Tabekh Lebnene: Lebanese Stews and Pot Dishes, Explained

Ask someone who grew up in Lebanon which food they miss most, and few will say mezze or grills. They'll say their mother's tabkha. Fasolia on a Tuesday. Mahshi on a Sunday.

Tabekh lebnene simply means Lebanese home cooking: dishes made in a pot at home, usually served with rice and eaten at lunch. You rarely find them in restaurants. These are the main ones.

Stews with rice

These are the heart of the Lebanese week, usually served with rice cooked with vermicelli. Fasolia is white beans with beef in tomato sauce. Bamieh is okra cooked with lamb, tomato and garlic. Molokhia is molokhia leaves cooked with chicken, coriander and garlic. Dawood basha is meatballs in tomato sauce.

Mahshi: the stuffed dishes

Mahshi takes time, which is why it's often a weekend job. Warak enab are vine leaves rolled with rice and meat, cooked with lemon. Kousa mahshi are courgettes filled with rice and beef, cooked in tomato broth. Malfouf are cabbage leaves rolled with rice and meat. Sheikh el mehshi is eggplant stuffed with seasoned meat.

Grains and one-pot dishes

Moghrabieh is big, pearl-like beads cooked with chicken, chickpeas and small onions in their broth. Freekeh is smoky green wheat, often cooked with meat. Balila is warm chickpeas, eaten for breakfast or a light lunch. And ouzi, rice and meat topped with toasted nuts, is the dish that comes out when guests are coming.

Cooked in laban

Shish barak are small dough parcels filled with beef and cooked in yogurt. The trick every Lebanese mother knows: keep stirring, or the laban splits.

Baked in a tray

Kibbeh bil saniyeh is baked kibbeh with a layer of beef and pine nuts in the middle. Kafta with potatoes is baked in the oven in tomato sauce. Batata soufflé has mashed potato on the top and bottom, with beef and onion in the middle.

Home cooking without cooking every day

Many of these dishes are built on vegetables, legumes and grains, but the recipe and the portion still matter. We wrote more about this in how Lebanese home cooking can fit a balanced diet. If protein is what you're after, see 12 Lebanese foods with protein. In our kitchen, Chef Mahaba cooks with oil, never butter or samneh.

Cooking a different tabkha five days a week takes hours. Our weekly menu rotates through more than 177 Lebanese and international recipes, cooked fresh every morning and delivered in Beirut, Metn and Keserwan. And if you'd rather cook them yourself, warak enab, kousa mahshi and shish barak come ready to cook from our store. We do the rolling and stuffing. You cook them in your own pot.

Chef MahabaFounder, Mahabati Catering

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