SOFRA
Grew up eating it.
Now you can make it.
214 Lebanese and Syrian home recipes from Beirut and the Idlib countryside — free to read, no account, no paywall.
Browse all 214 recipesTwo Traditions. One Table.
Our Lebanese recipes come from the mountains, coast and valleys. Our Idlib recipes come from neighbours with deep roots in a region whose food and olive oil deserve far more recognition than they receive.
One table, made in your kitchen.
Every recipe is written the way it is actually cooked at home, with the cook's notes kept in.
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Kibbeh, start to finish
Open the guide →Questions
What is kibbeh, and how do you make it at home?
Kibbeh is a Levantine family of dishes built from fine bulgur and spiced meat, shaped into shells, trays, torpedoes, or balls and then fried, baked, grilled, poached in yogurt, or eaten raw. The detail that decides whether it works is the bulgur: use fine, grade #1. Coarse bulgur cracks the moment you fry it. Sofra documents fifteen family versions with a full troubleshooting guide.
Is there a free Lebanese and Syrian recipe app?
Every one of the 214 recipes on this website is free to read, with no account and no paywall. The Sofra app for iOS and Android is a free download and includes a free collection to cook from; membership adds step-by-step narration, hands-free Cooking Mode, and original oud music.
What is Idlib food?
Idlib sits in the Aleppo corridor, and its home cooking leans on Aleppo pepper, pomegranate molasses, pine nuts, sheep's-milk yogurt, and sour cherry. Forty-nine of Sofra's recipes come from this kitchen — including kibbeh versions that are rarely written down in English.
Where do Sofra's recipes come from?
They are home recipes carried between Beirut and Idlib — one shared Levantine table rather than two separate cuisines. Each one is written the way it is actually cooked at home, with the cook's notes kept in.