Syrian Pasta

Although we Syrians invented pasta (I am no food historian, but every time I read an article about pasta it says that Arabs invented pasta and introduced it to Italy, and if an Arab invented it he must have been Syrian) our traditional use of pasta is very limited. I am not talking about what we do with pasta today. Italian restaurants serving all kinds of pasta are all over Damascus. Even my mum generation cooked different types of pasta. We had lasagna, cannelloni and spaghetti bolognese as part of our normal diet when I was a kid. Here I am talking about what my grandma did with pasta. How pasta was cooked in Damascene houses thirty or forty years ago for a nice supper or a filling Suhor in Ramadan.

Pasta or Ma'ccarona (معكرونة) as we call it in Syria is traditionally cooked three ways: Ma'ccarona Be Lahmeh(with meat), Ma'ccarona Be Jebneh(with cheese) or Ma'ccarona Bel Laban(with yogurt). The meat variety is nothing special, pasta cooked in bolognese ragu, nothing much to say there.

The cheese and yogurt variety are far more interesting. They are really Syrian dishes. We took a foreign ingredient and made it our own by adding Syrian tried and tested flavours. The combination of white cheese and parsley or yogurt and garlic are unmistakably Syrian and works very well indeed.

Start these dishes with boiled Penne. For the cheese pasta you need your pasta well cooked. Al dente will make the dish too dry. For the yogurt pasta use your preference. You need 350g of dry pasta for either one of these recipes.

Ma'ccarona Be Jebneh

White cheese 200g

Parsley finally chopped 50g

Purified Ghee butter 1 table spoon

Black pepper

Finally chop the cheese. Use a combination of different types of Arabic white cheese for best results. Different types of cheese have different texture, flavour and melting temperature. Use whatever cheese available to you. Akawi, Sheelal, Mjadaleh, Baladi or Haloumi can be bought from any Arabic supermarket in London.

Melt the butter in a pan and add the pasta with the rest of ingredients and keep stirring so the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. You can add a couple of table spoons of the pasta cooking water. Keep stirring till the cheese start to melt and serve immediately. Be a bit generous with your black pepper as it lefts the flavours.

Ma'ccarona Bel Laban

Greek style yogurt 400g

Three cloves of garlic

Salt

Purified Ghee butter 1 table spoon

Paprika

Melt the butter in a pan and add the pasta and keep stirring till the pasta heated through. Remove into a bowl and let cool slightly so the yogurt doesn't curdle with the heat.

Mix the yogurt and crushed garlic and add salt to taste. Pour the mixture over the pasta and mix Sprinkle the paprika and serve.