Norma’s Lebanese Foods offers cooking classes and guided tours so you can get to know Mediterranean flavours in more detail.
If you love authentic Lebanese cuisine or are keen to try something new, take a closer look at Norma’s Lebanese Foods. Held at Bondi Junction in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, Norma Dakhoul takes participants on a three-hour sensory adventure that explores the foods, flavours and aromas of Mediterranean Lebanon.
Featuring time-honoured recipes steeped in authenticity and culture, Norma has carefully created three traditional menus, each featuring five separate dishes inspired by her ancestors and small hometown village of Daraya.
Mouth-watering menu items include Tabbouleh (known as the “King of Salads”); Znoud el-Sit (mince and pine nut-stuffed pastries); Baba Ghanoush (eggplant and tahini dip); Falafel (chick pea and broad bean pureed patties served with vegetables and pickles) topped with Taratour (tahini sauce); Kafta (mince, parsley and spices — sausage style); Moujadara (lentil and rice pilaf decorated with caramelised onions); and Nammoura (semolina and yoghurt cake soaked in a fragrant syrup).
Norma Dakhoul, founder of Norma’s Lebanese Foods, says that many have become familiar with Lebanese food through commercially prepared Hummus and Tabbouleh but nothing compares to the freshness and taste of the real thing.
Classes are held on Saturdays and each class ends with a full sit-down meal. Cost is $120 per person. All sessions are limited to 12 people and are run as demonstrations. See website for full timetable.
If a cooking class isn’t quite what you were looking for, why not attend a guided culinary tour? “I Ate My Way Through Granville” will take tour attendees behind the ordinary suburban façade of Granville, which is located just 22km west of the Sydney city centre, to uncover the buzzing Lebanese hub and hidden gourmet gems that are studded within.
Part walking tour and part progressive brunch, attendees will start with a popular Lebanese breakfast of manakeesh (freshly baked pizza-style bread) with toppings like aromatic sprinkling of za’atar (a spice mix of dried oregano/thyme with sesame seeds, sumac and salt and mixed with olive oil), lahem bi ajeen (mince, onions, tomatoes and spices) or Lebanese cheeses. Then they will follow Norma to her favourite places for sourcing Lebanese ingredients including stops at the best Lebanese butcher, greengrocer, Middle Eastern supermarket and bakery.
Tour attendees will also learn about Lebanese eating techniques and cooking traditions and will enjoy an exquisite lunch banquet as well as tastings at a pastry palace! Tours will be run monthly and cost $80 per person, which includes all food.
NEED TO KNOW
NORMA’S LEBANESE FOODS
Classes are held at First Floor, 70 Bronte Road, Bondi Junction. To book, visit www.normaslebanesefoods.com.au
I ATE MY WAY THROUGH
For more information, visit http://www.iatemywaythrough.com/tours.html#granville
