5 Vegetarian Arab Dishes You Have to Try This Lenten Season
BY: Nisreen Eadeh/Arab America Contributing Writer
During Lent, Arab American Christians refrain from eating meat and dairy, bringing out the vegetarian side in all of us. Although Arab food is famous for its savory lamb recipes and mouth-watering cheeses, thousands will refrain from eating these foods for 40 days every year, and eat lots of soup and salad instead.
America is already in love with many classic vegetarian Arab dishes, such as fattoush, tabbouleh, lentil soup, mujaddarah, falafel, hummus, baba ghannoush, and vegan grape leaves. But what about the many other vegetarian dishes our culture has to offer?
This Lenten season, try mixing up your diet with these 5 dishes that are less common, Arab vegetarian dishes.
1. Fried Cauliflower with Tahini Sauce
Arabs don’t have very many fried foods on their palates, but if there’s one thing we know how to fry, it’s cauliflower. This recipe makes for an excellent snack or side dish.
Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
6 cups of vegetable oil
½ cup of tahini
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½ tablespoon chopped parsley
¼ cup lemon juice
Optional: ¼ cup of water
Directions:
Mix together tahini, minced garlic, chopped parsley, and lemon juice
Add salt to taste
Add optional water for a thinner tahini sauce
Cut cauliflower into bite-size pieces
Heat oil in deep-fryer or frying pan
Add half the cauliflower pieces to the hot oil until golden brown, or about 8 minutes
Take cauliflower out and place onto a dish lined with several paper towels for oil drainage
Repeat steps for the second half of cauliflower
Dip into tahini sauce
2. Burghul Stuffed Tomatoes
The smell of baking tomatoes in this recipe will illuminate your home. Arabs typically stuff tomatoes with rice and meat, but burghul is a healthier substitution that adapts to many different flavors.
Ingredients:
6 large tomatoes, ripe but firm
½ cup burghul
1 cup of water
1 tsp allspice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp parsley, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
½ cup pine nuts
1 large onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Cut off top quarter of tomatoes and scoop out insides
Sprinkle insides of tomatoes with salt
Heat olive oil in a pan
Cook pine nuts until golden brown, about 2 minutes
Move pine nuts to a plate lined with paper towel for oil drainage
Cook onion in remaining oil until soft, about 7 minutes
Add burghul, salt, and pepper to taste
Stir for 2 minutes
Add 1 cup of water, then remove from heat and let stand about 30 minutes
Stir in pine nuts, parsley, lemon juice, allspice, and garlic
Spoon into tomatoes
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 degrees
3. Potatoes With Cilantro, Garlic, and Lemon
This recipe will make you rethink how you eat potatoes. Who knew cilantro and lemon could be so good with potatoes? For this tasty, vegetarian dish, be sure to make enough potatoes for everyone.
Ingredients:
4 large potatoes, cubed
1-quart vegetable oil
1 cup cilantro, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt to taste
Directions:
Heat oil in a deep-fryer or frying pan
Add potatoes to hot oil and cook until golden brown, about 8 minutes
Place cooked potatoes on a plate lined with several paper towels for oil drainage
When cooled, add potatoes to a large mixing bowl
Stir in cilantro, garlic, lemon juice, and salt to taste until potatoes are coated
4. Sautéed Kousa
Everybody loves eating stuffed squash, but the insides we take out while preparing the meal are often ignored after everything is cooked. During Lent, ditch the stuffed squash for the stuffing itself. It’s full of flavor that rivals any Arab meal.
Ingredients:
6 kousa (referred to as gray squash in English, or green zucchini, or marrow)
salt to taste
Directions:
Core the squash using a corer
Chop the outside layer of the kousa into pieces
Sauté the core and kousa pieces in a pan, about 10 minutes
Add salt to taste
Scoop with dairy-free Arab bread
Optional toppings: parsley, lemon juice, pepper, sautéed onions, and eggs
5. Sautéed Dandelions
Don’t knock it until you try it! You can pick up dandelions for consumption at Arab and Asian markets across the country. They can be cooked easily at home with familiar ingredients for a surprisingly filling, healthy meal.
Ingredients:
3 bunches dandelions
1 medium onion
1 ½ fresh lemons
3 tbsp of cilantro
¼ cup olive oil
2 tomatoes
Directions:
Wash dandelions
Cut each stem to 2 inches in length
Boil the chopped dandelions
Drain and squeeze
In a frying pan, sauté chopped onions
Add the drained and squeezed dandelions
Sauté for 10 minutes on low heat
Add chopped cilantro and lemon juice to the sautéed dandelions
Scoop with dairy-free Arab bread or vegetables
Serve with cut up tomatoes
Optional: Place dandelions and pieces of tomatoes in the pocket of dairy-free Arab bread to make a sandwich
