Lebanese Wednesdays: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR LEBANESE WEDNESDAYS

Join some nuts for lunch, and if you don't like them, you can eat them up!

The ITC Kaktiya Shereton Hotel is presenting the Lebanese cuisine buffet for all those who are smitten by this dazzling desert land. Chef Gopi Kanthwal, the executive chef of the hotel, has designed a special Lebanese menu for the day.

Lebenon, which is popularly known by the sobriquet, the jewel of the Middle East, has got a world-wide recognition, primarily through its cuisine. Lebanese food can be classified as health-food, as it mostly contains cereals, breads, bourghoul (crushed wheat) and rice. A large and varied assortment of vegetables and milk products accompany the main course, and meat plays a relatively smaller role in the Lebanese diet. Since brinjal is the most widely cultivated vegetable, it is a major ingredient in most of this country's dishes.

For the starters, the restaurant has Mezza, which are the traditional cold appetizers. Mezza include Tabuleh, Babaganouch and Lebon Thaina. They mostly consist of roasted brinjal treated with olive oil, seseme oil, chickpea paste, garlic sauce and hung curd.

There are oriental salads like the Egyptian eggplant, Lablabi, Fatooz and Muttable. These salads have brinjal as their main ingredient, with tomatoes, capsicums, onions, lettuce and garlic, sprinkled with cinnamon powder.

For the main course there are dishes like Chicken Shabarma, Lamb Shabarma and Paneer Shabarma, which are prepared with grilled and roasted meat or panner stuffed in bread. Cusi Tafreef is a gravy dish of lamb knuckles cooked with tomato, capsicum, parsely cheese and the lemon juice. Dolma is a dish of steamed vegetables and rice cooked in the tomato sauce. Bamia Baldani is a lady's-finger dish with mutton, garlic and onions.

Deccan Pavilion also has bean-salsa or salsa Qudurvat, which is made of vegetable kebabs flavoured with tomato and garlic sauces. There are a variety of biryanis including Domba Biryani, Domba Lehan, Ozi Biryani, with lots of nuts in them.

In the dessert section, they have Batlava, which is a dish of sweet puff dipped in a sugar syrup and decorated with nuts; Mahalavia, which resembles the Indian phirini; Jalabia Dekhod, which is a variety of the cold Indian jalabee; and the Date Halwa.

Please contact 2340-0132 for further details.