Macaroon Bil Toum

Macaroon Bil Toum is traditionally known as a Lebanese afternoon snack or "asrounieh" in Arabic. It's basically pieces of dough boiled in water and then smothered in a garlic and lemon juice mix. If you love garlic, this is definitely a dish to try! It's fairly easy to make, but may take you over an hour because you will be splitting up the dough into smaller pieces before boiling it.

This dish is super unique and would make a great appetizer or side dish, especially for you Lebanese foodies out there! Eva learned this recipe from her aunt in Lebanon and makes it now for a special treat. I recently tried this for the first time and was instantly hooked. The dough was so soft and chewy, and the taste of the garlic soaked into the dough was amazing!

Ingredients:​
For dough:

• 2 cups of flour 
• 1 cup of cold water
• 1 teaspoon of salt

*Makes about 60-70 dough pieces

​For Lemon and Garlic juice:

• 8 regular size garlic cloves (or less if you would prefer a more mild garlic taste)
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil
• 8 tablespoons or 1/2 a cup of lemon juice

Instructions:
1. Peel garlic cloves and place them in a mortar for mincing
2. Add a couple dashes of salt and mince together (can be done in a mini-processor)
3. Add your minced garlic to a large bowl and set aside

4. To make the dough: add your flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 cup of cold water (more or less) to a large bowl and knead your dough. If you find that the mixture is too sticky just add more flour until it feels like dough

5. After your dough ball is formed, fill a pot with 6 cups of water & a teaspoon of salt on high heat and bring to a boil
6. Flour your work station, or a flat surface for making your dough balls (the flour keeps the dough from sticking)
7. Take a big piece from the dough ball and make it into a long stick-like mold and cut it evenly into small pieces 
8. Once you've cut them into small pieces, place your middle three fingers on the dough ball and push them in with a roll..or if that method doesn't work for you,  grab a cheese grater and going from the bottom of the grater up, roll the small pieces of dough over it and drop it the counter. *Basically, you want the pieces to look like the ones in the pictures below

9. Back to your bowl of minced garlic: add lemon juice and olive oil and mix

10. Set your bowl up next to your stove and add your dough to the boiled water. Try not to add the dough on top of each other so they don’t stick and keep them separated. *You will need to boil the dough pieces in separate batches
11. On medium high heat, let them boil for 15 minute. As your dough hardens or takes its place in the boiling water you can add another handfull to that batch (about a minute apart), stir every few minutes to make sure they’re not sticking

12. After 15 minutes remove the dough with a strain spoon allowing the water to strain and add directly to the garlic mixture bowl and stir it in, keep adding your dough balls to that bowl

Let your dough soak into the garlic and lemon juice for a few minutes before serving. You can use more or less of the garlic and lemon juice (your preference of how lemony or garlicky you like it) and this dish can be served hot or at room temperature.  Enjoy!