The latter is bits of chicken shaved off of a giant roasted chicken skewer wrapped in a thin tortilla-like bread called sharaq along with hummus, garlic sauce and onions. It’s simply delicious and great when you’re in a rush.
Dinner:
Two of my favorite home-cooked Palestinian dishes are maqloube and stuffed veggies. Maqloube literally translates to “upside down,” because it is a rice dish that is cooked in a big pot and requires that you flip it over once it’s ready to serve. If flipped properly, all the caramelized veggies such as eggplant, cauliflower, carrots, potato slices and chicken that were all cooking on the bottom of the pot are all stacked up and look almost like a cake. The flipping of the pot is quite a spectacle, and in a funny way is like an honor and is not for the faint of heart; it is quite heavy and if you don’t do it right, you could drop all the food on the floor!
Kousa mahshi (stuffed zucchini) and wa’ra’ dawalee (stuffed grape leaves) are Palestinian delicacies that you are unlikely to find in a restaurant. Usually, they are made together along with other stuffed veggies such as eggplant, potato and round zucchini, and are served with a savory red sauce. These veggies and leaves are usually stuffed with rice and bits of ground beef.
Dessert:
To be honest, I always thought that my grandma’s flan had my heart as my favorite desert love, but a yummy Palestinian desert called kanafeh is now competing with my love for flan. Kanafeh is made from a special pastry dough and white cheese that is soaked in sweet clear syrup and is topped with pistachio crumbs.
