If you haven’t already heard (where have you been!) there is a new OOSHMAN (formerly known as Manoosh) restaurant opening in Marrickville! This means our delivery area will be expanding (more details later) and our delivery times will be even faster. Remember, if you or anyone you know is unfortunate enough to be out of our delivery area – now there is hope! We’re open for business from 1st February 2016!
A new OOSHMAN Restaurant means our delivery area will be expanding, and our delivery times will be even faster!
Also, as if things couldn’t get any better, We are also partnering with Booza to supply us with vegan ice cream and Ben and Jerry’s to supply us with ice cream.
Once the new place opens, will be changing up the way we serve our classic Lebanese style pizza’s too. You can read more here.
Stop the press! There’s some hot new Pizza news direct from OOSHMAN (formerly known as Manoosh) HQ!
OOSHMAN pizzeria has a new (old) way of serving Lebanese style pizzas.
For the past 7 years we have been serving our Lebanese style Meat pizza (Lahembajin) Sujuk Pizza, Kufta Pizza and Cheese Pizza in a box open flat like a pizza.
Once we open our new store in Marrickville (if you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t heard about the new store, read this) we will be going back to the traditional way of folding the pizza and wrapping it.
Along with our new restaurant, comes a new way of serving our classic Lebanese style Pizzas, and there’s a lot of benefits to this too…
Not only is this cool because it’s the traditional way of serving, but look at all the benefits!
✓ Green for the environment as we are using less cardboard
✓ Traditional way of serving a Lebanese pizza
✓ Guaranteed to stay warmer 4 times longer as the pizza is folded on top of eachother and isn’t exposed to air. Being light with less toppings will go cold faster, however this way will keep it warmer.
✓ Easier to eat
✓ Easier to pack away in a bag for lunch/dinner
✓ Less boxes meaning less space taken up
✓ Can put in a bag when taking home so easier to carry while walking or riding a bike
Lebanese cuisine has been around for thousands of years and amazingly little has changed since ancient times, with the secret to this healthy and delicious food still being fresh ingredients and time tested techniques. As Lebanese food continues to rise in popularity around the world, we look at some of the most awesome traditional Lebanese ingredients & cooking techniques. Let’s take a look at a few of the essential elements of traditional Lebanese cooking.
CC Image Courtesy of insatiablemunch on Flickr http://bit.ly/1RjCQBO
Traditional Lebanese food is famous for its fresh ingredients with everything from mint and parsley to cucumber and tomatoes playing key roles in classic dishes.
Traditional Lebanese Food Ingredients
Fresh herbs and vegetables
Traditional Lebanese food is famous for its fresh ingredients with everything from mint and parsley to cucumber and tomatoes playing key roles in classic dishes. Regardless of whether you are preparing a falafel wrap, a shawarma or salads such as tabouleh or fattoush, they simply wouldn’t be the same without the burst of flavour provided by fresh local ingredients.
Bread
In Lebanese cuisine nothing is more important than bread as we eat fresh baked pita with every meal of the day. Pita provides the perfect way to enjoy our many dips, such as hommus and baba ghannouj; it is the ideal vessel for encasing falafel balls or marinated meats, or you can simply slather your pita with labne for a fast and healthy breakfast.
CC image courtesy of jeffreyw on flickr http://bit.ly/1Dtyqwz
Tahini
Made from crushed sesame seeds, tahini has been a core part of Lebanese cuisine for thousands of years. Apart from being a central ingredient in any authentic hommus, tahini is added as a dressing to everything from falafel wraps to shawarmas, making it an essential element in any Lebanese kitchen.
Legumes
Our cuisine also includes plenty of legumes, particularly chick peas and lentils, both of which have a wide range of health benefits. Chick peas are the star of the show in classics such as falafel and hommus, while one of our most popular dishes, mujadara, basically consists of lentils, onions and rice.
Lamb
While Lebanese food nowadays can contain anything from beef to lamb to chicken, lamb is the traditional meat of choice. Our many mouth-watering lamb dishes include our national dish, kebbeh nayeh, as well as our wildly popular ground lamb kufta kebabs.
CC image courtesy of Basher Tome on flickr http://bit.ly/1L9FKzE
Traditional Lebanese Cooking Techniques
Vertical roasting
Since the early days of the Ottoman occupation Lebanese cooks have been roasting meat on vertical spits; this enables the meat to cook in its own fats and juices making it tender and delicious. Our most famous dish utilising the vertical roasting technique is none other than shawarma.
Grilling
Few cultures have been grilling longer than we have, with our traditional ground lamb kufta kebabs one of our most famous grilled specialties. Lebanese cuisine also includes a variety of grilled skewers that can include all manner of meats and vegetables.
Baking
Wood fired ovens have been in use in the Middle East for eons, so it should come as no surprise that Lebanese people have mastered the art of baking. Our many baked specialties include the flat bread ‘Lebanese pizzas’ known as manoosh, as well as our impossibly delicious baklava.
Frying
While Lebanese don’t tend to cook in oil very much frying certainly has its place in a true Lebanese kitchen, particularly when it comes to preparing the perfect falafel balls or a delicious batch of fried kebbeh.
Get the year started off right by treating yourself to some of Sydney’s most delicious and authentic Lebanese food. Simply drop by OOSHMAN (formerly known as Manoosh) or order from us online, because you haven’t lived until you have tasted our traditional Lebanese cuisine.
Few elements of traditional Lebanese food are more popular or better known than hommus, so if you haven’t discovered this ancient delicacy yet you are in for a real treat. Also known as hummus, humos, hummous and hoummus, the word itself is actually the Arabic term for chickpeas and nowadays you can find this popular food in almost every country on earth. Here we will take a closer look at what hommus is, where it came from and why life simply wouldn’t be the same without it.
CC image courtesy of Basheer Tome on Flickr http://bit.ly/1P56LZw
The health benefits of chickpeas have been known for millennia, although primarily chickpea based, these days you can find hommus that contains everything from capsicum to sweet potato
What is hommus?
While most consider hommus to be a dip, it can also be spread on a sandwich or eaten as a complete meal all on its own. These days you can find hommus that contains everything from capsicum to sweet potato; however, most people will agree that authentic Lebanese hommus has four basic ingredients – chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic.
An ancient and delicious mystery
It seems that hommus has been around for so long that no one really knows when it was first made, though it appears to have been created by the Ancient Mesopotamians thousands of years ago. The core ingredients of hommus are among the oldest known to mankind (with chick peas being one of the first crops ever cultivated); however, the earliest written evidence of a dish resembling hommus doesn’t emerge until the 13th Century in Egypt. The lack of written evidence prior to this point is likely due to the fact that communication between people was extremely limited during ancient times and few could even write.
Healthy and nutritious
The health benefits of chickpeas have been known for millennia and were a vital source of nutrition for everyone from the Ancient Romans and Egyptians to the nomadic tribes who travelled throughout the region. By adding garlic, tahini and lemon juice, hommus becomes almost a type of super food – high in protein, vitamin B6, vitamin C, zinc, iron, folate, phosphorous, sodium, manganese and dietary fibre.
Making hommus
Every Lebanese family has their own secret recipe for making authentic hommus, though the basic technique is relatively simple.
Rinse chick peas and soak them overnight in water.
Strain the chick peas, add fresh water and cook them.
Once cooked, strain the chick peas again before grounding them into a rough paste. (You can do so by using a food processor or simply mashing them with a large wooden spoon)
Add crushed garlic, tahini and lemon juice and mix thoroughly. If you’d like to add your own special ingredients, such as olives, peppers or sun dried tomatoes, do so now and mix well.
Your hommus is now ready to eat! It will keep for up to 5 days in the fridge if covered well or you can freeze hommus and it will be good for up to 6 months.
You won’t find many foods that are healthier, tastier or more Lebanese than hommus and none can compare to our delicious and authentic version here at OOSHMAN (formerly known as Manoosh). To get a taste of our heavenly hommus order from us online or drop by and see us in person, because we have a fresh batch right here waiting for you!
