Arabic

I love pearl couscous. The structure of it, the little balls in your mouth, just hard enough, but also just soft enough. They take in the taste of what’s around them nicely. Delicious with this spinach and semi-dried tomatoes. Also delicious at room temperature the next day as a salad.

Falafel is, of course, incredibly tasty on its own, if it is made with the right recipe, and if it is made with love. Part of a mezze. In a pita bread with salad and some hummus. But when you cut them open and fill them with some delicious mixture, they almost take on a royal allure. You can fill with hummus, with muhammara, with a yoghurt/cucumber filling… the possibilities are endless.

Comfort food to the max. Creamy. Nutricious. A little bit spicy but not too much. Enough bite. Yogurt at its best. Soup in a slightly different way. But in a way you ‘should’ have it more often. Because it is so good.

Now, there’s comfort food and comfort food. This is the ultimate version of it. And just what you expect from comfort food, it takes hours and hours for it to be at its best. But then, but then… Lima beans, the dry ones, become so very soft after spending all these hours in the pan. You can hardly imagine that they can get so soft at all. It is the secret of adding olive oil in the water. Patience. Endless soft boiling water. And then dip with some spicy shatta, crispy red onion and tasty flatbread until you drop.