Introducing Shahiya.com

Today I received an interesting press release from Shahiya.com, I'd like to share it with you. It is a good initiative taken by food lovers who wanted to document our "Arabic" food heritage. The site lets one interact and share recipes and is designed in a professional and computer-friendly way. I think if someone has time, one can stay for a while browsing and tasting the virtual foods. I have not tried any of the recipes yet, I am very tempted to do so. The site is available for both Arabic and English readers alike.

To visit the website: Shahiya.com

The press release:

The Arab Food Revolution:

 The words “food revolution” might conjure up images of Jamie Oliver, whereas the “Arab revolution” refers more to the recent Arab Spring uprisings.

However, for Hala Labaki, Carole Makhoul Hani and Daniel Neuwirth, the three co-founders of shahiya.com, their “Arab Foodie Revolution” has been quiet, subtle and tasty.

It all started with a simple realization: for all Arab cuisines, finding reliable online sources of recipes was close to impossible. The Arab culinary heritage had been stored forever in family notebooks, lying on the shelves of every grandmother’s kitchen. But most of the time, it was only transmitted to the close family, sometimes even being lost with the departure of the elderly.

“We thought of the idea for this site while studying abroad. We craved Lebanese food, but couldn’t find a single dependable online source for Lebanese recipes, especially in Arabic”, says co-founder Hala Labaki. “We used to call parents and friends, wasting hours in international calls to be able to make this or that dish. But for other cuisines, French, Italian, American or Chinese, reliable recipes were all over the net. This is how we first identified a need.”

When the three friends rejoined in Lebanon, they shared their concern for safeguarding their culinary heritage and their desire to make it more accessible. With the rise of online social platforms, the solution was plain to see, and shahiya.com was born.  

The 100% user generated website aspired to be a platform where home cooks from all over the Arab world could create a free profile and add their own recipes. They would share recipes they had tested and cooked many times - hence offering reliable, feasible and authentic recipes. 

Today, a year and a half after it was launched, shahiya.com is well on the way to fulfilling its initial aim: with more than 25,000 members viewing, reviewing, and trying out the 2,200 recipes shared since on the site, it is quickly becoming a first point of call for authentic and reliable Arab food recipes. Currently more than 60% of visits are from the KSA, making shahiya.com the number one food website visited in the Kingdom. 

What makes this site unique, among other things, is a feature found on no other Arab food site: each published recipe gets its nutrition facts calculated. So if you always wondered how many calories there are in your sayyadieh, now all you have to do is to post the recipe on shahiya.com and when it gets published you’ll find out! This service, along with diet recipes and an online free nutritional profile, is provided under the supervision of Carole Makhoul Hani, an RD.

“Cook Lebanese- 101 recipes” iPhone application

Encouraged by the success of the site, the trio decided to take their idea further; to bring Arab food home to even more people, they launched an iPhone application. “For our first iPhone application we decided to focus on what we know best: Lebanese Cuisine”, says Daniel Neuwirth.

101 quintessentially Lebanese recipes were selected by the Shahiya team. The team then actually cooked, tasted and fine-tuned these recipes. The resulting final, foolproof set of recipes made it into the app. The 101 recipes are divided into nine categories with a vegetarian filter offered for each. The dish pictures are not only beautiful; they genuinely illustrate the expected end result.

The app ‘Cook Lebanese – 101 recipes’ is available in six languages (Arabic, English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese). Conveniently, all the listed ingredients are readily available anywhere in the world, and all recipes can be emailed to friends with a click of a button. In a nutshell, that’s the Lebanese culinary heritage meeting the entire world, 21^st century style.

“Food is at the heart of our lives”, says Labaki. “It’s a great vehicle for drawing people together, and introducing them to new experiences and cultures. It is also such a huge part of our heritage, and we hope to keep it alive on the web with shahiya.com.”

Cook Lebanese is available on the iPhone App Store
at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cook-lebanese-101-recipes/id443934198?mt=8&ls=1#

For additional information about Cook Lebanese, including screenshots, a demo video and more, please visit http://shahiya.com/english/app_iphone.aspx or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z_t61HlEmU

Introducing Fouad Kassab, the Food Blogger in "Helwe Beirut"

The focus of this segment is to introduce food blogger, Fouad Kassab, writer of the Food blog to the Lebanese. Fouad is especially known in Australia, where he resides with his Australian wife and adorable baby girl. He writes mostly of  regional cuisine, emphasizing the love of ingredients, flavors, and how to put them together to make delicious foods. We met through the great maze of the world wide web. On his summer visit to Lebanon, we met in person and instantly hit it off. We discussed for hours our common passion - food! The Food Blog is an interesting escape for all foodies alike, especially those interested in Middle Eastern foods with an emphasis on Lebanese cuisine. It is very informative and skillfully designed. I invite you to drop in and visit Fouad's world!

To read an interview of his work, click here.

Apple Season in Mayrouba

Therese is a special lady! She is a small scale producer from the Souk el Tayeb "family". What I did not know is that she is also a school teacher. She is so proud of her mother's village and really made it a point to show it off. She reminisces of her carefree childhood where her family would live from the harvest of nature. She shared with us her apple jam because it was an important part of the mouneh every year in her home. The village of Mayrouba (38 km from Beirut) is known for its delicious apples, what better way to introduce viewers to this sweet recipe. Thanks Therese!

The jam cooks slowly emitting a delicious aroma

Different flavors add a special touch to the jam

Apple chips drying in the autumn sun

Jibneh baladi "White Cheese"

Jibneh baladi is the cheese made in high mountains all over Lebanon by shepherds and their families. It is very delicious. Often the milk is derived from a mix of goat and sheep milk. The milk of the sheep gives the cheese a stronger taste because of the percentage of fat available in the milk. Charbel Chamoun and his family were so kind to me during our shooting and I felt right at home amidst all these beautiful animals. The technique of production to make the cheese is not so difficult, the result is well worth it. The milk is usually not pasteurized. To prevent any health problems, the animals are kept clean and free from any diseases. This and many other recipes will be included in my next book CHEESE. 

La Pizza a Cheese 2011

The president of the AssociazioneVerace Pizza Napoletana talking about PIZZA

One of the highlights of visiting CHEESE in Bra, Italy this fall was to train (for two hours) with people from the Verace Napoletana Pizza Association. You could say it was a dream come true for me to meet with these fine people. Why, you may ask. I have had a passion for pizza-making for such a long time. Those who know me, know this. In fact, very often I invite my friends and family for pizza because I really enjoy baking and eating pizza. My Man’oushé book started with a dream of going to Italy and doing a thorough study on the pizza. One sees the grass greener on the other side always, yet I was wise enough to carry out this dream in my own country in search of all the baked foods in a typical street corner Lebanese bakery. The Verace chef showed us how to make the pizza according to the standards and regulation set by the association. I met a chef lately in Lebanon, owner of da Giovanni and Marguerita. I told him of my meeting with Verace, he did not believe me at first. Later, he was convinced. We shot a segment for Helweh wa Moora (who's name now has changed to Helweh Beirut) one week later for me to stay in the pizza-making mood. The show focused on how to make the best pizza (straight from a fellow who comes from Napoli), stay tuned... Giovanni and I had so much fun that we both forgot that the LBC crew was there, as we talked and talked and talked...He is special!

I was chosen to try because I asked so many questions

The dough is garnished with canned San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo cheese, fresh basil leaves, with a drizzle of olive oil

Before

After

Pizza Marinara

Beirut: Schuhbecks Reise in die Welt der Gewürze

Chef Alfons Schuhbeck is a famous chef from Germany who came to visit Lebanon. I was introduced to him by a dear cousin from Aleppo who lives in Germany. He was treated to a faboulous array of Lebanese food in the presence of talented food producers, thanks to the hospitality of the Doumar family. Great souvenir.

For further reading (in German), read the blog.

Schuhbecks with Chef Joe Barza :)

Schuhbecks with Jean Doumar, our kind host

Potato Kebbeh

Eating grapes from Mayrouba

Today I spent the day EATING! I visited Therese Sarkis at her mother's house in Mayrouba. We shot the segment for Helweh wa Moora : the making of apple jam. I will post the segment when it is diffused. I want to share with you a delicious recipe that Shahideh Saadeh Sarkis shared with me. She made this delicious kebbeh for us while we were at her house, among many other saj items. The recipe differs from the traditional potato kebbeh because instead of using burghul, she uses walnuts. Adding tehini also is innovative.The recipe is said to be from a neighbor in Jounieh who is originally from Deir el Ahmar in the Bekaa.

Shahida, an 87 year old woman, preparing lovingly the potato kebbeh

 Potato Kebbeh (Kebbet Patata)

1 kg potato
1 bunch of fresh mint
1 medium onion
1/4 cup of tehini
200 gr chopped walnuts
salt 

Boil the potatoes. When cooked, peel off skin while hot. Grind the potatoes in a vegetable mill in a large mixing bowl. Chop the mint leaves with a sharp knife. Do the same with the onion. Chop the walnuts or crush them with a pestle in a mortar. When potatoes cool, mix all the ingredients together. Slowly combine the tehini into the mixture. Thoroughly mix with hands. Add salt to taste.

Serve with a bunch of fresh mint leaves and onion. Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

The final product

Therese, her daughter, fixing the trimmings for the kebbeh