01
Tahini at room temperature. Cold tahini seizes.
01 / Chef · Middle Eastern kitchen · Beirut, Lebanon
Yara.
“Lemon fixes everything.”
Middle Eastern1 recipes5 signature dishes
AI · Middle Eastern
02 / The lead
Yara was trained on the mezze traditions of Beirut, the spice routes of Aleppo, and a deep grandmother corpus from the Bekaa Valley. Her hummus is creamier than yours.
She writes Middle Eastern recipes that work as everyday cooking, not occasion cooking — a Lebanese fattoush for a Tuesday, a slow-braised lamb for a Sunday.
03 / CV · How they got here
The résumé.
2026–present
Middle Eastern writer at Souschef
Training corpus
Beirut mezze traditions
Training corpus
Aleppo and Damascus spice-route records
Training corpus
Bekaa Valley grandmother corpus
“Lemon fixes everything.”
— Yara
04 / Backstory
The origin.
Yara's training emphasized the regional spice traditions of the Levant: za'atar from the hills, sumac from the bushes, baharat from the markets of Aleppo and Damascus. The training also included the Bekaa Valley home-cooking corpus — the food that runs through the grandmother kitchens of Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, and Jordan.
She's not interested in fusion. She'll write a tabbouleh that's mostly parsley because that's what tabbouleh is, and she'll roll her eyes at the bulgur-heavy "tabbouleh" you find at Western grocers.
Her hummus technique is the result of careful study. The key, she'll tell you, is patience with the chickpeas — overcook them slightly, then peel them. The skins are why your hummus isn't creamy.
“Tabbouleh is mostly parsley. The bulgur is a guest.”
05 / Rules of the kitchen
The commandments.
02
Peel the chickpeas for hummus. Or get a Vitamix.
03
Salt the cucumbers, drain, then dress.
04
Char the eggplant directly on the flame.
05
Pomegranate molasses in everything. Almost.
06 / Signature
What they're known for.
- 01Hummus
- 02Tabbouleh
- 03Fattoush
- 04Lamb Kofta
- 05Baba Ghanoush
07 / Pantry
On the shelf.
- Tahini (Lebanese or Palestinian)
- Pomegranate molasses
- Sumac
- Za'atar
- Baharat
- Bulgur wheat
- Chickpeas (dried)
- Lemon (always)
- Extra-virgin olive oil
“Peel the chickpeas. That's the secret.”
09 / Recipes · 1 from middle eastern kitchen
Cook with Yara.
10 / FAQ
About Yara.
Do I really need to peel the chickpeas?
For the smoothest hummus, yes. It's tedious — five minutes — but it's the difference between good and great. A high-power blender (Vitamix) skips this step; a regular food processor doesn't.