My mixed origins (my father is Syrian from Damascus, and my mother English from London) mean that I've had the opportunity to try many different types of food and I tend to use Yoghurt and lemon a lot (though rarely together). I'm going to start by sharing this recipe with you (and just to disprove my previous comment, it involves yoghurt and lemon!).

My first recipe is Syrian. It is Vegitarian! It's a "poor man's meal" but often these are the best. It takes 20 mins to prepare. Simple but delicious!

Ingredients:
- Corriander
- Green beans (still in their pods)
- Olive oil (extra virgin, 5 table spoons)
- Garlic (1 clove)
- Salt (to taste)
- Yoghurt (to taste)
- Lemon (One)
- Bread (Usually eaten with Pitta)


Pre-preparation:
Choose your beans wisely! They need to be young and small otherwise they will be stringy and unpleasent to eat. If they are stringy you need to take them out of the pod but the dish is tastier with the pods.

Preparation:
Step 1
To begin, you need to wash the beans, cut off the ends (about 1cm) then chop them up to 2-3cm pieces (1 inch). Put the olive oil in a pan over a gentle flame then place the prepared beans/pods in the pan. The idea is to make them sweat, not cook them. The oil will fry the outside and make the inside moist. This needs to cook for 15 mins approx. Crush the garlic now but don't put it in the cooking. Garlic must always be crushed 5 mins before cooking.

Step 2
After it's been cooking for 15 minutes, test the beans. If they're ready, add a pinch of salt, put the garlic in along with chopped corriander and half a lemon's juice. Take it off the flame immediatly, do not cook the corriander.

Step 3
Serve on a plate with bread, yoghurt and more lemon to be added to taste.

1/2 cup flour + 1/2 table spoon all purpose flour, additional flour set aside
1/2 table spoon baking powder
1/2 table spoon soy sauce (traditionally made, not chemically made)
1/2 table spoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon sea salt (any salt will do, it doesn't become salty so do what you want with it)
Cumin, ground cayenne pepper, black pepper, sea salt, garlic powder - to taste (in other words I don't measure)
1 large egg
1/2 cup seltzer water (I sometimes need to use a full cup at times) - can substitute club soda, beer or ordinary water
Shrimp, this yields a LOT of batter, and no matter how many shrimp I make I still end up with a lot of batter left over.

In a large bowl put in your flour, baking powder, salt and lemon zest.
I do the salt, freshly ground black pepper, ground cayenne pepper and garlic powder by feel (and sometimes smell). The garlic powder is very optional. I would say 1/2 table spoon of cayenne, and I sprinkle enough cumin to speckle the entirety of the top. The garlic powder, is maybe a tea spoon. Black pepper is always randomized sadly - I am a horrible cook, I know.

In a wok, or any deep pan, heat up your fat (I use vegetable oil, and occasionally a spoon of saved bacon grease so it melts down). While it's heating put in your seltzer and egg. If you'd like to, use the soy sauce as well. Whisk gently until it's an even consistency. When your oil is ready take your shrimp (or anything such as fish - I'd recommend 1 1/2 pounds thick cod fillets) and coat in the set aside flour. Dip into the batter. Let the excess drip off, or just give it a shack and toss right into the heated oil. DO NOT crowd the pan, if your having difficulty with your shrimp sticking together, or sticking to the pan (you must have a very dirty pan - learn to clean lol), give the pan a shake every time you insert a new shrimp.

Check the shrimp when they start to get yellow, to make sure your cooking evenly flip them when the bottom is reaching a golden brown. I don't time, and tend to take the shrimp out at different stages of "doneness" to have both fluffy but crispy (fully golden brown on both sides), as well as melt in your mouth fluffy batter (taken out earlier). I also occasionally "burn" a few, just for that extra crispy texture.

While the first batch is cooking take a plate and line with 2 paper towels, and when they are done put the shrimp on these paper towels to drain out and absorb some of the oil, put a third paper towel on top.

Be careful with the heat. You may have to increase the heat if your shrimp are taking too long to cook, but they will pop if it gets to hot.

When done, your left oil batter can be spooned or funneled into the pan and fried until a golden brown. DO NOT FLIP. This will yield you "brainies" or a funnel cake like desert (if large enough). I don't care for funnel cake myself, but a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and maybe some syrup (if you decide to do brainies) for dipping goes over well with my friend. Brainies are just a large spoon dipped into the batter, and then slowly drizzled into the oil, with circular patterns of the wriste. They look like, well, brains obviously.

6-8 unpeeled red potatoes
Olive oil, salt, ground black pepper, freshly minced garlic, rosemary or thyme leaves - again freshly minced, and (because I cook everything with it) cumin. All unmeasured, but I'll do my best.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees and take your potatoes and scrub them clean - but do not peel them!
Cut the potatoes in half, then again into 4 even pieces. If the potatoes are too small, cut each half into 3 pieces. If still too small, go out and buy bigger potatoes. But don't leave the oven on if you do. That's just a fire hazard!

Put said potatoes on on a sheet or in a bowl and hit 'em with say, two splashes of olive oil. Add in your salt and all the rest. I don't measure, and I do it randomly lol. I'll try my best though. On top of each potato give about 4 turns of the black pepper grinder, if your using one, or say 3-5 shakes if not hand grinding. The same goes for salt, though you can use much less if you'd like. The cumin is a more of a hand gesture over it all, one quick motion should sprinkle enough, go from the first potato to the last. The herbs and garlic, just toss them in, give a quick mix, a toss, whatever.

Take the potatoes and place them evenly on a baking sheet, pop them in for 30 or 45 minutes, until they're nice and a light brown and tender on the inside. You do not have to turn them, or anything, you can just let them bake the whole time.

As an alternative you can cut them into strips, but the cooking time will be shorter. They'd be more like fries then.