The rice of Bilad al-Sham, village by village.

Mahshi Halabi (Aleppo Stuffed Vegetables)

Aleppo-style zucchini stuffed with rice and meat in a tart tomato broth

محشي حلبي

Stuffed vegetables follow the seasons. In summer there are zucchini, aubergines and peppers. In winter cabbage leaves replace vine leaves (mahshi malfouf).

Syria

Mahshi Kousa wa Batinjan

Zucchini and eggplants stuffed with rice and meat, simmered in tomato

محشي كوسا وباذنجان

Palestine · Lebanon · Jordan · Syria

Mansaf

Jordan's national feast: lamb in dried-yogurt (jameed) sauce over rice and thin bread

منسف

Mansaf is lamb (or, in older and Bedouin tradition, camel or goat) cooked in jameed, a sauce of reconstituted dried, salted, fermented yogurt.

Jordan · Palestine

Maqluba

Upside-down rice with chicken or lamb, fried eggplant and cauliflower

مقلوبة

Maqluba is layered. Chicken or lamb poached in a spiced broth goes at the bottom, then deep-fried vegetables (eggplant, cauliflower, potato, tomato, sometimes carrots), then soaked rice.

Palestine · Jordan · Syria

Mujaddara

Rice (or bulgur) with lentils, topped with crisp fried onions

مجدرة (Mudardara / مدردرة)

Mujaddara is the region's most famous rice-and-lentil dish and the archetypal food of the poor and of fast days. It needs nothing but lentils, a grain, onions and oil.

Lebanon · Palestine · Syria · Jordan

Ouzi

Spiced rice with minced meat, peas and nuts baked inside filo pastry

أوزي

Ouzi is Damascus's celebration rice. Basmati or short-grain rice is cooked with minced lamb or beef, peas (often with carrots), whole spices and the Levantine seven-spice mix (baharat).

Syria · Jordan · Lebanon

Seco · dryStew pot

Qidreh

Hebron rice and lamb baked in a sealed pot in the baker's oven

قدرة (al-Qidra al-Khaliliyya)

Palestine

Riz a Djej

Festive spiced rice with minced meat, shredded chicken and toasted nuts

رز ع دجاج

The hashweh (literally "stuffing") is the same spiced meat-and-rice mixture used to stuff chickens, lamb and vegetables. Riz a djej is in effect the stuffing served as a dish in its own right.

Lebanon

Riz bi Foul (Rice with Fava Beans)

Spring rice pilaf with fresh fava beans, dill and lamb

رز بفول

In spring, when fresh green fava beans (foul akhdar) arrive in the markets, Levantine kitchens cook them into rice.

Syria · Lebanon

Riz bi Haleeb (Rice Pudding)

Levantine rice pudding with mastic and orange-blossom water (dessert)

رز بحليب

Aleppo adds a celebrated layered version, roz bi-haleeb mbattan ("lined" rice-milk pudding). A creamy rice-and-milk base is chilled and then topped with a set orange-juice layer.

Syria · Lebanon · Palestine

Riz bi Sh'ariyyeh

Everyday rice with toasted vermicelli, served under stews

رز بشعيرية

Its Spanish cousin is the toasted-grain logic of the arrossejat, where rice is browned in oil before the broth, and of the fideuà, where noodles are toasted before cooking.

Lebanon

Ruz bi-Djaj ma'a Hashweh

Festive chicken on spiced rice with minced meat, pine nuts and almonds

رز بالدجاج مع الحشوة

Palestine · Jordan · Syria

Sayadieh

Fishermen's rice cooked in fish stock with deep-brown onions, fish on top

صيادية

Structurally it is the Levantine cousin of the Alicante arroz a banda and the Santa Pola caldero.

Lebanon · Palestine · Syria · Jordan

Shakriyeh with Vermicelli Rice

Lamb cooked in hot yogurt sauce, served with vermicelli rice

شاكرية مع رز بشعيرية

Shakriyeh is lamb (or beef, or chicken) simmered with whole spices and then finished in hot cooked yogurt.

Syria · Lebanon · Palestine

Warak Enab

Vine leaves stuffed with rice, herbs and lemon (or with meat over lamb chops)

ورق عنب

Rolling vine leaves around rice is a shared craft of the eastern Mediterranean, done when the leaves are young and tender in late spring and preserved in brine for the rest of the year.

Lebanon · Syria · Palestine