Syrian cuisine

The Fetté, one of the most typical dishes of Damascus

Kibbeh

Syrian cuisine is a diffusion of the cultures of civilizations that settled in Syria, particularly during and after the Islamic era beginning with the Arab Ummayad conquest, then the eventual Persian-influenced Abbasids and ending with the strong influences of Turkish cuisine, resulting from the coming of the Ottoman Turks. It is in many ways similar to other Levantine cuisines, mainly Lebanese and Palestinian.

The Syrian cuisine includes dishes like kibbeh, wara' enab, hummus, tabbouleh, fattoush, labneh, shawarma, mujaddara, shanklish, pastırma, sujuk and ba'lawa. Ba'lawa is made of filo pastry filled with chopped nuts and soaked in honey. Syrians often serve selections of appetizers, known as meze, before the main course. za'atar, minced beef, and cheese manakish are served as hors d'oeuvres. Arabic flat bread is always eaten together with meze.

Syrians also make cookies to usually accompany their cheese called ka'ak. These are made of farina and other ingredients, rolled out, shaped into rings and baked. Another form of a similar cookie is to fill with crushed dates mixed with butter to eat with their jibbneh mashallale, a string cheese made of curd cheese pulled and twisted together.

A spice mixture called baharat mshakale is endemic to Syrian cuisine.

Sweets

Baklava sweets collection

• Baklava - a dessert of layered pastry filled with nuts and steeped in Atar syrup (orange [or] rose water and sugar), usually cut in a triangular or diamond shape.
• Taj al-malek (King's crown) - a dessert of round dry pastry, centre is filled with pistachio, nuts or cashew.
• Swar es-sett (Lady's wristlet)-a dessert of round pastry steeped in Atar syrup while the centre is covered with smashed pistachio.
• Lisan asfour (Sparrow's tongue)
• Mabrumeh
• Balloriyyeh
• Yabra'amoritz
• Znood Es-sett (Lady's arms) - filo pastry cigars with various fillings
• Asabe'e antakiyyeh (Antioch fingers) - a finger-like rolled and stuffed pastry.
• Halawet al-jeben - Cheese pastry, rolled and stuffed with cheese or thick milk cream, served with Atar syrup.
• Mamuniyeh - semolina, boiled in water and added by significant amounts of sugar and ghee butter, usually served with salty cheese or milk cream (qeshtah).

Syrians are renowned for producing dried apricot paste

• Zilebiyeh - thin sheets of semolina dough, boiled, rolled and stuffed with pistachio or milk cream (qeshtah).
• Ghazel al-banat - sugar, toasted with a special system and stuffed with pistachio or cashew.
• Karabij
• Shuaibiyyat
• Mushabbak
• Halva - sesame paste sweet, usually made in a slab and studded with fruit and nuts.
• Kenafeh - shoelace pastry dessert stuffed with sweet white cheese, nuts and syrup.
• Ma'amoul - date, pistachio or walnut filled cookies shaped in a wooden mould called a tabi made specially for Christian holidays (traditionally Easter), Muslim holidays (such as Ramadan) and Jewish holidays (Purim).
• Qada'ef- Semolina dough stuffed with a paste of sweet walnuts or milk cream and honey syrup (qater).
• Nabulsiyeh- a layer of semi-salty Nabulsi cheese covered with a semolina dough and drizzled with a honey syrup (qater).

Beverages

Mint lemonade served in Syria

• Arabic coffee
• Turkish coffee
• Arak
• Ayran
• Jallab
• Polo (Mint Lemonade)
• White coffee
• Al Shark and Berada beers
• Tamarind sherbet ('Araqsûs)

See also

• Arab cuisine
• Assyrian cuisine
• Iraqi cuisine
• Jordanian cuisine
• Lebanese cuisine
• Levantine cuisine
• Mediterranean cuisine
• Middle Eastern cuisine
• Ottoman cuisine
• Palestinian cuisine

References

External links

• Syrian Cooking