Lina's Batata Harra & Baba Ganouj

Author of the award-winning cookbook 'Ramadan Express' on a mission to preserve Lebanese cuisine.

Last week, Zal taught us how to make the delicious Malaysian Beef Rendang, Butter Rice and Acar Timun. If you missed it, here’s the recording and recipe (for paid subscribers only).

This Sunday, you can learn Sunita’s Punjabi Specials: Aloo Paratha with Masala Chai here.

This week, we have two heritage vegan Lebanese recipes from award-winning cookbook author Lina:

Lina’s earliest food memory is the gourmet Lebanese breakfast her grandparents made. Her grandfather would be up at 4am to get fresh raw liver and sheep’s tail the local butcher reserved for him. Her grandmother, meanwhile, was up at 6 am to fill her basket with fresh vegetables and herbs—spring onions, fresh mint, radish, and tomatoes. All to be served alongside the liver.

At age 6, she lived with her grandparents and attended the Evangelical School in Beirut. 

This was during the Lebanese Civil War; a time of severe socio-economic distress. Despite this, her grandmother made sure their table always had variety—Yakhnis (meat stew), vegetables and rice with chicken or lamb. She still remembers the sounds of her grandmother pounding Za’atar.

“I remember my grandmother serving me a platter of Batata Harra, while my aunt was pounding the roasted aubergines. As soon as she'd mix in the Tahini, I'd dip my finger to taste the blend of flavours."

Lina's great-great-grandfather escaped the Ottomans, moving from Lebanon to Sierra Leone—where Lina was born. She was the first and only grandchild. With 5 uncles and 2 aunties, everyone spoiled her with food.

Home, for Lina, is the magical aroma of freshly pounded za’atar, parsley, and fresh mint in a tabouleh and juicy lemons with salt. Home is also the Shish Barak or minced lamb dumplings in a yoghurt broth that her grandmother made during the spring and summer. “Deliciously fresh.”

Ask Lina to choose one recipe to hand down to the next generation, and she would refuse. She would pick “Lebanese cuisine as a whole” instead.

It is difficult to pick one gem from a “grand national treasure”, she says. This is especially because her goal in life is to pass the authenticity of Lebanese food to the next generation. 

"The food that people think of as Lebanese today. That's not Lebanese. It hurts me."

But if persisted and forced her to give one recipe, she’d pick two. Lamb Shawarma and Batata Harra (recipe below).

After Lina moved to the UK in 2000, she established Alicia in Warren Street, Central London. It was a proper authentic restaurant, serving food from her heart. Unfortunately, the restaurant shut down in 2006. It was food or the family.

But of course, she hasn’t stopped her mission. She continues to preserve her heritage through cooking and teaching.

“Some Lebanese cookbooks are brilliant, but they are not written by actual Lebanese people.  I've seen the way people make Hummus these days. And when you have Tabbouleh. That's not Tabbouleh. They give you a chunk of bulgur, parsley, and tomatoes. That's not Tabbouleh!”

Lina’s Recommendations

Lina suggests these, for a deep dive into her Lebanese culture:

• Classical morning songs by Fairuz "Ambassador To The Stars". 

• The Prophet, a book of exquisite prose-poetry by Kahlil Gibran (1923).

  

• The movie “West Beirut", by Ziad Doueiri (1998). On Netflix here.

The recipes (30 mins each, serves 4)

Two recipes this time: Batata Harra & Baba Ganouj (*bonus*)

1. Batata Harra

Ingredients

• 4 large potatoes (peeled and diced)

• 4 cloves of garlic

• 1 bunch of fresh coriander

• 1 chilli (optional)

• Salt (to taste)

• Vegetable Oil (for deep frying)

• Juice from 1 lemon

• Ground Paprika (for sprinkle)

Prep (one day before)

1. Peel and dice your potatoes to thumb size.

2. Then, soak them in water, for one full day (& night).

Steps

1. Sieve the diced potatoes in a colander from water

2. Heat the frying oil and deep fry the potatoes until semi-golden- rest the potatoes on a kitchen towel

3. In the meantime, chop the garlic or crush (use mortar and pestle).

4. Chop the chilli and coriander

5. Into a pan, add a drizzle of vegetable oil and toss fry the aromatics (garlic, coriander and chilli)

6. Add in the fried potatoes and stir fry on mild heat

7. Season with salt and smoked paprika (if you like) and a squeeze
   of lemon juice

8. Enjoy the spicy potatoes, and maybe clean the plate with some pita bread! Show us how it comes out @joindiaspo

2. Baba Ganouj

Ingredients

• 2x aubergines

• 75ml Tahini