Wolfert describes this dish as "soupy". And Wikipedia describes it as either a soup or a dip. My byssara did not come out soupy. The instructions say to cook it down to a "nice thick consistency" and I think I may have overshot a bit. Don't go for "stand a spoon in it" thick when you're making this because it will thicken up even more as it cools. My byssara ended up sliceable!

Byssara

Slightly adapted from the Food of Morocco by Paula Wolfert

Ingredients

• 2 c. split dried fava beans¹
• 6 c. water
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 lemon (optional)
• 1/2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1/4 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• extra olive oil, to serve

Directions

1. Soak the fava beans overnight in 6 or 7 c. of water. Discard any beans that float.
2. Wash and drain the beans.
3. Bring the water to a boil.
4. When the water is boiling, add the beans and reduce heat to medium-low.
5. Cook, uncovered, for 1 hour, skimming as needed.
6. Add the garlic and 2 Tbsp. of the oil and cook for another hour or two. (Aim for thick soup, rather than hummus consistency.)
7. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
8. Combine the cumin seeds and salt and grind to a powder.
9. Add half of the cumin-salt mixture to the beans and reserve the other half for garnish.
10. Press the beans through a fine sieve and beat in the remaining 1/4 c. of olive oil.
11. Add salt and lemon juice to taste.
12. Garnish with the cumin-salt blend and a bit of paprika and cayenne.
13. Serve with olive oil and toasted bread.

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¹ In other recipes, Wolfert calls for "split dried peeled fava beans". Here she simply calls for "split dried fava beans", no mention of peeling. I couldn't find split fava beans, so I got a bag of whole (unpeeled) fava beans. Since this recipe refers readers to a note explaining that unpeeled favas require longer to soften, I figured that whole, unpeeled beans would be fine. But once the beans had soaked, I realized how thick and tough the skins were and ended up peeling them anyway. Next time I'd just seek out skinned split fava beans. Zehr's didn't have them, but it turns out that Ethnic does! ^Back

Mutabal (Eggplant Dip)

I grew up eating an eggplant dip very much like this. Everyone seems to call it baba ganouj here. It's very garlicky and delicious. This seems to be a very similar dish, but apparently "baba ganouj/ganoush" is something completely different in Syria and they call this dip "mutabal". It's a little less garlicky and more lemony than the version I grew up with, but very similar otherwise.

I strongly recommend charring the eggplant over an open flame if you can. It makes a world of difference. Personally, I think wood or charcoal gives a better flavour than gas. I've tried cooking my eggplants under a gas broiler and directly over a gas burner on the stove, but the flavour when I did them on a charcoal barbecue was much, much better. That said, if you don't have any way of doing a wood or charcoal fire, gas will work. And the dip will still be nice. It just won't have the same smoky element to it.

Mutabal

Slightly adapted from Our Syria by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants
• 2 cloves garlic¹
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. plain yogurt
• 2 Tbsp. tahini
• juice of 1 lemon²
• olive oil, to serve
• polegranate arils, to serve (optional)
• flatbread and/or veggies, to serve

Directions

1. Fire up your grill, preheat your broiler, or turn on a gas burner.
2. Poke the eggplants all over with a sharp knife.
3. Cook over (or under) open flame, turning occasionally, until the skin is blackened and crispy all over. The flesh will get very soft and the skin will begin to split. Make sure the eggplants are thoroughly charred over their entire surface.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Carefully peel off the blackened skin. Discard the skin and stems.
6. Mash or purée the flesh.
7. Crush the garlic and salt with a mortar and pestle and add it to the mashed eggplant.
8. Mix in the yogurt, tahini, and lemon juice.
9. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
10. Drizzle with olive oil.
11. Sprinkle a few pomegranate arils on top (if using)
12. Serve with wedges of flatbread for dipping.

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¹ If you're feeling lazy, you can swap out the fresh garlic for garlic paste. ^Back
2 I found my mutabal to be very lemony. I was using it for batrish, so the strong lemon flavour ended up balancing out with the other ingredients, but I think it would've been too strong on its own. If you're planning on serving the mutabal alone, it might be worth holding back half the lemon juice. Taste it and see if you think it needs the rest first. ^Back

Mutabal Shwandar (Beet Dip)

We got a bunch of beets in order to do easter egg dying, but we ended up using all the eggs for red cabbage experiments instead and needed to do something with the beets. This dip from Our Syria turned out to be just the thing; it's especially tasty on bread or crackers.

Mutabal Shwandar

Our Syria, p.19

Ingredients

• 4 medium beets
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp tahini
• 4 tbsp plain yogurt (at least)
  
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• juice of 1 lemon
• soft goat cheese to taste [optional]
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   
2. Scrub the beets, trim them, and slice into wedges.
3. Toss with olive oil and salt and pepper.
4. Bake for 30-50 minutes, until soft enough that a sharp knife can easily be inserted through them. Remove and let cool.
5. Combine the beets, tahini, yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor or blender, and blend. If using a blender you may need to add more olive oil and/or yogurt.
6. If using the goat cheese, crumble it into the dip and stir in.

This is actually two Cook's Country recipes combined -- "garlicky white beans with sage" and "white bean dip". (They're combined in the magazine too; you use the output from the former as one of the ingredients for the latter.) The result is a thick, delicious spread good on crackers and bread.

The recipe calls for the use of a food processor, but we used a blender with a "food chop" setting and it worked just fine with the addition of a bit of water (which the recipe warns you may need anyways).

Cannellini Dip

Cook's Country, April/May 2020 p.15

Ingredients

• 4+6 Tbsp olive oil, divided
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 6 fresh sage leaves
• ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
• 3½ C cooked cannellini beans
• ¼ tsp table salt
• 5 Tbsp water
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Heat 4 Tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the garlic and cook until it just starts to brown, 2-3 minutes.
3. Add sage and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, another 30 seconds.
4. Add beans and salt and cook, stirring often, until heated through, ~2 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Combine beans, water, lemon juice, and remaining oil in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth, ~2 minutes, scraping down sides and, if necessary, adding extra water 1 tablespoon at a time.
6. Sprinkle with parsley, drizzle with additional olive oil to taste, and serve.

Date Butter

So, not too long ago, I came across a "healthy junk food" round-up on First We Feast. One of the recipes that caught my eye was the "salted caramel". I was extremely dubious that dates could be made to taste like caramel, but it apparently tested well, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I'll be honest: it doesn't taste like caramel. It is, however, delicious! I am definitely keeping this recipe for future reference! I would probably make a smaller batch in the future though. I feel like it kind of lost something after being in the fridge. But I was eating it by the spoonful fresh! Seriously, this stuff is delicious!

Here's what I'd do next time:

Date Butter
1 c. pitted dates
2 Tbsp. almond butter (or a bit more, it really does add a lovely richness!)
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
1 vanilla bean, seeds only (pod can be used to make "vanilla sugar")

I soaked my dates in warm water to speed the process along. After an hour or two they seemed like they'd plumped up nicely, so I drained them and got started.

There don't really seem to be a lot of other ingredients relative to the dates; can 1/4 cup of nut butter really be enough for 2 cups of dates? Well, as I said, I might experiment with going slightly heavier on the almond butter next time, but that amount really did seem to be enough! It lends a nice, buttery richness to the whole thing. Beautiful!

When I made it, seeds from one vanilla bean went into twice the amount of dates. And that was really delicious. However, I found the vanilla flavour to be pretty subtle, so I think I'd like to try doubling down on the vanilla next time to make it really come through.

Seriously though, if you've got a sweet tooth or you're looking for a healthy(ish) snack to pack in someone's lunchbox or you just love dates... give this a try! It is very good!