According to the Congressional Quarterly Jeff Stein, the FBI hoped to track down Iranian terrorists by following, out of all things, Falafel sales in groceries.

The photo on this story at Wired blogs, shows Iranian dishes.

What is sad is that falafel is not part of the Iranian cuisine, being mainly a staple of the Eastern Mediterranean.

I managed to induct someone to the "I love Egyptian fava beans" club.

Noel Hidalgo twittered: "Dear world, fava beans rule".

There are several ways to eat cooked fava beans: see the Egyptian Cuisine Recipes web site ful medames section.

For years, the Egyptian Cuisine section on the Baheyeldin web site has been one of the most visited parts of the site. Visitors were asking for recipes and not just background information and history.

So, today, we launched the Egyptian Cuisine Recipes just as visitors requested, with more than 70 recipes ready for you to try.

Of course, the site is running Drupal, the best content managment system and framework, with many modules we have developed, such as feedback, adsense, sitemenu and a custom port to 4.7 of the recipe module.

One of the popular dishes in Egypt, as well as all over the eastern Mediterranean is stuffed vine leaves.

The recipe is not a simple one, but it is basically rice mixed with tomato paste, parsley, minced meat that is cooked first. Separately, the vine leaves are blanched in boiling water. The mix is then stuffed in the leaves which are rolled so that the rice does not fall off. It is served with a youghurt dip that has crushed garlic and  cucumbers.

Maple trees are all too common in Southern Ontario. The leaves looked very similar to the vine leaves. Since maple syrup is made from the sap of the tree, one can assume that the leaves are safe to eat too.

Batarekh is a delicacy in Egypt, made from dried salted roe sacs of the grey mullet. It is also known as the Egyptian Caviar.

Molokheya, also known as Jew's Mallow, is one of Egypt's national dishes, as well as other countries in the Middle East region. 

Here are some links to other web pages on Egyptian and Middle Eastern Food.

Some snacks are known as tasali تسالي in Egypt.

• Lebb لب - Roasted Water Melon Seeds
• Sudani سوداني - Peanuts. These are roasted and salted, with large salt grains sticking to them. The best variety, in my opinion, are those Sun Dried in Aswan and Upper Egypt, having a distinct flavor to it.
• Lebb Suri لب سوري - Roasted Sun Flower Seeds
• Lebb Abyad لب أبيض- Roasted Pumpkin seeds

Some fruits found in Egypt are not found anywhere else, even though they are few. Other fruits in Egypt are grown in other places, even though they may not be consumed in these other places.

• Gemeiz جميز
• Harankash حرنكش، الست المستحية، الست المستخبية
• Bashmalah (Escadonia) بشملة
• Nab2 نبق
• Teen Shoki تين شوكي - Prickly Pear Cactus Fruit
• Toot توت - Mulberry fruit. Two types, red and white
• Meshmesheyya مشمية - Dried seedless Apricots
• Teen - Figs تين
  

The ingredients in Egyptian sweets and desserts are found in other cuisines.

• 3asal eswed عسل أسود(Black Honey - Molasses)
• 7alawa tehineyya حلاوة طحينية (Sesame Seed paste and sugar)
• Mehalabia مهلبية
• Roz bel laban رز بلبن Rice and Milk
• 3ashurah عاشوراء
• Konafa كنافة
• 2Tayef قطايف
• Baqlawa بقلاوة same as Baklava in other Eastern Mediterranean countries
• Umm Ali أم علي pastry with milk, sugar, and raisins
• Loqmet El Qadi لقمة القاضي deep fried fritters in thick syrup