Mortar and Pestle

The mortar and pestle has been around for millenniums and is used for crushing and grinding ingredients. It’s the perfect tool for all Lebanese kitchens to pulverize garlic into a paste for sauces, dressings and marinades. Use it to easily mash garlic in recipes. They can be found in Medditeranean stores. 

'Ismaliya Cups

'Ismaliya Cups

Inspired by the sudden craze of mini desserts, just about any Lebanese dessert can be made into a bite size treat. Here is a simple way to prepare this decadent trifle. 

6 large shredded wheat biscuits 

1 recipe Ashta (recipe in cookbook)

11 maraschino cherries

1/4 cup ground pistachios

1/2 cup Ater (recipe in cookbook)

1. Break up wheat biscuits and distribute evenly in 35 mini cups, pressing down on the bottom of each cup. 

2. Spoon 1 tablespoon Ashta over biscuits. 

3. Drizzle 1 tablespoon Ater in each cup. 

4. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon pistachio over Ashta. 

5. Quarter cherries and place one in each cup.  Refrigerate for 3 hours before serving.