Recipes for Ramadan: Divine Tabbouch samkeh harra (Lebanese fish baked in spicy tahini)

My mother loved food, good food. And she loved to cook to bring us all together, especially over a big meal on the weekend. My passion - and my daughters' passion - to do the same was inherited from her. She cooked Lebanese food and so growing up, all I knew was Lebanese food and that's what I continue to cook. If we wanted good Italian, we'd go to an Italian restaurant!
As my own kids were growing up, Sunday mornings were especially special. I found it important to pass on my mother's and grandmother's recipes to them, and we cooked together.
Often my mother and my closest brother Jamal would come to lunch and I was making samkeh harra, fish cooked in a rich, silky, spicy tahini sauce in the traditional El Mina way. In the kitchen, I was singing Salemli Aleh from Fairouz.
As I got older, my mother cooked less and less, but she always insisted on helping. I asked him to prepare the eight bunches of parsley for the tabbouleh. She arrived with two bags of Lebanese bread filled with washed and picked parsley. They were in perfect bundles, gathered leaves at one end, stems at the other. You could see the indentation in the rods of the pegs that had held them to the clothesline. It was his way of drying them in the open air after many washes.
Even today, Lebanon is divided on this question: half will wash their parsley before chopping it, and the other half will be chopped and then washed!
Sign up for a weekly email with our best reads

After my father died, my mother sold the family home in Sydney and fulfilled her dream of buying a house in El Mina, the port of Tripoli, Lebanon. She lived there for four years until she had a stroke and we moved her back to Sydney. My siblings and I created a cooking list - she was pampered and never ate the same food twice in the same day.
She never did praised or fussed over, and even when she grew more fragile, she had a strong demeanor and just nodded silently, chewing slowly, savoring every bite. Fortunately, she seemed to enjoy my cooking. I could see her delight when I cooked for her and challenged myself to delight her with every dish.
She never said it, but I think my mom especially liked samkeh harra.< /p>
Although...

Recipe Apr 8, 2023 0 63 Add to Reading List

Recipes for Ramadan: Divine Tabbouch samkeh harra (Lebanese fish baked in spicy tahini)

My mother loved food, good food. And she loved to cook to bring us all together, especially over a big meal on the weekend. My passion - and my daughters' passion - to do the same was inherited from her. She cooked Lebanese food and so growing up, all I knew was Lebanese food and that's what I continue to cook. If we wanted good Italian, we'd go to an Italian restaurant!

As my own kids were growing up, Sunday mornings were especially special. I found it important to pass on my mother's and grandmother's recipes to them, and we cooked together.

Often my mother and my closest brother Jamal would come to lunch and I was making samkeh harra, fish cooked in a rich, silky, spicy tahini sauce in the traditional El Mina way. In the kitchen, I was singing Salemli Aleh from Fairouz.

A mother and her daughter in white aprons, preparing a Lebanese coffee pot.

As I got older, my mother cooked less and less, but she always insisted on helping. I asked him to prepare the eight bunches of parsley for the tabbouleh. She arrived with two bags of Lebanese bread filled with washed and picked parsley. They were in perfect bundles, gathered leaves at one end, stems at the other. You could see the indentation in the rods of the pegs that had held them to the clothesline. It was his way of drying them in the open air after many washes.

Even today, Lebanon is divided on this question: half will wash their parsley before chopping it, and the other half will be chopped and then washed!

After my father died, my mother sold the family home in Sydney and fulfilled her dream of buying a house in El Mina, the port of Tripoli, Lebanon. She lived there for four years until she had a stroke and we moved her back to Sydney. My siblings and I created a cooking list - she was pampered and never ate the same food twice in the same day.

She never did praised or fussed over, and even when she grew more fragile, she had a strong demeanor and just nodded silently, chewing slowly, savoring every bite. Fortunately, she seemed to enjoy my cooking. I could see her delight when I cooked for her and challenged myself to delight her with every dish.

She never said it, but I think my mom especially liked samkeh harra.< /p>

Although...