Pulses are a prominent ingredient in Syrian cooking. Burner esbao, above, is a type of lentil stew, while fatteh hommos, below, consists of chickpea and is covered with a yogurt-tahini sauce.Danielle Matar/The Globe and Mail
Chef Amal Al-Khalili has one passion: food. She was born to Syrian parents, raised in Jordan and spent 10 years in Dubai before moving to Canada. With her knowledge and appreciation of Syrian, Jordanian, Persian Gulf and Indian cuisines, she has developed a unique approach to Middle Eastern cuisine.
She started her Toronto catering company, Sham Kitchen, with her husband, Mojahed Jazmati, in 2014. Her hommos is quite different from the more traditional puréed one, as the chickpeas are left whole and covered with a yogurt-tahini sauce. It is typically Syrian and often served for breakfast. The dish is sometimes finished with brown butter, which gives it a rich flavour.
Lucy Waverman