5 Arabic dishes that need a small army to prepare

It's an iconic dish that everyone wants to eat ... but no one wants to prepare! Steps include boiling the vine leaves, preparing the stuffing, then rolling each leave individually in a neat and precise way.  It takes hours to make these tasty rolls but only a few seconds to finish a “tanjara”!

Arabs haven’t met a vegetable that they didn’t try to stuff, from zucchini to eggplants to green peppers to carrots! But stuffing these vegetables to make mahashi consumes a lot of energy and time, not to mention the kilos of koussa you discard after piercing them ... and the angry looks you get from your mama when you do that!

Kibbeh is a delight to eat but a nightmare to make! Some of you might still remember the bulky metal grinders our Arab mums used to grind the burghul before shaping it into balls or discs stuffed with minced meat and pine seeds. I mean a freaking grinder?! Seriously mama?

Brace yourself, makdous week is coming! Yes, week! Making proper, first class makdous requires a rigorous process that includes: sun drying the red peppers, chopping the walnuts, boiling the eggplants in giant pots, stuffing them and then immersing them with liters and liters of olive oil. In short, don’t ever attempt to make makdous, just stick to eating it!

If it’s shish barak day in the house, then سنفر بحياتك and run away as fast as you can! Because your mum will get you involved in one or ALL of these tasks: rolling the pastry, chopping the onions, stuffing the dumplings and the absolute worst task of them all ... stirring the cold laban nonstop until it boils (which can take an hour). You kind of develop a new appreciation for your mother after participating in preparing shish barak.