakeries, opened by folks who had spent time living or studying in the U.S.. By introducing different recipes and baked goods such as cupcakes and multi-layered buttercream-frosted cakes to Middle Eastern consumers and bakers who have started to adapt some of these recipes with local ingredients.  

Our recipe for banana bread with tahini and molasses combines an American recipe with Middle Eastern pantry staples: molasses and tahini. Together, the combination of tahini and molasses is unbeatable, and makes for the ultimate moist banana bread. We find this recipe so delicious that we’ve baked a loaf only to find ourselves eating from it before it cools! Whenever we come to bake this recipe, our ultimate moist banana bread doesn’t end up being around for too long as the family dives into it and polishes off every slice when its set out. So popular and loved is this take on banana bread, we suggest you pour the batter into muffin or cupcake tins to make individual servings that can serve as grab and go breakfasts for young children or professionals heading back to the office.