MENU — August 4

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[beef] Maldoum  ملضوم
When researching this dish, I found a lovely description of it on the blog of Tony Tahhan, a Fulbright scholar who has spent time studying the food culture in Aleppo.

“One thing I learned about Syrian cuisine is that it is resourceful. Recipes were never exact; more like simple instructions that vary between neighbourhoods, and even families. A series of handfuls and pinches that, when executed properly, lead to extraordinary meals. One of the dishes that exemplifies this culinary ingenuity is called maldoum (ملضوم), an incredibly delicious layered meat and eggplant dish. The classic way to prepare this dish is over a grill, where you alternate meat patties and eggplant slices on a skewer. When the dish is prepared over the grill, it is called, kabob banjan (كباب باذنجان). But if you don’t have access to a grill, you can prepare kabob banjan in the oven, and call it maldoum.”

Maldoum can be found in kitchens from Turkey to Lebanon; this is a more rustic, countryside version of of the dish, that adds green peppers, tomatoes and potatoes, which are traditionally arranged in attractive layered patterns in a large shallow round pan before baking. It is served with bulgur b-shaaria (برغل بشعيرية‎), a kind of pilaf of bulgur wheat and fried vermicelli noodles.

[vegetarian]  Maldoum  ملضوم
The same dish, but with more veggies, no meat and a generous splash of olive oil.

Salateh Jarjeer صلطة جرجير
A refreshing salad of peppery arugula with fresh pomegranate and onions, with a apple cider & lemon vinaigrette.

Barazek  برازق
A crisp, buttery cookie studded with pistachio pieces and covered in sesame seeds, barazek are one of the most famous sweets of Damascus, and a popular gift often brought by people visiting from Syria.
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$20 +HST

Meals are available for pickup from The Depanneur, 1033 College Street (between Dufferin & Dovercourt) from 6–7pm on Thursday, Aug. 4
foodora sponsors FREE Delivery within 3km radius

Meals go on sale on Tuesday at 7am.
Please indicate “PICKUP” or “DELIVERY” in the Order Notes at the Checkout.

Newcomer Kitchen is a new project that invites groups of Syrian refugee women to use our kitchen to cook traditional Syrian dishes in a fun, social setting. Meals are prepared and packaged, and then sold online for pickup or delivery to pay for all the ingredients and provide an honorarium for the cooks.

We also offer 1 spot to help/hang out in the kitchen, learn the recipes and join the ladies for family meal on Thursday afternoon. We are asking for a $50 donation for this, which will go to topping up the $ we have to share with the cooks. This is available for purchase online, on a first-come, first-served basis.

Proceeds from the sale of meals goes directly to the newcomer cooks. However this does not cover the costs of the enormous amount of behind-the-scenes coordination required to keep this project going. You can support the Newcomer Kitchen project directly and our vision of expanding this model to support more women in more neighbourhoods!

Support the Newcomer Kitchen’s FundRazr campaign.

Help us take this idea into any restaurant kitchen, in any city in the world!

Learn more about the Newcomer Kitchen project.