Improvisation

When I lived in the Middle East my favourite foods were Shwarma , Mutabbak , and for breakfast, which I used to pick up on the way to my work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Riyadh, was Ful Medammes and Khobz straight out of the clay oven. All of the Middle East recipes vary from country to country and they all claim to be the original and best! I made the bean mix on the left just ad-hoc. Threw in lentils, kidney beans, onion, stock cube, half a spoon of cumin, another of curry powder, and let it slow cook for hours. It tasted pretty much the same but must try the recipe and see if it is very different. It was 30 years ago since I left Riyadh so maybe my memory, and taste buds, are fooling me.
on the other side is bubble and squeak made up from Sunday dinner leftovers which we had with bacon, black pudding, fried eggs for lunch today.
Could really fancy going back to the Middle East for that Mutabbaq, my mouth is watering at the thought and it's only made in the winter.

Ref the 'original and best' I had Umm Ali in Beirut and it was like a milk pudding made with yoghurt. Umm is Mother, Ali is Ali so it's Ali's Mother.
When I saw it on a menu in Cairo I ordered it and was offered a baked version of the same thing with sultanas, it was very different and when I mentioned it the waiter said  that the Lebanese always think they have the original of everything HAHAHAHAHAHA. I must admit I preferred the Egyptian version. (The link also has the interesting story of it's origin).