ANNOUNCER: And now, Signature Dish, a WETA original series.

SETH: Today on Signature Dish, we're having a Middle East feast.

After enjoying a dish with ancient roots... DINA: This is our Egyptian trick.

Woo!

(laughs) Oh, gosh.

This is delicious!

SETH: We'll try some absurdly tender lamb.

SEBASTIAN: You don't even need a knife for this shank.

SETH: You could, uh, even eat this thing with a spoon?

SEBASTIAN: Absolutely.

SETH: And carve up a literal tower of flavor.

DAVID: Best part is just grab a piece fresh from the spit.

SETH: That's just awesome.

I'm Seth Tillman, WETA producer and DC native, and I love good food.

That's why I'm traveling to restaurants across the DMV.

At each stop, looking for the one thing you just got to try, that Signature Dish.

I'm getting things started in Falls Church, Virginia, in a shopping center just off Route 29.

I'm paying a visit to Fava Pot, which showcases one of the Middle East's lesser known cuisines.

DINA: I'm from Cairo.

I'm so Egyptian from my hair to my toes.

I love Egypt.

I traveled to the United States many times before, but I moved to United States in 2004.

At that time, there is no Egyptian restaurant in the area.

It was 2011 and with the revolution in Egypt, I felt more homesick, so I quit my job and I start to read about food trucks, and the idea came because, of course, I don't have capital to start a restaurant.

At that time, people didn't know there is an Egyptian cuisine exists.

If you're seeing Egyptian cuisine, they will tell you, "Oh, yeah, uh, Middle Eastern."

No, I'm talking about Egyptian.

From that beginning, I knew who's my audience.

It's the American people.

Frankly speaking, Egyptian, it's all about home cooking, so Egyptian will eat their food in America in their home.

We present great Egyptian cooking, home style.

You come, you feel not your mom even, your grandma is cooking and presenting it to you.

I don't recall if I'm in the restaurant there is a single table who ate and left without me stopping by them.

I love the reaction on your face.

I love to hear from you how you tasted, so... And this is actual all my team the same.

Like, we, we all drink the same water.

Like, we all love what we do.

SETH: While Dina still operates the food truck, along with two newer fast casual outposts in DC, I'm meeting her to try a dish that's only available in the Falls Church flagship.

Dina.

Nice to meet you.

DINA: Very nice meeting you too.

Thank you so much for coming to Fava Pot.

SETH: Well, thank you for having me, and I gotta say, Middle Eastern cuisine's something I know pretty well, but Egyptian food maybe not so much.

DINA: You'll be impressed today to know more about the Egyptian culture, hospitality, and our cuisine.

Let us go to the kitchen to show you our signature dish.

SETH: All right.

Sounds great.

DINA: So now I will show you one of our most popular dishes, and it's a signature dish, which is molokheya.

SETH: All right.

Well, I'm looking at a bowl at what looks like maybe some frozen spinach?

DINA: No, it is not.

Look very much like the spinach, but it i...

It's called molokheya, and it is known since pharaohs days.

This is how we get it from Egypt, and because it is not available anywhere.

The molokheya itself, it's mild.

The key things of it...

There are three key ingredients, so it is coriander, and coriander, we ground it fresh, so this is how it looks after we finish it, and fresh garlic, and ghee.

So the mix of these three, and the process of cooking it, it's what make our molokheya is really unique.

SETH: All right.

Well, I'm excited to try it.

So how do you get started here?

DINA: So it's really easy.

Uh, now the water's boiling, we'll take the molokheya while it's still frozen, and this is key, because it's grown in Egypt so it's fresh, but because here it is frozen, I have to add it while it's still frozen to have the same, like, structure, the same taste with same freshness, while it's still melting.

First we'll add some more salt, and now we will go with the fun part of it.

We call it in Egypt taqliya.

SETH: And this is the ghee?

DINA: This is ghee, and we prepare our ghee in-house three times a week.

SETH: And, Dina, why do you use ghee for the... for the cooking?

DINA: Actually, this is how we do um, with my grandma, my ma if you want, and from health perspective, ghee is more healthy than butter.

SETH: Healthy or not, I'm just... DINA: Yeah.

SETH: Happy if it's tasty.

DINA: It's so tasty.

Like, people when they have breakfast here, they ask me, "Why your eggs is different?"

I'm telling them, "It's not only because of it's organic but because of the ghee."

Adding now the garlic, and we'll fry the garlic first.

SETH: Uh-huh.

DINA: Before we will add the coriander.

SETH: Wow.

(laughs) DINA: Yes, and you know what, what is funny?

In Egypt, any apartment, any condos coo...

Uh, cooking molokheya, you smell it from the entrance of the, the building.

Now I add the coriander.

Now you will smell a different aroma.

SETH: This garlic and this coriander together.

Wow.

DINA: Yes.

SETH: When you're frying in that much ghee, it doesn't take long to really.... DINA: And I will show you an Egyptian trick.

SETH: Okay.

DINA: Only people who grow up to my generation know about it.

So when they are adding the taqliya to molokheya, it is, it is something like traditional, you have to do it, is... (gasps) Yeah.

Do you think the molokheya come so delicious if you do this.

SETH: That brings it to life?

DINA: Yeah.

SETH: All right.

DINA: Yeah.

SETH: Should I try as well?

Should I try...?

DINA: Uh, I don't think, uh, the American... (gasp) Would work like the Egyptian one.

And this is our Egyptian trick adding the taqliya.

SETH: Okay.

DINA: Ooh.

(laughs) Oh, gosh.

This is delicious.

Now will come the turn for the chicken.

SETH: And this is chicken that's already been, uh... DINA: Yeah.

SETH: Partially cooked?

DINA: Yeah.

It is...

It is cooked for one hour, and then we fry it.

(sizzling) SETH: Whoa.

DINA: I use Cornish hen only here at the restaurant.

So, um, the meat is really tender.

The taste of chicken in Egyptian, really... SETH: Uh-huh.

DINA: Is different than here, so... SETH: And so you're just looking to get a little color on the outside?

DINA: It's not only color.

You want to have it little bit crispy.

So when people asking me, "What is the Egyptian fried chicken?"

It is like the American one but not breaded, and made with ghee... SETH: Right.

DINA: Not oil.

SETH: Oh, so healthy again, right?

DINA: Exactly.

So now as chicken is golden and done, we are ready to put the rice, add bit of molokheya on top of the rice, add the chicken to it, and have a bowl of molokheya with our fresh-baked bread.

SETH: Dina, this molokheya, this is a dish I'd never heard of before but it looks amazing.

DINA: You will love it.

SETH: So how does even get started here?

DINA: So I give you the traditional way of how we eat it in Egypt.

So you take the pita, which we call it aish baladi.

We make it fresh.

You cut it.

And we have something called cat's ear.

SETH: Cat's ear?

DINA: Yes.

You get piece of bread, and then you dip it in the molokheya, and then... SETH: You eat.

DINA: Oh my gosh.

SETH: Scoop?

DINA: Yeah.

SETH: It's wonderful.

DINA: Yes.

SETH: A flavor that I can't really even place, 'cause I don't think I've ever had anything quite like it before.

DINA: And this is, like, a very traditional dish in Egypt.

It's like, uh, when you have turkey in the Thanksgiving, so our molokheya, it's in any feast in Egypt, it's the main dish.

SETH: Well, I love when a special occasion dish becomes available every day.

DINA: Yes.

SETH: Like here.

And it's so good.

I'm gonna try it with the rice, too.

DINA: Sure.

Let us have some with rice.

SETH: Yeah.

DINA: Mm.

SETH: And getting those little crispy bits like the garlic and the coriander that you fried in the ghee, so good.

And the texture.

Just like I can't really place the flavor, the texture, too, is a little bit unusual.

DINA: Yeah, the texture is little bit like okra, however it tastes totally different.

It's not about having the recipe.

It's about the know-how and the talent and the passion when you're cooking the molokheya.

(laughs) SETH: That moment made all the difference.

Now, of course, I've gotta try the Cornish hen as well here.

DINA: 100%.

SETH: That's awesome.

And, Dina, you started with a food truck, and now you have two more restaurants in DC.

Do you feel like the word has gotten out there about Egyptian cuisine?

DINA: Yes.

We have put the first stone, first step.

Actually, it is not only the Egyptian food.

It's the Egyptian culture, food, and hospitality, because for most of the American, the Egyptian culture is the pyramids and pharaohs, so our goal, when you walk in, you are welcomed very warm.

You eat like an Egyptian.

And when you leave and you feel that we are your new family and friends.

SETH: Well, I definitely feel that way.

Thank you again, Dina.

I really appreciate it.

DINA: Thank you for having me.

♪ ♪ SETH: I'm next heading a bit further north to McLean.

It's here that you'll find Amoo's, a Persian restaurant with a regional flair.

SEBASTIAN: My family's from the Kurdish province of Iran.

My father was a officer for the, uh, government of the Shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Revolution, he was arrested and was sent to prison, and then years later he was able to escape, grab the family, and we escaped to Turkey, and from there we were able to, uh, uh, come to the US.

The overlapping of the different regional, uh, recipes in Iranian cuisine is what makes Iranian cuisine, because it's such a collaboration and so many, uh, parts of the country.

So whether you're in Tehran or if you are in Tabriz or in the south of, uh, the country, such as Abadan, you're going to run into a lot of the similar dishes, but there are just so many different variations, and I think that's what makes the Iranian cuisine so unique.

The smell of the Iranian, uh, cooking, it's something that...

It's very nostalgic.

It's the saffron, it's the lime, it's the dried spices, the turmeric, and you can s... You can pick that up as you're walking to a...

Whether it's a Persian home, whether it's a Persian grocery store or a Persian restaurant.

That smell takes me back to my childhood when I am growing up in Iran, you know, up until, like, I was seven or eight years old, and it's an experience I like to offer to all of my guests.

SETH: While Amoo's offers the usual complement of Persian kebabs, I'm meeting Sebastian to see how he prepares the restaurant's signature stew.

Chef.

SEBASTIAN: Seth.

How you doing, buddy?

SETH: Doing pretty well, and, uh, I like whatever I'm seeing in here.

SEBASTIAN: That is a bone-in lamb shank, which is the signature dish on our menu, so.

SETH: Oh, wonderful.

SEBASTIAN: Depending on which part of the country you are in, uh, there's gonna be different variations of the lamb shank stew.

This one in particular is actually from the north western region of the country, uh, known as the Kurdish province.

SETH: Well, I do love lamb, and these things look like they've been, uh, kinda cooking away for a while, um... SEBASTIAN: Yeah, they've been braising for about six hours now.

SETH: Six hours.

All right.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah.

SETH: Um, so where do the rest of these beautiful ingredients come in?

SEBASTIAN: So the trick of making this dish is a two-part process.

Cook the, uh, the meat separately first.

It betters absorbs, uh, the spices.

Second part is assembling and combining all the ingredients.

So the first process is to add the olive oil, and you might want to be careful over here because we're getting ready to add the garlic and the onions.

You can see we are using a, a significant amount of onions.

SETH: A generous... A generous portion.

SEBASTIAN: So once you onion, onion, the garlic, the trick here is to make sure the onions get browned a little bit.

Now we're gonna go ahead and start adding the other ingredients, so we're gonna start out with the homemade tomato paste.

If you are in Tehran, typically the lamb shanks are just made with the broth, the saffron butter, the lime juice, the garlic, and the onions, okay?

That's it.

It's very tasty.

But if you go to the north-most part of Iran, that's when you start seeing tomato paste and a whole other new set of, uh, spices.

Now that we have a nice consistency going on with the to... With the base of the broth, this is where we add the saffron butter, and you're gonna add the fresh-squeezed lime juice, chili flakes, and red paprika.

Cinnamon, the Kurds love cinnamon for their stews, and it's not a dominating flavor but it's, it's one of those flavors you can... You can... You can sense it in the background.

We're gonna go ahead and add the cumin, rosemary, chili peppers, and last but not least, the turmeric.

SETH: Oh, so yeah, that will give it a nice color as well.

SEBASTIAN: That's the color.

So this is where you want to go ahead and lower the hea...

Uh, the, the temperature a little bit.

And so now that we have the, uh, the broth, uh, spices, and flavors, uh, completed, we're gonna go ahead and add it to the actual lamb shank broth.

SETH: Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

That smells so good.

SEBASTIAN: The meat at this point has, has been cooking for hours, and if you try to mix it with a spoon, what's gonna happen, the meat is gonna fall off the bone.

We don't want to do that.

This eventually will start getting mixed with the liquid.

SETH: All right, so you just want to be really, really delicate with these lamb shanks?

SEBASTIAN: Absolutely.

The good thing is, before you arrived here I was already working on two shanks and I have those ready, so let me go ahead and... SETH: Oh, nice.

SEBASTIAN: And get those for you, and this is the final product.

SETH: That's a beautiful shank, and I can see where all that meat has pulled away.

It is so good.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah, and see how... Like, and you can tell if you just hit it with a fork.

You don't even need a knife for this shank.

You just, you can pick at it with a fork and the meat will come right off the bone.

SETH: You could, uh, even eat this thing with a spoon?

SEBASTIAN: Absolutely.

So now I'm going to go ahead and plate it, serve it with some rice, and we're gonna go ahead and enjoy it together in the dining room.

SETH: Chef.

This thing is a Flintstones level cut of meat right here.

This is a beautiful lamb shank.

SEBASTIAN: Thank you, Seth.

I couldn't think of a better dish to, for you to try.

So typically we grab a little piece of the, the, the meat with the broth and then we enjoy it with, uh, with the rice, so.

SETH: It's all part, you gotta have it all together?

SEBASTIAN: Absolutely.

And the spoon is actually used to pour the br, broth over the meat as well.

There you go.

SETH: All right.

SEBASTIAN: Hits the spot, huh?

(laughs) SETH: That meat is truly fall off the bone.

SEBASTIAN: All right.

That's the whole purpose of braising it for that long.

SETH: That is really, really good.

SEBASTIAN: Glad to hear that, man.

That's, that's the type of reaction I look for.

SETH: And, uh, you know, it's funny.

Sometimes it's hard to pick out individual ingredients, but definitely getting some of that saffron as well.

SEBASTIAN: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, I mean, saffron is... You know, it's at the base of the Persian cuisine.

It's literally in every single recipe you can think of, even in the Persian ice cream.

SETH: And rice, that's just kind of a key part of Persian cuisine?

SEBASTIAN: Absolutely.

You gotta have rice.

SETH: And I see this beautiful, uh, rice over here.

SEBASTIAN: So this is tahdig, okay?

So when we cook, uh, big pots of rice, the bottom part of it, you usually add a little bit of saffron butter and a little bit of olive oil.

What it does, uh, it... We cook it to a point where the bottom portion of the pot has become crispy, so it creates this really nice crunchy texture that Persians, they, they fight over at the dinner table for.

Tahdig, the salad, the rice, the meat, combined together, it just, uh, gives you a variety of different textures for your meal.

SETH: All right.

SEBASTIAN: Okay, just grab a piece and then, and enjoy it.

SETH: All right.

Dip it in a little bit of sauce.

How about that?

(crunching) Such a nice counterpart as well to that meat.

Since I'm getting all the textures here, Chef, I do feel like need to add a little bit of salad too.

SEBASTIAN: Yes.

SETH: All right.

SEBASTIAN: So it's diced cucumber, tomatoes and onions that's tossed in homemade... SETH: Mm-hmm.

SEBASTIAN: Mint vinaigrette.

SETH: I love all these different Persian flavors and how nicely they all play together.

SEBASTIAN: Yeah, mean, it's... You know, Persian cuisine is...

It's complex, um, in, in so many ways, but it's also simple in so many ways and, and you can see that a... on, on one table at a... at a dinner setting.

Like the shirazi salad, which is actually from the Ri... uh, the Shiraz region of Iran, uh, and the tahdig is more of a Tehran type of, uh, recipe.

It's a combination of different regions that come together.

It's a perfect balance of flavors.

SETH: Well, it's so good.

Um, I got a little more work left to do with this lamb shank.

SEBASTIAN: Enjoy yourself, buddy.

It's gonna take you a minute to finish all that, but yeah, enjoy it, man.

Glad you guys, uh, got to see what Persian coo, cooking is all about.

SETH: Thanks, Chef.

♪ ♪ My last stop takes me to DC's Dupont Circle to visit Muncheez and try my hand at some late-night eats.

DAVID: I'm originally Lebanese and American, was born in DC but then moved back to Beirut in... when I was five years old.

I kinda grew up in the restaurant world.

My parents had been in the industry for years.

They had restaurants in DC and Beirut, so Muncheez is a creation from growing up eating Lebanese street food.

ALI: Food in general in Lebanon, okay, uh, it's made with love, passion, and that's what drives us.

Night life in Lebanon, it's like 2:00 afternoon or 2:00 am, it's the same.

People are all around, enjoying their time, eating, like, you know, street food, and that's what we are famous about.

DAVID: When we opened initially, DC didn't have a lot of choices late at night, right?

You couldn't eat anything but jumbo sliced pizza or, like, deep-fried food.

I was like, "Okay.

There's something to be done."

SETH: David opened the first Muncheez in Georgetown in 2010, followed by the Dupont location in 2019.

Both shops stay open until 4:00 am on the weekends.

DAVID: But we decided to open to cater also to a late-night crowd because I understand the feeling of coming out of a bar or a club and wanting to eat but not eat something greasy where the next day you wake up and be like, "What did I do to myself?"

We want to take you to Beirut so people that have never been can get a taste for it, and then people that left can go back easily, 'cause everybody in a bite can remember their grow... Their childhood growing up, and that's what food can do.

SETH: Muncheez's signature dish is their beef shawarma pita.

Since my late-night days are now behind me, I'm meeting Chef Ali at a more reasonable hour to learn how they prepare this Lebanese classic.

Chef.

ALI: What's up?

SETH: Nice to meet you.

ALI: Nice to meet you, too.

SETH: I see a lot of meat in this bowl here.

What are you making today?

ALI: So we are making our beef shawarma, which is our signature dish.

SETH: Shawarma.

So we're looking at a... What's gonna be a tower of meat here?

ALI: It is.

SETH: I've never actually seen how these towers get built.

So how do you even get started here?

ALI: So so we start it by slicing the top round and marinate it for around 18 to 24 hours.

The marination comes from lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, our spices.

We mix it all together.

So first we go with the base, and we put just like, you know, two to three pieces of the top round all together, and that's what's gonna carry the whole stacks of meat.

SETH: All right.

ALI: So it goes first.

That's our base.

SETH: And are you building one of these every single day?

ALI: We build around six of these every single day.

SETH: So there's a lot of slicing.

There's just a lot of...

This is a labor-intensive process right here.

ALI: It is.

It's very slow.

As you can see, Seth, then we have, like, one pillar of the lamb fat, and that's gonna keep the juices, okay?

So we put it directly after, like, three to four layers of the top round.

Reset.

SETH: Is this gonna give some extra flavor to it or just to keep the base... ALI: Uh, flavor, of course, of the lamb fat, and at the same time, 'cause it goes, like, you know, around 18 hours on the, uh... On the machine, so it doesn't burn.

SETH: Got it.

Got it.

So you're just gonna keep it nice and basted throughout the entire cooking process.

ALI: Yep.

Yeah.

SETH: After Chef Ali finishes stacking the enormous tower of meat, layering the top round with trimmings and lamb fat, it's added to the shawarma machine to begin cooking.

45 minutes later, it will be ready to eat.

ALI: Okay, so now it has been cooking for 45 minutes, okay?

I shave it once during that time.

The meat is cooked and ready to go.

SETH: All right, so the most fun part here, and I'm guessing there's a lot of skill involved with shaving it just right?

ALI: It is.

SETH: Okay.

ALI: Okay.

So we have with our thumb pressing on it, and I got in, okay?

And I start shaving without going inside there, so it's only, like, you know, the cooked part of it.

SETH: Just right on the outside?

ALI: Yep.

SETH: Okay.

ALI: Just try on the outside.

SETH: And letting the knife kinda do the work?

ALI: That's it.

The knife does the work.

Okay.

And now, Seth, do you wanna try it?

(laughs) SETH: I'll give it a shot.

Let's see how I do here.

ALI: Let's see.

SETH: All right.

Put it up here.

Just... ALI: Yeah.

SETH: Just the weight.

Oops.

ALI: Just... Not yet.

Let the knife do the work.

SETH: I'm not sure this is my forte... ALI: You got it.

SETH: Just yet, Chef.

(laughs) There we go.

ALI: There we go.

SETH: Now, I like these like these little, uh...

These little charred bits here at the top.

DAVID: Hey, Seth.

I see you're already trying to cut the shawarma.

SETH: Yeah, I don't think I'm ready just yet, uh, to be working your line here.

I'm very impressed with the, the level of skill involved with both building the tower and also cutting it.

ALI: You're doing good the first time.

You're doing good.

So we're moving to make the pita.

SETH: Okay.

Let me give this back to you.

ALI: All right.

So I got this here for you... DAVID: The best part is for you to just grab a piece right off from, fresh from the spit.

SETH: All right.

Let me give it a shot here.

Oh my God.

That's just awesome.

The meat is juicy but you still get that nice little charred bit on the edge.

So how do you turn this into a, uh... to a sandwich?

ALI: Uh, okay, so here we go.

Got our pita, okay?

So get the amount of meat that you need, right?

With onion, tomatoes, pickles, and the fresh mint, and of course then you go to the sauce, which is the tahini sauce, okay?

We wrap it, and then usually we toast it, okay?

But what I'm gonna do is, like, you know, that's the Lebanese style on it.

SETH: Oh ho ho ho.

I like that.

That's one way to get char on your sandwich.

ALI: That is.

Then we just wrap it, and it's ready to go.

SETH: A Muncheez shawarma pita.

All right.

ALI: That's our signature.

SETH: That's just awesome, guys.

Those little bits you added for a little acidity, like, the onions and the tomatoes, and the pickles kind of have an unusual flavor as well.

DAVID: Yes.

So the pickles we import from Lebanon, so it's a type of pickle that adds crunchiness and acidity.

It's not like an American dill pickle, so it's key to our shawarma.

SETH: The tahini, too.

It was a really generous portion but it really, really helps make the sandwich.

DAVID: Yes, and, like, we import the tahini.

It's Lebanese tahini, so it's a distinct flavor.

The sesame seeds are cooked.

SETH: I can also imagine, 2:00 in the morning, 3:00 in the morning, this could really hit the spot.

DAVID: Hits the spot, and you go to bed like a baby.

(laughs) SETH: And I'll say, you know, as somebody who's had shawarma plenty of times, I've never given a lot of thought to what actually goes into building one of these towers and cutting it.

There was a real skill and an art that obviously I'm not ready for just yet.

Thank you, Ali.

Thanks, David.

Thanks for, uh... DAVID: Of course.

SETH: Letting me try this.

This was great.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: To find out more about great food in the Washington Metro Area, visit weta.org/signaturedish.