One Hundred and One Mezze: 29. Shanklish Salad


This post and my previous one on shanklish were supposed to be one post but when I started writing I discovered I have a lot to say about shanklish. It is a delicious ingredient and almost unknown outside the Levant. It definitely deserved its own post.

Today's recipe is the best way to enjoy shanklish. It works great as a light supper dish or as a mezze. As I mentioned previously, shanklish is not a native cheese to Damascus but as time went by it became more and more popular. You can find this mezze dish served in some of the upper end restaurants around the city.

Here is my Shanklish Salad recipe:

One Shanklish ball
Small red onion (or few spring onions)
One tomato
Olive oil

Finely chop the tomato and the onion. Crumble the shanklish and mix. Drizzle with a generous amount of olive oil.

Serve with Arabic flat bread. This salad is eaten with bread like you do with hummus, mutabal and other dips.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

What a lovely plateful!

Nisrine said...

I love all kinds of blue cheese. A Middle Eastern version sounds intriguing. I can see it go well in so many dishes.

Kano said...

@Joy
Thank you for the kind words as always.

@Nisrine
You should try shanklish if you can get your hands on some. Truly unique flavour.

Kulsum@JourneyKitchen said...

I eat shanklish in restaurants but never bought it home! Now is the time

tasteofbeirut said...

I love shanklish and even made some last summer thanks to the recipe of a dear reader Sylvia; it was her grandmother's recipe and she grew up in Kassab , in Syria.

Kano said...

@Kulsum
I am so glad you left a comment. You just reminded me how good your blog is. I haven't been in ages.

@tasteofbeirut
I am still to make my own Shanklish!

Amanda said...

I recently found your blog and love it! I've listed you as a stylish blogger on my site. Feel free to participate as much or little as you like! http://www.marocmama.com/2011/01/stylish-blogger-award.html

pmur70 said...

My wife and I just got back from a quick trip to Damascus where we tried shanklish rolled in thyme at Naranj restaurant. Delicious. It was served with fresh, warm pita bread and a plate of "arab butter." What makes arab butter different?

We also loved the muhammara at Naranj as well as the sourki salad at Al Khawali (not to mention the hummus with pomegranate molasses), and the kishkeh at Beit Jabri.

Is sourki and shanklish the same cheese?

So few days, so much to eat...that was our problem:)
-Patrick

Kano said...

@Patrick

I am glad you had a good time in Syria and you loved the food.

Arab Buuter is made from sheep's milk rathar than cow's. To be honest with you I never tried Arabi butter. I only tried Samneh Arab the clarefied butter (ghee) version.

Sourki and shanklish are two names of the same thing.

Kano said...

@Amanda

Thank you very much. Much appreciated!

Anonymous said...

MashALLAH. I LOVE shanklish!

Post a Comment