Libya
Bazin, sharba libiya soup and bsisa roasted-grain pastes.
Iconic recipes
Bazin
Dense barley dough served with a rich tomato-lamb stew and hard-boiled eggs.
.jpg)
Sharba Libiya
Tomato-lamb soup with orzo, mint and chickpeas, brightened with lemon.
Mbatten
Stuffed potato slices: spiced minced beef sandwiched between potato and fried in batter.
Shorba Libiya
Tomato-and-lamb soup with tiny pasta, mint and lemon — Ramadan staple.
Mbatten Stuffed Potato Fritters
Two thin potato slices sandwiching spiced mince, dipped in batter and fried.
Bazin
Libyan firm barley dough served beneath a spicy lamb, egg and potato sauce.
Kusksi Libi
Libyan couscous steamed over a spiced lamb, chickpea and pumpkin broth — Friday-lunch centrepiece from Tripoli to Benghazi.
Mubakbaka
Tripolitanian one-pot pasta braised directly in a spiced lamb-tomato sauce — the everyday Libyan spaghetti bake without an oven.
Rishta Libiya
Hand-rolled Tripolitanian egg-noodle soup with chickpeas, lamb and mint — a winter-Sunday classic in old-city households.
Madfouna Nafusa
Amazigh 'buried' lamb from the Nafusa Mountains — meat and potatoes sealed in a covered pot and slow-cooked over embers until falling apart.
Osban
Libyan stuffed lamb tripe or sausage packed with rice, liver, herbs and spice — a Ramadan and Eid al-Adha staple simmered in broth.
Imbakbaka bel Djaj
Chicken variant of the Libyan one-pot pasta — bharat-spiced chicken thighs and pasta drinking a chickpea-tomato broth.
Tajin Libi
Tripolitanian oven tagine — layers of lamb, potato and egg baked in a shallow clay dish until the top sets like a savoury cake.
Hraymi
Libyan-Jewish Shabbat fish — thick fillets poached in a fiery chilli, garlic and cumin sauce and eaten with challah on Friday nights.
Shorbat Adas Bengaziya
Benghazi lentil soup with cumin, tomato and lamb bones — the eastern Cyrenaican answer to sharba libiya, thicker and rustier.
Kusksi bel Hout
Coastal Libyan fish couscous from Misrata and Zliten — grouper steaks and vegetables in a saffron-tomato broth over steamed couscous.
Shakshuka Libiya
Libyan-style shakshuka thickened with grated potato and merguez-style lamb sausage — a breakfast pan eaten with khubz.
Ftat Nafusa
Amazigh Nafusa mountain breakfast — torn barley flatbread doused with warm olive oil, honey and buttermilk.
Bsisa
Roasted barley, chickpea and fenugreek flour whisked with olive oil, dates and water — the Libyan working breakfast for centuries.
Ftira Tarabulsiya
Tripolitanian griddle flatbread of semolina and olive oil, pulled apart and dipped into tea, honey or spicy filfil chutney.
Aseeda Tamr Fezzan
Fezzan oasis breakfast — a stiff wheat porridge crowned with a well of melted butter and date syrup.
Torshi Libi
Bright pink Libyan turnip pickle stained with beetroot and sharpened with vinegar and garlic — the mezze staple on every table.
Batata Mubattana
Tripolitanian sister of mbatten — potato slices sandwiching spiced minced lamb, dipped in egg and fried into crisp discs.
Salatat Mishwiya
Fire-charred pepper and tomato salad crushed with garlic, cumin and olive oil — the smoky sidekick to grilled meats.
Mishwi Bengazi
Cyrenaican charcoal-grilled lamb chops rubbed with bharat and cumin, served with grilled tomato and torshi.
Kufta Mishwiya
Skewered minced-lamb kufta with parsley, onion and bharat — Tripoli street grills line them up over glowing charcoal.
Samak Mashwi Misrata
Whole sea bream from the Misrata coast, slathered in chermoula and grilled over embers until the skin crackles.
Brik bel Adas
Tripolitanian brik — malsouka pastry parcels of spiced lentils, potato and egg, fried until the yolk is just runny.
Sfinz
Yeasted wet-dough doughnuts pulled and fried in front of you at Libyan sfinz stands — eaten dusted with sugar or dunked in date syrup.
Lahoh Bengazi
Cyrenaican spongy pancake bread pocked with bubbles, cooked on one side and torn into stews or spread with honey.
Kaak Libi
Ring-shaped sesame biscuits sold by the string at Libyan cafés — subtly anise and mahleb, dunked in mint tea.
Magrood Bengazi
Cyrenaican semolina lozenges stuffed with spiced date paste, fried and drenched in honey-orange syrup.
Ghraybeh Libiya
Snow-white melt-in-the-mouth ghee shortbreads studded with an almond — served with tea at every Eid gathering.
Basbousa Libiya
Semolina sponge soaked in citrus syrup, cut into diamonds and topped with an almond — the Friday-tea cake.
Debla Libiya
Libyan-Jewish 'roses' — paper-thin dough spun on a fork into fried spirals and soaked in honey syrup for weddings and Rosh Hashanah.
Shai bel Nana
The Libyan three-pour green tea — brewed strong, poured high with fresh spearmint and served in tiny glasses.
Atay Tuareg
Tuareg desert tea ceremony from the Fezzan and Ghat — three brews, each stronger and sweeter than the last, poured over embers.
Zhourat Fezzan
Fezzan oasis herbal infusion of dried chamomile, verbena, rose and sage — served after heavy tagines to settle the stomach.
Taguella Tuareg
Tuareg 'sand bread' from the deep south — a wheat disc buried in hot sand and embers, dug up, brushed clean and torn into spiced meat sauce.
Tazra Tebu
Tebu millet porridge from the Kufra oases in southeast Libya — pearl-millet flour cooked with salted lamb broth and topped with dates.
Hilba Tebu
Fenugreek relish from the Tebu of southeastern Libya — soaked fenugreek whipped with chilli, garlic and tomato for scooping bread.
Aseeda Mawlid
Cinnamon-spiced semolina paste mounded in trays and blanketed with honey-butter — cooked in Libyan homes for Prophet Muhammad's birthday.