04 February 2012

BEIRUT: The sun may be shining this weekend, but Lebanon’s protracted cold weather is apparently far from over. We spoke to those in the know about the most nourishing and healthy of recipes to keep you warm this winter.

Opened in late 2009, Tawlet in Mar Mikhael has fast become a favorite Beirut spot for those missing mama’s home cooking. With a rotating cast of around 40 chefs, Tawlet sources the country’s best and most traditional cooks. Serving lunch and private functions in the evening, each day will offer a different face and a new menu.

Georgina al-Bayeh, from Kferdlakous in northern Lebanon, was originally a producer of olive oil and other products, but has been cooking at Tawlet since 2009, and has since opened her own kitchen in her village.

Having learned to cook from her mother and mother-in-law, Bayeh, star of last year’s Lurpak adverts for her famed mammoul, has also done extensive research on traditional Lebanese recipes, asking older generations for the details of taste and texture, lest they be forgotten with time.

Over the last couple of months, Bayeh has been cooking mjadrah lubyeh, a winter take on the classic dish, which replaces the lentils with green beans, and her seasonal tabbouleh, which omits the tomato.

Other popular dishes in the restaurant and at home have been Bayeh’s bulgar dish, which combines chickpeas, cracked wheat (bulgar) and onion and makhlouta, a mixture of different beans and grains. After weeks of incessant rain, soups have been another obvious favorite, with her specialties being lentil and bean.

Winter cooking should also focus on seasonal produce, Bayeh insists.

“Swiss chard and cabbage are in season now, and you can build a lot of dishes around these ingredients,” she says. “We make a point of searching for traditional dishes from across Lebanon, and it’s so great to see that young people are, eventually, returning to these dishes.”

With longer working hours and seemingly busier lives, Bayeh accepts that young people perhaps have less time for cooking complicated dishes than their ancestors, and with a plethora of restaurant options, she admits that fast food has been a popular option.

“But,” she says, “there has been a growing realization that these foods are not healthy and that actually traditional foods are far better for you.”

With a little know how, even complicated sounding Lebanese recipes can become very easy, Bayeh stresses.

“Some of these dishes can be very easy once you learn them and have tried them out a few times. It’s so important that young Lebanese people carry on these cooking traditions.”

With cooking classes also offered at Tawlet, and with Bayeh’s soup and kibbeh recipes below, there is no excuse to order in any longer.

Another project promoting rural traditions is Namlieh, a network which supports rural Lebanese women’s cooperatives. With a shop in Beirut, right next to the National Museum, Namlieh, Arabic for a traditional Middle Eastern wooden cupboard, and the fridge’s predecessor, sells preserves, grains, sweets and herbs. Given a couple of day’s notice, the collective can organize catering of hot dishes, brought in from one of their some 400 members across the country.

Mirvat Koussa, who manages the Namlieh shop, and Nathalie Chemaly, from the Women Economical Empowerment Project, with which Namlieh is aligned, spoke to The Daily Star about winter food trends. “Over the last couple of months we have been selling a lot of walnuts and almonds, which are used in many hot dishes. And also a lot of dried fruits, grains, jams and molasses,” Koussa says.

“In the winter people are obviously looking for warming food, such as soups. We have been selling smoked wheat, which is used for freekeh, and cracked wheat for kishk soup, and which are both much more traditional than rice in Lebanon, as rice did not grow naturally here, Chemaly explains.

At Namlieh also, a renewed respect for both health and tradition is believed to be behind the resurgence of appreciation for Lebanese dishes. “People are becoming more aware that health is very affected by diet, and they want to understand what to eat and what to avoid. Returning to traditional Lebanese dishes is a very good way to do this,” Koussa says. “It’s so important to support these traditions. Our present depends on the past.”

Copyright The Daily Star 2012.