(SHEF) Chef Ahlam Shehab

PALESTINE 🇵🇸
JORDAN 🇯🇴

COVID-19 UPDATE: Orders are delivered through Doordash and can be left at your house without contact if desired.

📍No Physical Address. This chef can be found through shef.com. If you use this link, you can get $20 credit and I will get $10. Eat the World Los Angeles has no affiliation with this website, and paid for this order in full.

No matter where you live in the world, there will always be blind spots of cuisines you do not have access to on a daily basis. Even in the world's most multi-cultural cities like London, Singapore, New York City, Mexico City, and São Paulo, there are dozens if not hundreds of cultures that do not have representation in restaurant form. For that reason, it is often necessary to look to home chefs for a taste of certain foods.

Los Angeles is lucky to have so many types of food available, but also has many blind spots in the restaurant world. Small communities around town have filled these with WhatsApp groups, Instagram pop-ups, and even word of mouth at religious gatherings. Now a website founded in 2019 has expanded to Los Angeles and offers everyone the ability to peek into the kitchens of some talented chefs, fill a few blind spots in the city, and hopefully allow for a meaningful income for the people that cook.

The first foray into this website was rewarded with the bounty above, even sent with a thank you note from the chef. Shef.com currently uses Doordash to have their orders picked up from chefs and delivered, arriving in nice branded bags which can be returned and recycled for future order credit.

Meals are fully cooked but allowed to cool and come packed with ice, therefore nothing arrives over-steamed in its packaging. Instructions on each container show customers how to reheat everything in the microwave, but if you have the equipment and the know-how you will probably end up using pans or an air fryer for some items.

Mansaf and maqdoos.

Chef Ahlam credits her mother with teaching her everything, always a better source than a fancy school as far as Eat the World Los Angeles is concerned. The dish that initially stood out most on her menu was mansaf ($13.99, above), the national dish of Jordan that is also enjoyed throughout the Levant. The name of this dish means "large tray" and alludes to how it is normally served, a giant circular dish set in the middle of a table and shared by everyone.

Mansaf is defined by jameed, goat milk yogurt cooked with spices to make a broth. The lamb is cooked in this broth and a portion of it comes alongside the finished product to add as desired. Feel free to ladle as much or as little as you want. Parsley and almonds are packed separately but should not be forgotten as they add important final touches to each bite.

Mandi and hummus.

If you are a fan of lamb, you will also not want to miss Chef Ahlam's mandi ($14.99, above), another lamb shank served on a bed of basmati that has been cooked with the meat's stock. Each entrée is generous in its portioning and is at least two meals, making an order very economical.

There are an array of sides available from the chef as well like maqdoos ($4.99, shown above with mansaf), an unbelievably tart pickled eggplant dish and a creamy hummus ($6.99, above) that is perfect with just about everything. Do not leave out the qalayat bandora ($7.99, below), a delicious garlicky tomato side made with fried tomatoes and often eaten for breakfast. It works just as well to add to rice or enjoy between (or with) bites of lamb.

The last main ordered on this first round was maqluba ($13.99, above), a chicken dish named for the way it is served "upside down" after the meat, potatoes, and rice are all cooked together and flipped. If there was any flaw in the entire order, it was unfortunately the dryness of this cut of white meat, but the spices in it and the rice were enough for enjoyment when combined with potatoes and/or some of the sides

The chef calls her food both Palestinian and Jordanian and also has dishes like fasoliyeh beda, mujaddara, and musakhan, all beloved throughout the Levant. Another round to try out these three dishes and few more of the sides will have to be planned soon.

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