Today Cooking

Mediterranean Specialities

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: TDYC

Program Code: TDYC190004A


00:01 I want to spend my life
00:07 Mending broken people
00:12 I want to spend my life
00:19 Removing pain
00:24 Lord, let my words Let my words
00:30 Heal a heart that hurts
00:34 I want to spend my life
00:40 Mending broken people
00:46 I want to spend my life
00:51 Mending broken people
01:10 Hello and welcome to 3ABN Today.
01:12 My name is Angela Lomacang
01:15 and I am so excited about today's program.
01:19 And we have Dr. Fay Kazzi from Loma Linda, California.
01:26 And I know our viewers and listeners,
01:28 they always want to know a little more about our guest.
01:31 So tell us about who you are.
01:33 Yeah. Okay.
01:34 Well, first of all, thank you so much for having me
01:36 on this fabulous show.
01:38 So a little bit about me, my name is Fay Kazzi.
01:40 I grew up partly in California,
01:43 and then when I was around 11, 12
01:45 my family decided to do a really big move
01:47 and move to the Middle East.
01:49 And I spent 13 years living in the country of Lebanon,
01:52 which was mentioned 60 times in the Bible,
01:54 which I always like to show off about that.
01:57 And then later on,
01:59 we decided to pursue Higher Education
02:00 and we came back to California
02:02 and I got my masters in nutrition and dietetics
02:05 at Loma Linda University.
02:07 And I also pursued a PhD in Rehabilitation Science.
02:11 And before that, I became a registered dietitian.
02:13 And so a lot of my research
02:15 that I did during my clinical work
02:16 and my doctor had to do with probiotic therapy
02:19 as a form of gut therapy, you know, for individuals,
02:22 and it was a wonderful, wonderful process.
02:25 But I think I'm pretty much done with school right now.
02:27 Of course.
02:28 And then a few other things I like to do
02:29 is food photography and recipe creation.
02:31 Ah, that sounds very interesting.
02:35 And also you are married. Yes.
02:37 I'm very grateful to have found the love of my life.
02:40 And we've been married
02:41 for about a year and a half now.
02:43 All right.
02:44 And what else is happening with you?
02:45 So I am currently pregnant with our first child,
02:50 and five months, so in case you're wondering
02:53 this food doesn't make you large,
02:55 it's just I'm pregnant at this time.
02:57 Well, speaking of food, we have a wonderful recipe.
03:02 We have several recipes
03:03 you would like to share with us today.
03:05 Now let's see what we're going to share with our viewers.
03:09 So I am Mediterranean, obviously I'm Lebanese.
03:12 So I wanted to do a lot of Mediterranean cuisine items.
03:16 So we're going to be doing tabule today,
03:18 a traditional take on tabule
03:20 and we're going to also be creating
03:22 a beautiful hummus dish, authentic.
03:24 I like to really keep on saying it's authentic.
03:26 And babaghanoush, we're going to attempt
03:28 to do it the correct way,
03:30 with all due respect to everyone else who's done it.
03:32 And then we're going to do doulma, stuffed grape leaves,
03:36 which is a very...
03:37 It's kind of like a peasant dish,
03:39 but it's an amazing one.
03:40 And then we have fattoush salad,
03:42 it's like the sister of tabule,
03:43 you can think about it that way.
03:45 And Tzatziki is actually a form...
03:48 It's a non...
03:49 You can do it with real yogurt,
03:51 but we're going to make it without real yogurt.
03:53 We'll be using coconut yogurt today,
03:55 and that's a side dish that goes with the doulma.
03:58 This is a typical Mediterranean Meze, that's what we call it.
04:02 That means that the joining of dishes together.
04:05 And they're usually presented at one dinner.
04:08 There are meat versions of it,
04:10 but of course we won't be using any meat
04:11 with these ingredients.
04:12 And everything is plant based and incredible.
04:15 So I hope that you guys will like it.
04:17 Now tell us what is our first recipe for today.
04:19 The first recipe is tabule.
04:21 Now traditionally,
04:23 it's a very simple dish to make,
04:26 but it is mostly made of parsley.
04:27 And I know parsley sometimes used as a garnish.
04:30 The ingredients are basically...
04:32 Would you like to read them? Sure.
04:33 Go for it. For the salad, it's...
04:51 Yes, and the dressing that goes along with it.
04:53 And here's the dressing...
05:06 Yeah.
05:08 So it's actually a very simple recipe,
05:10 but it's actually one of my favorites.
05:12 Yeah, sounds good.
05:13 And I'm really craving salty lemony things right now.
05:15 Oh, okay.
05:16 So a few tips about some of the ingredients.
05:19 For the parsley,
05:20 we are using a large amount of parsley
05:22 usually, when it's made in this area
05:25 that I've seen in America,
05:26 they usually add a lot more of the bulgur
05:29 and a lot less of the parsley,
05:31 but it's supposed to be inversely.
05:34 It's actually an inverse issue right there.
05:36 Now what is bulgur? What is that made of?
05:37 Bulgur is a type of grain.
05:39 It does contain gluten, but it's a high fiber,
05:41 high mineral grain.
05:43 And basically all you do with it
05:44 is that you soak it in water
05:46 'cause that's what we use the water for.
05:48 You soak in water for about,
05:50 maybe you can do it for overnight
05:52 or you can do it for maybe an hour
05:54 before you're ready to prepare your meal.
05:56 Then that doesn't require any cooking.
05:57 Oh.
05:59 So you just toss all that together.
06:00 It's easy. So let's get this going.
06:02 Yeah, let's do that.
06:03 So we're going to go ahead and start with parsley.
06:05 Just going to toss that right in.
06:07 And we do try to get rid of the stems.
06:09 So we recommend doing that, yeah.
06:12 And then we have an entire white onion.
06:14 Yum. And I... we...
06:15 I'm going to tell you,
06:16 you're going to eat a lot of onion
06:18 and a lot of garlic.
06:19 What about red onions?
06:21 Red, is that okay to use?
06:22 Yeah, you can use red onions, but traditionally,
06:23 it is used with white onions.
06:25 But I guess you can go either way.
06:28 Then we're going to toss in our tomatoes,
06:30 and it's a good amount of tomatoes,
06:31 it's like 2-3 tomatoes in there.
06:34 And then do you want to do the mixing for me?
06:36 I sure will. Glad to mix it up.
06:38 Fantastic. Here we go.
06:40 Now we're going to go ahead
06:41 and toss our bulgur right in there.
06:42 Nice.
06:44 So easy, seems so easy to make.
06:46 Yeah, it's quite simple.
06:47 It's the chopping that takes most of the time,
06:49 but we've already taken care of that for you guys.
06:52 And we're going to throw in our lemon in there.
06:54 And as you can see, it's quite a lot of lemon.
06:56 Yeah.
06:57 A good amount of vitamin C in there.
07:00 Is it okay to use lemon juice
07:02 or is it best to use fresh lemon?
07:05 Just because I'm a dietitian here talking,
07:07 when I think about it,
07:08 but I feel like I like using fresh lemon.
07:10 It has a little bit more of some extra acidity
07:13 that you might not get in bottled lemon.
07:15 But if that's all you have,
07:16 definitely by all means use regular,
07:18 I mean, use bottled lemon if you have to.
07:21 You can go more with the olive oil.
07:23 We're just doing about 2.5 to 3 tablespoons over there.
07:26 You can do the same with the salt as well.
07:28 We have about 1.5 teaspoon.
07:32 And then we have some cayenne pepper as well.
07:35 Oh, that's to give it a little zip.
07:37 Yeah, just a little something,
07:39 you can always add a lot more if that's what you choose.
07:41 But generally, you know,
07:45 you might not want to put too much.
07:46 Now cayenne's good for circulation, isn't it?
07:47 Absolutely.
07:49 It improves the circulation, it dials up the blood vessels
07:51 and helps to lower hypertension.
07:53 Oh.
07:54 Now here's a little thing,
07:55 my grandma likes to use cinnamon
07:57 in her tabule,
07:59 which is kind of like her little trick.
08:02 So but I got that from her.
08:04 Cinnamon surprisingly adds another layer of earthiness
08:07 to this already very earthy salad,
08:10 so it's quite nice.
08:11 We're just going to throw that in there.
08:12 Never had salad with cinnamon before.
08:14 Yeah, yeah. It's just a little...
08:15 You can't really sense it.
08:17 But the more you eat it and think about it,
08:19 you'll kind of feel it,
08:20 but it just adds that perfect layer of earthiness to it.
08:23 So I'll go ahead and just continue mixing it.
08:25 Here we go.
08:26 If you want to grab that,
08:27 we'll just go ahead and style it
08:29 and show you how it's supposed to be presented.
08:30 Yeah.
08:32 Here's something about me, I like to use white dishes.
08:33 That's kind of like a little thing that I have.
08:36 So do I.
08:38 Yeah, I just feel like it helps the food
08:39 pop up so nicely.
08:41 So we're just gonna give that nice mix.
08:42 And this is going to be a wonderful salad
08:45 for a big family.
08:46 Yes.
08:48 It actually smells really good.
08:50 Yeah, it smells quite delicious.
08:52 I'm gonna toss that right in there.
08:54 And... Look how beautiful.
08:56 Yes.
08:57 Oh my!
08:59 Oh. I'll fix that.
09:00 Let me just put this back here.
09:02 Absolutely beautiful.
09:04 Wow. Yeah.
09:05 And then all we do is
09:08 kind of scoop it upwards in the center.
09:10 And you can put that in there and then...
09:12 This is something that we like to do in Lebanon,
09:14 we take a tomato, and we cut it kind of floral.
09:17 Beautiful. Put that right in the center.
09:19 And then you can if you want to throw in
09:22 some radishes on the side.
09:25 I'm just going to try to make
09:26 that look a little bit prettier.
09:28 And then that's pretty much the tabule.
09:30 And as you can see,
09:31 it was very, very simple to make.
09:33 Very, very easy to make.
09:35 And what we also like to do,
09:37 sometimes we serve it within a cabbage leaf,
09:42 within a smaller bowl.
09:43 That's the traditional way of doing it.
09:44 Really? Yeah.
09:46 But just wanted to show you guys
09:47 how it looks in there.
09:49 And then what we do, also we take lettuce
09:52 and we actually break it like bread.
09:54 And we scoop into it.
09:56 Oh, yeah, it's really Mediterranean.
09:58 Yeah, that's a very, very Mediterranean style concept
10:00 that we like to do,
10:02 and so that's pretty much it for the tabule.
10:04 And very simple.
10:05 Very simple. Wow.
10:06 High in antioxidants, high in nutrients,
10:08 high in vitamins.
10:10 And tastes good. And tastes amazing.
10:12 Absolutely delicious.
10:13 We will try this later on.
10:15 Right now, we're going to go into our next recipe.
10:18 Our next recipe is called, what, hummus?
10:21 Hummus, yeah.
10:22 We're going to use...
10:37 For the garnish, it's going to be...
10:41 And what is this? Olive?
10:42 Kalamata olives. Kalamata olives.
10:49 Okay, we're going to try this hummus.
10:52 When I was in the Middle East,
10:54 that's what we had
10:55 and it seems like a staple out there.
10:57 It is.
10:58 It's like chips and dip
10:59 but the Mediterranean version of it.
11:01 And we go hard with a lot of garlic.
11:03 Oh. Love the garlic.
11:04 We hope you love garlic
11:05 'cause there's a lot of that in there.
11:07 I do. Okay, where do we start?
11:08 So we can go ahead and start with our chickpeas,
11:10 so just some canned, rinsed chickpeas.
11:12 And we're only using two cans of that.
11:14 Two cans.
11:15 And, you know, chickpeas are obviously a legume.
11:17 So they're excellent sources of protein.
11:20 That's right.
11:21 And they're also really good in terms of the...
11:23 They release carbohydrates very slowly.
11:25 So they are what you would call slow acting carbs.
11:28 And so that's the complex carbs,
11:30 which is really great,
11:31 and it's even recommended for some diabetics.
11:33 Just make sure you confirm with your doctor
11:35 to be able to have good amounts
11:37 or healthy amounts of legumes in your diet.
11:39 Then we're going to go with the tahini.
11:41 This is the tahini? Tahini, it's basically...
11:43 Now what is tahini? Yeah.
11:44 Yeah, it's basically ground sesame seeds.
11:46 And sesame seeds are packed full of calcium and nutrients.
11:50 A really great source of essential fats as well.
11:53 So I absolutely love tahini.
11:56 And then we're going to put
11:57 a good amount of lemon in there.
11:58 Wow. Fresh lemon.
12:00 Yeah, we're adding that acid,
12:01 it's going to give it a nice kick.
12:02 And here's the best part.
12:05 Garlic. Garlic.
12:06 Now the garlic cloves that I used
12:08 for this particular recipe were very large,
12:10 but essentially, you know,
12:12 you can add as much garlic as you want
12:13 or as little garlic as you want.
12:14 It just depends on what you're interested in.
12:16 But I'm a garlic lover,
12:18 so I'm going to always add more.
12:20 And then last, we're going to add some salt.
12:21 So it's very simple. Yes.
12:24 We're also going to throw in a little bit of water,
12:27 just because we want it to kind of move well
12:30 in the recipe and rotate.
12:31 And then we're just going to put it right on.
12:33 All right.
12:36 And then skip this lid on.
12:37 And we're just going to go ahead and pulse.
13:10 All right, and that is it. Wow.
13:12 That's simple.
13:13 Now you could put this on for at least another three minutes
13:15 if you wanted to,
13:17 but I like it to be somewhat a little bit chunky.
13:19 So I'm just going to use a spatula
13:20 and just get it right on to this...
13:22 Creamy and nice. So creamy and nice.
13:24 And again, I like to remind people that this is legumes.
13:27 So this is a lot of nutrients, a lot of protein,
13:31 a good amount of fiber in there.
13:34 And that is it. See how simple it is?
13:36 It is so simple and easy to make.
13:38 Anyone can make it.
13:40 A lot of people think that plant based foods
13:41 are really difficult, complex.
13:43 But really, if you have a good food processor
13:45 and a place where you can get good quality legumes in cans,
13:49 you don't even have to cook it,
13:50 I mean, that's how wonderful it is.
13:52 Let's put this right here.
13:53 Once again, it smells so good.
13:54 Smells so good. And the way you want to...
13:57 The way you want to style it is really very simple.
14:00 You want to kind of just make it
14:01 so that it has like a...
14:03 Oh, I like that. Like edges on the sides.
14:06 And then you want to make a little dip in the middle
14:08 because that's where you put the olive oil.
14:10 But I personally like...
14:11 I prefer to use a spoon. Yes.
14:13 So I'm just gonna get a spoon and do that with it.
14:16 And of course you can style it however you like.
14:19 But I do... Like a sombrero.
14:20 Yeah, but because I do food photography
14:22 and I do a lot of styling,
14:24 I like to always make sure that my food looks really good.
14:28 Yes.
14:29 And I think that's something
14:30 that we should all take time to do
14:32 because the first thing you're going to do
14:33 is you're going to eat with your eyes first.
14:34 Exactly.
14:36 So that's something important.
14:37 So that's that.
14:39 And then for garnishing,
14:40 I always love to add Kalamata olives
14:42 because they're absolutely delicious
14:44 and they have a really good type of bitterness to it.
14:46 Oh, really? Yeah.
14:48 Kalamata. Kalamata.
14:50 And they're a typical type of Italian Mediterranean olive.
14:54 And then we take a little bit of parsley.
14:55 Oh, yeah.
14:57 And you can see I'm taking some time in doing this.
14:59 I'm not just throwing it together.
15:00 No, you're not.
15:01 It is important, like I said,
15:03 to spend a little bit of time with garnishing.
15:05 And here is a little bit of cayenne pepper or paprika.
15:09 If you're a little... Ooh.
15:10 If you're a little sensitive,
15:11 you might want to just go with...
15:13 Nice color. Paprika.
15:14 And it's a pretty color, exactly.
15:16 And that's what I like about it.
15:17 Oh, look at that.
15:19 Oh.
15:21 And then we have a little space left
15:22 for our olive oil right there in the center
15:25 so that when you're dipping...
15:27 You're dipping, yeah.
15:28 You can get some right from there.
15:29 And if you prefer to go without olive oil,
15:31 you can do that as well.
15:33 Now just add a little bit more detail.
15:35 Oh, how beautiful. And there you have it.
15:37 And you want to always have your...
15:39 What kind of bread is this?
15:41 This is a very simple type of pita bread.
15:44 It's only made out of flour, yeast, and water.
15:46 That's it. Very simple.
15:47 No oil, no salt.
15:49 You can have this with that, you can dip it,
15:50 you can kind of design it
15:52 like you put all around the dish if you want.
15:54 It's really your decision of how you want to present it.
15:56 I also recommend having it with lavash bread
15:59 and/or with pita bread.
16:01 You know, it's the wonderful... It's the best way to eat it.
16:03 And that's pretty much it.
16:04 Wow.
16:06 All right, it looks good and we'll try it later.
16:08 So right now, we're going to go on to our next recipe.
16:12 Our next recipe is...
16:13 You better say this one.
16:15 So the Arabic way of saying it is babaghanoush.
16:18 But the way we'll say here is babaghanoush.
16:20 Baba... Babaghanoush.
16:22 Babaghanoush. Okay.
16:23 Go for it. And it's a dip, huh?
16:24 It is a dip. Okay.
16:26 We're going to use...
16:44 Now for the garnish, it's...
16:55 Okay, let's do this. Yeah.
16:57 I'm very excited about babaghanoush.
16:59 So normally, what you would do, the authentic way...
17:02 Yeah, we want authentic.
17:03 Of presenting or getting babaghanoush ready
17:06 is that you take a readymade egg...
17:07 A fresh eggplant. Excuse me.
17:09 And you put it on an open flame.
17:11 And that's the right way of doing it.
17:13 Really?
17:14 You take it right on the open flame,
17:16 you place it and you literally let it cook on an open flame...
17:18 What?
17:20 Until the skin has completely charred.
17:22 Yeah.
17:24 Now don't worry about carcinogens.
17:25 What you're going to do is that
17:27 you're going to peel that part off
17:28 but that smoky flavor will be in there
17:30 and you just keep on rotating it,
17:31 keep on rotating it.
17:33 It takes about 15 to 20 minutes
17:34 for the insides to cook in this method.
17:37 But if this is a little too daunting
17:39 for some of our viewers at home,
17:41 what we recommend is also placing it in an oven
17:43 on broil.
17:45 It could take up to 30-40 minutes to get it
17:47 to where you really want it to be.
17:49 But that broiling will help
17:51 the outside of the eggplant to char.
17:54 You can peel that part right off
17:55 and then scoop out the inside
17:56 and use that for the babaghanoush.
17:58 But I'm showing you again
17:59 I wanted to promise the viewers that we're going to show them
18:01 authentic Lebanese Arab cuisine.
18:03 I like that.
18:04 And so that's the correct way of doing that.
18:05 But we're not going to set this place on fire just yet.
18:08 So we're going to close that off right now.
18:10 I've already prepared some
18:11 and we actually did do this in the oven.
18:14 So we did broil them, I already feel part of it off
18:17 so you can see.
18:18 So you can see we're exposing the inside of the eggplant.
18:21 You can see it's a little bit charred but not too much.
18:24 And we're just going to need to take that
18:25 and we're going to pull out the inside.
18:27 And you can do this with a... Yeah, go on.
18:29 How long do you bake it in the oven for?
18:30 It really depends on the temperature
18:32 and on your oven.
18:33 But essentially it shouldn't take more than half an hour
18:35 if you have it on a high temperature.
18:37 But it scoops out really nicely.
18:38 It does. Very nice.
18:40 And you can just forget about the skin.
18:41 This is not as charred as I would like it to be.
18:43 Normally it's like black
18:45 and you can peel it off really nicely.
18:47 And then all you're going to need
18:48 is two eggplants for that.
18:50 Just two. Just two.
18:51 These ones did get a bit dehydrated,
18:53 you normally want a little bit more juice in there,
18:55 but that's totally fine.
18:57 And just take off the head and then you can just...
18:59 You can use your hands. Oh, look at that.
19:01 Yeah, it comes off really nicely.
19:02 Yeah.
19:03 And then you just grab your spoon
19:05 and then you just scoop it out.
19:07 This is loaded with vitamins, isn't it?
19:08 Loaded with vitamins and nutrients, it's high in fiber.
19:10 And the thing I love about eggplants
19:11 is they're very versatile.
19:13 You can make eggplants lasagna.
19:15 Parmesan. You can make parmesan.
19:17 I like to do a really good...
19:20 I like to do a really good Alfredo fettuccine
19:23 and I do eggplant chips,
19:25 where I cut them into thin slices
19:26 and I place them in the oven
19:28 and they crisp up really nicely.
19:30 Yeah, eggplant chips?
19:31 And I add cashew and nutrition leaves to them.
19:33 Like and it literally has... Tasty.
19:35 It tastes like parmesan, a parmesan type dish.
19:38 And then it's quite simple.
19:40 We're just going to go ahead and grab the tahini.
19:44 Okay.
19:45 And pour that right on top.
19:47 And again, I'm showing you the authentic way
19:49 of getting this ready.
19:50 And that's what we want.
19:52 And that's what we need. Yes, the authentic way.
19:56 And then we're going to put in our lemon,
19:57 just right on top,
19:59 and then I'm just gonna start...
20:00 You take a fork. Okay.
20:02 You could do this in a blender or in a food processor,
20:04 but I prefer to do it with a fork
20:07 'cause that's the way the the mamas
20:09 and the aunties and the grandmothers
20:11 in Lebanon would do it.
20:13 They use forks and they just begin to mash it.
20:15 And yeah, it's a really simple dish to do.
20:18 Wow.
20:20 You just keep on mashing it together.
20:21 Now I know I recommend using 1/4 cup of tahini,
20:24 but you can always use more or less.
20:25 You could use more, okay.
20:27 It is essential fat, I mean, it is...
20:29 What is tahini good for?
20:30 Tahini is good... It's high in calcium.
20:32 It's high in essential fats. Yes.
20:34 It does contain omega-3s, which is heart healthy fats.
20:37 Oh, yeah.
20:38 And it's basically a great source of minerals.
20:42 So I mean, to me,
20:43 that's like the most important thing.
20:45 Yes.
20:46 And it's also made straight from plants.
20:49 And it's not necessarily oil
20:51 because it does have a lot of other
20:53 nutritive components to it.
20:56 And so that's basically babaghanoush right here,
20:58 essentially.
20:59 Now do you have this at dinnertime or is it a...
21:02 You can have it as a side.
21:03 I'm just going to add some salt right now.
21:05 You can have it as a side dish.
21:07 We also add quite a bit of garlic to it.
21:09 You could have it along with the Meze dish,
21:11 which is the traditional spread.
21:13 But essentially, you can have it for breakfast.
21:16 Yeah, for lunch or for dinner, it depends.
21:18 But I don't know if you want to have garlic infused breath
21:22 starting from the morning.
21:23 That's true.
21:25 But a lot of the recipes that
21:26 Arabs do is they can eat it in the morning
21:28 or in the evening.
21:30 That's right. Yeah.
21:31 And so that's basically how it's put together.
21:33 Nice.
21:35 And we can go ahead
21:36 and start putting it on the plate.
21:39 If you want to throw a little bit of a kick,
21:41 you can put some cayenne pepper in there.
21:44 Very nice.
21:46 And you just mix it up.
21:47 Just mix it all up.
21:48 You could add the third eggplant
21:50 if you wanted to.
21:51 But I think this is... Oh, yeah.
21:52 This is okay with just two.
21:54 And then you eat this with bread
21:56 or you can eat it with your salad
21:58 or whatever it is that you choose.
22:00 So we can go ahead and grab that.
22:02 All right.
22:04 Let's put that here.
22:05 Very nice.
22:07 When I was in Jordan, I mentioned to you,
22:08 we had food like this
22:11 and the food is delicious in Jordan.
22:13 Yeah. It's amazing.
22:14 It's not too far from Lebanon.
22:17 They may have gotten most of the recipes from Lebanon.
22:19 Who knows, yeah.
22:21 I'm sorry, I'm unapologetically bias for my country, yeah.
22:24 So you're proud. Very good.
22:25 Very proud.
22:27 I was spoiled for the few years I've been there.
22:28 So your mom and dad are from Lebanon?
22:30 Yes. My mother is...
22:32 So the funny thing is my mother is Egyptian,
22:35 but she went to Middle East College in Lebanon
22:37 which is an Adventist University.
22:39 It's the only one out there.
22:41 So but she didn't meet my dad there.
22:43 She met him out here, my father is Lebanese,
22:45 part Lebanese, part Syrian,
22:47 and they met out here at La Sierra.
22:50 So it was quite...
22:51 How nice, they didn't meet out there.
22:52 Yeah, no, it was incredible, and she was there in Lebanon
22:55 'cause, I mean, she's Egyptian, but she went there for school
22:57 but she met him there obviously.
22:59 So I thought that's quite incredible.
23:01 They have an amazing story, but that's another...
23:04 It's another episode. Yes, yes.
23:05 So then we take some pomegranate seeds.
23:07 And we're just going to...
23:08 Have a lot of that in the Middle East.
23:10 Yeah.
23:11 And you would be surprised to think that
23:13 people put pomegranate seeds on their babaghanoush,
23:16 but that's actually the correct way of presenting it.
23:19 And then it's the same thing kind of like with the hummus.
23:21 And then you take the olive oil,
23:23 you put that in the center.
23:25 Olive oil is in a lot of stuff. It is.
23:27 Mediterranean. Yes.
23:28 Because the olive tree is very prominent in the Middle East.
23:30 Yes. Yes.
23:31 And we had several olive trees in our garden.
23:33 Oh, you did. Over there, yeah.
23:35 We have...
23:37 My father built a beautiful home
23:38 out in the Rhodope mountains, which is incredible
23:41 'cause you can see the beautiful hills of Lebanon,
23:44 the mountains, and then you can see the ocean.
23:46 Oh my. Sorry, the Mediterranean Sea.
23:48 Yes. Yeah.
23:49 And so that's basically our babaghanoush dish.
23:52 Look at that. Absolutely delicious.
23:54 I tell you, I look forward to tasting this once again.
23:58 Yes. Mediterranean food.
23:59 So we need to go on to our next recipe.
24:03 And our next recipe is...
24:05 Pronounce it, please.
24:06 It's doulma.
24:08 Doulma.
24:09 Okay. We're going to use...
24:46 And for the cooking broth...
24:58 Okay, now let's...
25:00 Tell me about this doulma. Okay.
25:02 So have you seen a grape leaf before?
25:04 No. Okay.
25:06 So this is a just a regular grape leaf
25:08 that has been soaked in brine.
25:10 And what happens with it is
25:11 that you take it and you make something called
25:13 Warak Enab or doulma,
25:15 that's the Arabic way of saying it.
25:16 Warak Enab, literally translates to grape leaves.
25:20 But we basically going to take these grape leaves
25:22 and use them as the outer version,
25:23 the outer part of a stuffing,
25:25 and then we're going to roll it up.
25:27 So the ingredients are very simple.
25:29 Let's see, let's put it together.
25:30 We already went through them.
25:31 So we're going to start with the rice.
25:33 So this is just some basic white cooked...
25:34 Well, we're going to start with uncooked,
25:36 it's going to cook later.
25:37 Yeah, so it's all going to go in raw.
25:39 So basic white rice, you could use brown rice,
25:42 it just takes a little bit longer.
25:44 Then we're going to toss in an entire onion.
25:47 Put that in there.
25:48 And then we're going to put some fresh parsley.
25:50 This is about half a head of fresh parsley.
25:53 And then we're going to take this tomato paste over here.
25:57 Okay. And pop that in there.
25:59 Is this certain tomato paste that you...
26:02 Just regular tomato paste. Just regular tomato paste.
26:03 Don't have to go to fancy with that.
26:05 Very good.
26:06 And then we're going to put in
26:08 about 2-3 tablespoons of grape seed oil.
26:12 Okay.
26:13 And you can add less or more.
26:15 Traditionally, the Lebanese... Is it more?
26:17 Let me tell you, they like a lot of oil.
26:19 But we're going to try to make this as healthy as possible.
26:21 Yes. There you go.
26:23 Good amount of garlic in there
26:24 'cause now you can see we have a lot of garlic
26:26 and a lot of onion in one place.
26:27 Yeah. We have some salt.
26:30 And then we're going to go ahead
26:31 and put a little bit of...
26:32 What is this here?
26:34 A little bit of cayenne pepper.
26:35 You don't have to, but again,
26:36 I like things a little bit spicy.
26:38 I do too.
26:39 And again, we're going to add a little secret ingredient
26:41 that my grandma likes.
26:42 The cinnamon. A little bit of cinnamon.
26:43 Okay.
26:45 And she always likes to act like no one else knows
26:47 this little secret, but I figured it out.
26:50 And we're just going to go ahead
26:51 and give us a nice mix.
26:53 Very good. Yeah.
26:54 Mix it all up.
26:56 Now you speak another language, don't you?
26:58 Yes. Yes.
26:59 What is this language you speak?
27:00 I speak Lebanese.
27:02 Do you speak it fluently?
27:03 Yes, I speak it fluently,
27:05 and I can write and read Arabic.
27:07 Really? Yeah.
27:08 It's not... I mean, I spent 13 years there.
27:11 So, you know, it is a difficult language
27:13 but I was able to...
27:15 Okay, you need to say something too.
27:16 What would you like me to say?
27:18 Oh, say something about what you're making?
27:20 Okay.
27:24 â | which means this food is really, really delicious.
27:27 Oh my.
27:30 â | which means I'm very happy to be here with you today.
27:33 Wow.
27:34 Was it the Bible? Well, Daniel written in Arabic.
27:37 I'm not sure.
27:38 Probably, might have been Aramaic.
27:40 Aramaic.
27:41 A lot of different parts of the Bible
27:42 were written in Aramaic.
27:44 I don't understand Aramaic.
27:45 Some people believe... So it's different.
27:46 It's different.
27:48 Actually, it's like a more sophisticated dialect.
27:50 If you really tried, you might understand some.
27:53 But I could tell you I can speak Syrian,
27:55 I can speak Egyptian,
27:58 and I can speak a little bit Saudi Arabian.
28:01 But the idea is they're different dialects.
28:03 So if you understand one of those dialects,
28:06 you can kind of understand the others.
28:07 Right. So yeah.
28:09 Wow, that's pretty good.
28:12 Yeah, so what are we gonna do with this right now?
28:13 So right now this is probably a good mix.
28:16 I think it's ready.
28:17 So what we're going to do is that we're going to take
28:21 our little spoons that we have.
28:23 And we're going to take a leaf,
28:24 I'm going to go ahead and give you one.
28:25 Give me a leaf, yeah. Give you a leaf.
28:27 And then you're going to spread it out
28:28 as much as you can.
28:30 So you can see that there's parts
28:31 that are still kind of folded.
28:32 You want to spread it out as much as you can.
28:34 What kind of tree is this grown on?
28:36 It's a grapevine.
28:37 Oh. Yeah.
28:39 It's literally the grapes, the grapes,
28:40 the leaves that grow with the grapes.
28:42 You take those. Really?
28:43 Yeah.
28:44 So you'll never going to look at your grapevine
28:46 in the backyard the same again.
28:47 No. I worked in Napa, California.
28:50 So I have always seen, going to work,
28:52 I always passed through the grapevine.
28:54 That's all food. All food.
28:55 As far as the Lebanese cuisine is concerned.
28:58 Okay, so let's see how you're going to wrap this.
28:59 So here we go. Here we have a leaf right here.
29:01 This is a good size leaf.
29:02 And what we're going to do is take about a spoonful or so.
29:06 Now traditionally, the Lebanese like to put
29:08 very little of this mixture in it,
29:10 but I like it to be a little bit more hefty.
29:13 So I'll put a little bit more.
29:15 That's enough for that one.
29:16 Is that enough? Yeah.
29:18 This is a small one.
29:19 And then what you're going to do
29:21 is that you're going to roll this up
29:22 the same way you would roll up a burrito.
29:23 Okay? Okay.
29:25 The first thing you do, you start out from the sides.
29:26 Oh, yeah.
29:28 Very good. Starting at sides.
29:29 And then you kind of press down...
29:32 You bring this part forward, the back,
29:34 and as you can see,
29:35 it's already beginning to form into that burrito
29:37 I was telling you about.
29:39 And then you just roll it up.
29:41 There you go. Very good.
29:42 Very good for a first one.
29:44 And that's how you can kind of imagine
29:46 how it's going to look like when it's cooked.
29:48 Oh, very nice and cute like a little burrito.
29:51 Yes. So this would take...
29:52 How long do you cook this for?
29:54 This would take probably about half an hour to cook.
29:57 So you want to bring it to a boil.
29:59 Once it boils, you set it to simmer
30:01 for about 25 minutes or so.
30:03 So it doesn't take that long to get together,
30:05 the long part is actually assembling it
30:08 because this is a small amount.
30:09 Normally you go with probably triple this amount of leaves,
30:12 and then you pack that into a pot.
30:14 So what we're going to do over here we have a pot,
30:16 I'm just going to give you an idea what it looks like.
30:17 Go ahead.
30:19 First thing I like to do is take some carrots.
30:20 Okay.
30:21 And I'm just going to put that on the bottom.
30:24 And it just helps to make the whole dish come together,
30:27 gives it some some nice flavor.
30:28 And we're literally going to pack up
30:30 the grape leaves like sardines
30:34 into the inside of this pot.
30:38 So you don't have to put that much
30:39 but just enough to cover the bottom.
30:41 And then you take your grape leaf.
30:42 Right.
30:43 And we place it right inside and just press it down.
30:46 I'm gonna take the one that you made
30:47 and we put it right next to it.
30:49 I see and so on all the way around.
30:50 And so on all the way around.
30:51 You can do with a good amount.
30:53 If you buy a jar of grape leaves
30:55 from your local international store
30:56 or culture store, Arab store, you can...
30:59 One jar should do about three layers
31:02 in a medium sized plot.
31:03 About three layers. About three layers.
31:05 You just roll it all the way around,
31:07 and then you do another layer right on top of it,
31:09 you build that up.
31:10 Okay.
31:11 Now with the magic of television.
31:13 Magic of television.
31:14 We can just show you what she made.
31:17 Here's one that's already been done.
31:19 You can kind of see how it looks.
31:21 So we have the grape leaves
31:23 that are rolled around the side,
31:24 I like to cook it with a little bit of lemon as well.
31:27 I just put slices of lemon
31:29 and what you're going to do before you start cooking it,
31:31 you're going to add
31:32 probably about two cups to three cups of water
31:34 to your previous,
31:35 I mean, before it's cooked.
31:37 You're also going to add lemon and olive oil,
31:40 and that's going to be kind of the broth
31:41 that it cooks in it.
31:42 So when it's done,
31:44 it's going to have a nice acidic taste to it.
31:45 And it looks very pretty.
31:47 You can put roasted carrots on the top.
31:48 And I'm going to have you taste one...
31:50 Oh, sure. To see what you think.
31:52 So here's one and it is a finger food.
31:54 You said it's a finger food, so I'm going to do it.
31:55 So she's not being disrespectful.
31:57 No, no.
31:59 This is the correct way of eating it.
32:00 Okay. Let's try this. Go for it.
32:01 Here we go.
32:04 Mmm.
32:06 It's delicious, it's healthy.
32:08 And oh my.
32:10 Has a lot of flavor to it.
32:12 So you're getting in some acid, you're getting some saltiness.
32:14 You're getting the garlic
32:16 and the onion, a little bit of heat.
32:17 Bursting with flavor. Yeah.
32:18 I'm eating one more bite, okay?
32:20 Go for it.
32:21 Okay.
32:24 Wow.
32:27 Now we are going to go into our next recipe.
32:31 Our next recipe is fattoush salad.
32:34 Now, Fay, why don't you read the ingredients?
32:36 Sure. So we have...
32:52 And then for the dressing we have...
33:09 And for the pita chips,
33:11 we're going to go with one or two pitas cut into squares
33:13 and you can spray oil them.
33:14 Okay.
33:16 Let's get started with this.
33:17 Okay, fantastic. Where do we start?
33:19 So first thing is let's just go ahead
33:21 and start with the lettuce.
33:22 Okay. Yeah.
33:23 Seems... It's a good amount of lettuce.
33:25 This is a hefty salad.
33:26 And I like to think about fattoush
33:27 as the sister to the tabule,
33:29 usually on our dishes, we put...
33:30 Oh, that's a good amount of lettuce too.
33:32 Nice.
33:34 Usually, we like to add the fattoush
33:36 with the tabule right next to it.
33:37 So you go ahead and toss in the cucumbers.
33:40 Cucumbers, right here. Yeah.
33:41 Here we go.
33:43 And this will wilt, so it's large right now,
33:45 but remember, it's gonna wilt after you add the dressing.
33:46 Oh, yeah. Yeah.
33:47 We can go ahead and throw in the onions.
33:49 There we go. Nice red onions.
33:51 Beautiful red onions.
33:52 One of my favorite onions is red onions.
33:54 They look gorgeous. Yeah.
33:56 It's like regular onions have an upgrade.
33:58 Yeah.
33:59 And then the tomatoes.
34:01 And I love cherry tomatoes because they're extra sweet.
34:03 Yeah. Oh, yeah. They are.
34:05 So it's quite delicious.
34:07 You can throw in the garbanzo beans.
34:08 So again, we're throwing in some protein in there.
34:11 Oh, yeah. Yeah.
34:13 And then radishes.
34:14 What is radish? How is that...
34:16 It's basically a root vegetable.
34:18 It's high in a lot of great components,
34:21 sulfuric components.
34:22 So we have a little bit of heat to it.
34:23 That's heart healthy,
34:25 so we'd recommend radishes for individuals
34:27 who have a history.
34:29 And then we're going to throw in some parsley.
34:30 Again, parsley is just such a great green
34:33 and it's high in nitrates.
34:35 It's also great for helping to dilate
34:37 or widen the blood vessels.
34:38 Really?
34:39 And even helps to decrease hypertension.
34:41 Parsley. Yeah, it's quite incredible.
34:42 I didn't know that.
34:44 So I'm going to let you...
34:45 slightly try as much as possible
34:46 to just go ahead and toss that,
34:48 while I go ahead and prepare the dressing for you guys.
34:50 So we're going to be looking at the lemon.
34:53 You can add as much lemon as you want.
34:55 And then the garlic. Nice.
34:57 Toss that in there.
34:58 Again, garlic and onion everywhere.
35:00 It's a staple. Yep.
35:01 And then we're going to throw in the olive oil,
35:03 you can add as much or as little olive oil
35:05 as you choose.
35:06 And we're also going to add molasses.
35:08 Now traditionally, they like to use...
35:10 We like to use pomegranate molasses,
35:12 but I couldn't find some.
35:14 So you could... I've never heard of that.
35:15 Yeah. It's basically as...
35:17 It's almost like a tartare version
35:19 if I can say that.
35:20 A more tartare version of regular molasses,
35:22 and it has a fruitiness to it.
35:24 This is regular molasses though,
35:25 so you can get away with just doing it with regular.
35:27 But if you can get your hands on the pomegranate molasses,
35:32 I really recommend that.
35:34 And a little bit cayenne pepper.
35:35 Nice. And a little bit of salt.
35:38 You can add more or less.
35:39 Now this is the best ingredient that I want to talk about,
35:41 it's sumac.
35:43 Oh, yeah, I have never heard of sumac.
35:44 Yeah, sumac is a really cool herb.
35:47 It's actually a berry that is dried up.
35:50 And you can get it at...
35:52 It's quite prevalent in the Middle East.
35:53 Okay.
35:55 You dry it up and then you ground it and...
35:56 You grind it and then it turns into this sumac powder.
35:59 It's a very tart sour type of spice if you will.
36:04 And it adds a really wonderful dimension to the salad.
36:07 Usually Arabs will add a lot more sumac
36:10 than I'm adding.
36:12 But I'm just going to not shock everybody here.
36:15 But yeah, they like this dressing to be very tart.
36:18 Yes. And salty and full of flavor.
36:23 And that's basically it for that.
36:26 It's so simple, isn't it? Yeah, very simple.
36:27 We're going to toss that in.
36:29 And this is something that you toss ahead of time.
36:33 Yeah. Okay.
36:34 So you will want it to wilt a little.
36:36 Normally, we don't want our salads to wilt, but this one,
36:38 we want it to wilt just a tiny bit.
36:40 Okay. Oh, that looks so good.
36:42 Yeah, and...
36:44 Delicious and healthy.
36:46 Now traditionally, what we do...
36:48 When I say we, it's not me, it's my people.
36:50 Right, right.
36:52 But on top of the salad or within the salad,
36:54 they will add fried pita bread,
36:57 little bits of fried pita bread,
36:58 deep fried.
37:00 And it's quite fattening.
37:01 So I did a healthier version of that for you.
37:04 And we're not going to add it to the salad itself.
37:07 We're only going to put it on top.
37:08 And the reason is because we don't want to get soggy
37:10 because, again, the one that we're going to be showing you
37:13 does not have a lot of oil in it.
37:16 That's a nice toss right there.
37:17 Look at that.
37:20 And I like garbanzo beans.
37:21 That's so good how you mix it in the salad.
37:24 Yeah, yeah, it's wonderful.
37:25 And so we're just going to transfer some of this.
37:27 As you can see, this is quite a lot.
37:29 Yes.
37:31 More than we wanted to put in the dish.
37:34 I'm going to ask you probably could carry this over...
37:35 Here we go. So I can get some in there.
37:37 Thank you.
37:38 Here we go.
37:40 Oh, wonderful. Look at this.
37:42 This looks like it will feed a big crowd.
37:44 Yeah, it's a great potluck option, by the way.
37:46 Exactly.
37:47 Yeah, I would really recommend this for potluck.
37:49 You are so right.
37:50 For those of us who, okay, that's good.
37:52 Here we go. Fantastic.
37:53 And then...
37:55 There's your white bowl.
37:56 There's my white bowl as usual,
37:58 and then we're going to just clear that.
38:00 And then I'm going to take...
38:02 These are the pita breads that I was telling you about.
38:04 Oh, yes. And so...
38:05 And you sprayed it with oil. Yeah.
38:07 So you do...
38:08 You cut them into little squares
38:09 and then you take them apart because they're two layered.
38:11 Yes.
38:12 And then you spray it with olive oil.
38:15 I recommend olive oil over cooking oil.
38:16 You can use cooking oil of course.
38:18 You just give a light spray
38:19 and then toast it in the oven on bake
38:21 for about maybe 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
38:25 And it just becomes this really...
38:27 Like chips. You can try one.
38:28 And so they can hear how crunchy it is.
38:30 Yeah.
38:32 And then you take a little bit of that...
38:33 Wow.
38:35 And you just top it right on top.
38:36 And that's going to act like your croutons.
38:38 You can add as much as you want,
38:39 but I'm only going to put that much,
38:40 don't cover the salad.
38:42 And there you have it.
38:43 Your fattoush salad presented in a wonderful way
38:46 that's healthy, heart healthy.
38:48 Heart healthy is important.
38:49 We're not killing people with the amount of oil
38:50 that's in those...
38:52 In those croutons.
38:54 Wow, this is absolutely delicious.
38:56 And well, we're going to go straight
38:58 to our next recipe.
39:00 Our next recipe, what is the name of that?
39:03 Tzatziki. Tzatziki.
39:06 Tzatziki. Wow.
39:07 So the right way of saying it is like...
39:09 So you'd say in Arabic cucumbers and yogurts.
39:12 It's going to be laban bi khyar,
39:15 which literally means yogurt with cucumbers.
39:17 Okay.
39:19 And this is actually what you would describe
39:20 as the side dish to the doulma
39:22 and that you would eat it by dipping the doulma in it.
39:25 Now of course, we're not using any dairy,
39:27 this is going to be coconut yogurt
39:28 that we'll be using today, but it's a really fun recipe.
39:30 Very simple recipe. Okay.
39:32 And what we need is...
39:53 Wow, let's get into this.
39:55 This is interesting. Yeah.
39:57 Tell us about this. It's a very easy recipe.
39:58 It seems easy.
40:00 It's almost so easy that I'm embarrassed to share it.
40:01 But I'm going to share it with you anyway.
40:03 So tzatziki or laban bi khyar is the traditional dish
40:08 that we serve next to the doulma.
40:10 Usually, it's made with full fat regular yogurt.
40:14 But today, we're using coconut milk yogurt.
40:17 I never heard of that.
40:18 Yeah. And it's non-sweetened.
40:20 You can find them at your larger high-end stores.
40:23 So it should be something that you can get,
40:25 especially health food stores will carry them.
40:27 All right.
40:28 The thing that's unique about coconut
40:30 yogurt compared to regular yogurt,
40:32 regular yogurt has a bit more acid in it.
40:35 So we're missing that tartness
40:38 because they're using animal fats and proteins
40:40 to create that,
40:41 so we're losing that tartness with the coconut yogurt
40:43 which is why we're going to be adding
40:44 some lemon to it
40:46 to kind of replace that missing tartness.
40:47 Oh, okay.
40:49 So fresh lemon, we're going to be adding.
40:50 Fresh lemon, normally you would not add lemon to tzatziki.
40:52 But, again, because we're going with a non-dairy,
40:54 so it's recommended.
40:55 Now what kind of dish, is this from Lebanon?
40:58 This is Lebanese. Lebanese.
40:59 And partly Greek.
41:01 I think the Greeks stole it from the Lebanese.
41:02 But... Of course.
41:04 But let's just say that it's a Mediterranean side dish.
41:07 Yeah. Okay, let's mix it up.
41:09 And we could talk about your photography
41:11 because you are into photography.
41:12 Yes, I'm an obsessed food photographer.
41:15 It's my favorite thing to do.
41:17 How did you get into that?
41:18 That's a very interesting story.
41:21 When I was working on my doctorate,
41:23 I was also juggling three jobs at the time
41:25 because I really wanted to,
41:27 I had a goal to graduate debt-free,
41:29 and praise God, He helped us reach that goal.
41:32 And I'm very grateful
41:34 because in the midst of that time,
41:35 it was very stressful and I was burned out.
41:38 And I was really seeking some sort of creative outlet
41:41 'cause I'm a creative person by nature.
41:42 But I was forced to kind of get my mind in the sciences
41:45 and get this clinical trial that I was running down
41:48 and manage the grants
41:49 I was working on for like a school district.
41:52 And it was just so much going on.
41:53 So I prayed with all of my heart
41:55 and I said, "Lord, I really need
41:57 some sort of healthy creative outlet
42:00 that could somehow utilize what I already have learned
42:02 as a dietitian and nutrition all that."
42:05 So I kid you not.
42:06 A few weeks later, it was no surprise
42:08 because I prayed about it.
42:10 A few weeks later,
42:11 I stumbled across this idea of shooting food,
42:13 taking food photography more seriously.
42:16 I had done some portrait photography,
42:18 but it wasn't food photography.
42:20 And then I started and I was like,
42:21 "Wow, I really like this."
42:23 And then as I was continuing to work on it,
42:25 I was like, "Well,
42:26 why don't I shoot healthier foods?"
42:28 I'm a dietitian.
42:29 I shouldn't be shooting cheesecake,
42:31 even though it's very photogenic.
42:33 And then I started to create healthier recipes of the things
42:37 I was shooting, and before I knew it,
42:38 food photography, recipe creation
42:40 became like this side gig.
42:43 And I even told my mom, just jokingly,
42:45 I'm like, "Mom, I love this so much.
42:46 I'm going to get paid to do it one day."
42:48 And praise God, like I began to get clients
42:50 and it just became a huge blessing.
42:53 So that's why I am very passionate
42:55 about styling food and making it look pretty
42:58 because a lot of the aesthetics
42:59 about presentation encourages an individual
43:02 to want to adhere
43:04 or commit to a lifestyle change of that nature.
43:07 So it needs to look good.
43:08 That's right. As well as tastes good.
43:10 So let's get into this one. Yeah.
43:11 Let's mix this up.
43:12 So we're just gonna go ahead
43:14 and throw in all these beautiful cucumbers.
43:16 Now these are chopped.
43:17 These are chopped.
43:19 I like to go with Persian cucumbers.
43:20 They're a little bit sweeter. They're a little bit sweeter.
43:22 You can use any type of cucumbers.
43:24 Where do you get these Persian cucumbers?
43:25 They're these smaller cucumbers.
43:27 You can find them at a lot of...
43:28 They're available. They're smaller.
43:30 Yeah. Yeah.
43:32 Yeah, they're smaller and a little sweeter
43:33 than the larger cucumbers.
43:34 Yes.
43:36 And they have grooves on the side.
43:37 So once you see them, you'll recognize them.
43:39 And then we can go ahead
43:41 and throw in the coconut yogurt.
43:42 Now this is the coconut yogurt.
43:44 Wow. Wow. Wow.
43:46 Let's see, it's very creamy.
43:49 It's just like yogurt, but no dairy.
43:52 No dairy. As you mentioned.
43:53 No dairy at all.
43:54 And we're gonna throw in that lemon
43:56 to get that acid in there
43:57 and then we have a good amount of garlic right here.
44:00 Yeah. There's that garlic again.
44:02 So we're gonna toss that as well.
44:04 Oh, yeah. And some salt.
44:06 That's right.
44:08 Salt and the last...
44:11 Oh, look at this.
44:12 Last but not least is our mint.
44:16 The mint.
44:17 Yeah, you could add fresh mint if you like.
44:22 But I prefer the dry mint personally,
44:23 but it doesn't really make that much of a difference.
44:27 You just have to cut them in very fine.
44:29 If you wanted it to be in the tzatziki.
44:31 And that's it, now we can go ahead and...
44:32 This is almost like a dessert.
44:34 Yeah, it's wonderful.
44:36 And as you can see, it's very simple
44:37 and you can also eat it like with pita bread,
44:39 make like falafel sandwiches.
44:41 And you can pour it on top of the falafel sandwiches.
44:44 So it's another fun way to to eat it.
44:47 Pour this in.
44:48 Now go ahead and pour that right in.
44:50 Yeah, look at that.
44:51 Easy, this is.
44:53 And this is a wonderful side dish
44:55 to have with your tzatziki
44:57 on your Mediterranean Meze spread.
44:59 Oh my!
45:01 And then you can take a little bit more of your mint
45:03 and just put that right on top.
45:04 Oh, there you go.
45:05 Always have that little aesthetic touch.
45:07 Beautiful. That's right.
45:09 And there you go. Voila.
45:10 Look at that.
45:12 Now how did you learn to cook like this?
45:17 Where did that desire come from?
45:20 I came from a Mediterranean family, obviously,
45:22 that loves food.
45:23 And so my family really always encouraged
45:27 more plant based recipes at home.
45:29 And so that's something I grew up with.
45:31 But I personally didn't start developing my own recipes.
45:33 Like all the recipes that you saw today
45:34 are my own versions.
45:36 Really?
45:38 I didn't start recipe development
45:39 until this food photography thing came along.
45:40 So my relationship with food didn't really start intimately
45:44 until about two years ago,
45:47 in the midst of my doctoral program,
45:49 among all places.
45:50 But it was my escape, you know, I enjoy it.
45:52 Food to me brings people together.
45:54 It's a wonderful way to show people that you love them,
45:57 you know, and it's the one thing
45:58 that no one has got...
46:00 It's the one thing that I feel you can do with someone
46:03 that just shuts down all the barriers.
46:05 You know, as long as you can break bread together
46:07 and eat something,
46:09 I just feel it's a wonderful way to kind of keep things
46:11 going on a relationship status in a healthy way.
46:15 So yeah, it just developed over that period.
46:18 And I became more inquisitive about creating vegan
46:21 plant based versions...
46:22 I like that, vegan. Of those recipes, right.
46:23 Because I don't like to use any processed meats
46:26 or processed fake cheeses
46:28 or the kind of the substitute ingredients that,
46:32 you know, we've...
46:33 It's a good step in the right direction
46:34 in terms of environmental sustainability
46:36 and health of course,
46:38 but in terms of actual ingredients,
46:40 some of the ingredients can be very saturated
46:43 with a lot of different types of fats
46:45 that are unhealthy, processed fats,
46:49 and also preservatives and chemicals and salts.
46:51 These are all things that are hiding in these
46:53 "vegan" ingredients.
46:54 So a lot of what I do on my website
46:56 with my recipe creation is that
46:58 I use whole food plant based ingredients.
47:00 So like all my creams
47:02 are either made out of coconut milk or cashews,
47:04 a lot of them are nut based.
47:06 I don't like to use packaged.
47:08 And I'm not against anyone who wants to do that,
47:10 that's fine.
47:11 But I feel a need to elevate our palate
47:14 to this area of more whole food plant based sources
47:17 because, I mean, that's what God instructed us to do anyway.
47:20 And I was just talking to my sister-in-law
47:21 about this the other day.
47:23 We were talking about how
47:25 the first book of the Book of Daniel...
47:27 That's right.
47:29 Was actually an instructional diet plan.
47:31 That was completely 100% plant based.
47:33 Yes, it was.
47:34 And it wasn't that the king's food was...
47:36 Okay, we understand it wasn't healthy because of what,
47:39 you know, it was unhealthy meats,
47:40 unclean animals, whatever those things were.
47:43 But nowadays, we eat a lot of foods
47:45 that are douched in chemicals and preservatives.
47:48 I mean, that would be considered unclean as well.
47:50 So I just feel like we have a divine responsibility
47:52 to kind of elevate our palate to more plant based sources.
47:56 Oh, this is so good. And it's easy.
47:58 It's simple.
47:59 And that's what I like.
48:01 You know, these days, people are in a hurry.
48:03 They work and they just don't have time.
48:06 But you could prepare this ahead of time,
48:08 put it in refrigerator
48:09 during the week and you have a nice,
48:12 really nice recipe.
48:14 And so your father, does he cook also?
48:19 My father, he does cook, he does cook also.
48:23 I guess my mother is the queen of the castle
48:24 in that department,
48:26 but my father does surprise us
48:28 every now and then with something
48:29 very authentic and Lebanese.
48:30 Right, right.
48:32 So what we're going to do.
48:33 We are going to come back, we're going to take a break,
48:37 and we're going to show a beautiful display
48:40 of all the food that we just made.
48:42 So stay right here. We'll be right back.


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Revised 2019-09-10