Hindbeh (Dandelion greens or Endive greens or Chicory greens) with Caramelised Onion. It's sweet and crunchy from the caramelised onions with a lemony dressing. It can be eaten as part of a mezze, on it's own or with Lebanese bread.
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A Chicory / endive / dandelion recipe is known as Hindbeh Bi Zeit in Arabic and is a popular dish all over Lebanon. Translated to English 'Hindbeh' is the word for the plants chicory, endive or dandelion greens (typical middle-eastern greens) and 'bi zeit' translates to oil. This dish always uses olive oil.
Hindbeh Bi Zeit is a versatile dish which can be viewed as a dandelion salad. Hindbeh can be eaten as a side or main or perhaps even a light lunch. I like it either; wrapped up in Lebanese bread, or, using Lebanese bread to eat bite sized morsels.
It's important to note that Lebanese cuisine features loads of wild greens, which in western society can be viewed as weeds. Another Lebanese wild green recipe is Bakleh, known as Purslane in English. Bakleh has the most amazing sour taste. Here's my Purslane Pockets Lebanese Bakleh recipe.
In this particular recipe, I have illustrated using both chicory greens and curly endive greens. I find it hard locating dandelion greens in my local grocer and have yet to grow some, but dandelion greens are cooked in the exact same manner as chicory or endive greens.
Hindbeh Health Benefits
The health benefits of chicory are phenomenal including; aids digestion, reduces inflammation, relieves heartburn, reflux, constipation, lowers cholesterol and so much more. However, if you prefer you can swap out the chicory for dandelion or endive and use the exact recipe below.
Cooking dandelion tip: boiling dandelion greens removes the bitterness.
What you'll need for this Chicory recipe
- 5-6 cups Water
- 1 kg Chicory Leaves
- 2 large Spanish onions, sliced
- 4-6 tbsp Lemon Juice fresh
- 2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2-4 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 medium Lemon
How to Cook Hindbeh Bi Zeit
Mise En Place (Preparation)
- Thoroughly wash endive (dandelion greens or chicory leaves), may have to do this twice to get rid of dirt
- Check and trim off any unwanted parts of endive
- Cut greens into 3cm pieces, including soft stems. Set aside in a colander*
- Peel and half onion. Dice into small pieces
- Cut lemon in half and squeeze out juice, set aside
- Measure out olive oil
Cooking
- In a large pot, bring water to the boil
- Place chopped dandelion greens into the pot of boiling water and boil for approx. 20-30 minutes.
- Pour boiled greens into a strainer and drain all water
- Allow to cool in the strainer before handling
- Using your hands, grab a handful of boiled greens and squeeze out as much excess water as possible.
- Whilst the chicory greens is boiling, heat up olive oil in a pot on high heat
- Once oil is hot, add in diced onion and stir through oil to evenly coat, allow it to fry. Turn heat to med-high
- Fry onion until dark brown, stirring every few minutes ensuring onion doesn't stick to pan. If required add an additional teaspoon of oil. Be patient, this process can take up to 30min depending on your stove.
- In a mixing bowl, combine boiled endive, lemon and salt until evenly combined.
- Serve endive in a serving bowl garnished with caramelised onion. Or, eat in Lebanese bread by applying a line of endive and topping it with caramelised onion. Roll Lebanese bread and enjoy.
❓FAQ
The Arabic word 'Hindbeh' covers a few leafy greens including Endive, Dandelion and Chicory. Endive comes in a few forms and I believe can be called differently in various parts of the world. This recipe calls for the use of curly leafed endive which is originally from the Mediterranean.
It's bitter when it is raw, some more so than others, but when it is cooked the bitterness disappears.
Endive can be enjoyed in varying ways - in salads: mix with tomato, lemon, purslane and olive oil, boiled: as per this recipe, sautéed: with some garlic and lemon.
Don't let the bitterness of endive put you off. The bitterness disappears once you cook the endive or toss it in part of a salad.
The short answer is no. Endive depending on where you are in the world can be the curly variety or the small foot-ball-ish (whitlof) variety and chicory features bundled long leaves, almost like dandelion leaves on steroids.
In general
1. In a large pot, bring water to the boil
2. Place chopped dandelion greens into the pot of boiling water and boil for approx. 20-30 minutes.
3. Pour boiled greens into a strainer and drain all water
4. Allow to cool in the strainer before handling
📖 Recipe
Hindbeh Bi Zeit (Dandelion Greens Recipe)
Ingredients
- 5-6 cups Water
- 1 kg Chicory Leaves or dandelion greens or curly endive
- 2 large Spanish onions, sliced
- 4-6 tbsp Lemon Juice fresh
- 2 cloves Garlic crushed
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2-4 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 medium Lemon for serving
Instructions
- Wash and trim off any unwanted parts of the chicory leaves (hard stems)
- In a large pot, bring to water to the boil, add in chicory leaves. Boil for about 15min
- Once chicory leaves are cooked (think like spinach), drain thoroughly
- Roughly chop boiled chicory leaves and set aside
- On med-high heat, add oil to a frying pan and cook the onion, until they are dark golden brown. This might take a while.
- Once dark golden brown remove from oil and onto paper towel to soak up excess oil.
- With the remaining oil in fry pan sautée garlic. If you need to add another spoon of oil, do so.
- Add the Chicory leaves and sautée until leaves have wilted
- Add lemon juice
- Sprinkle salt and stir well.
- Cut lemon wedges to serve on the side
- Plate up sauted chicory leaves and serve with the onions on top, extra lemon and some Lebanese bread.
Nutrition
More vegan Lebanese recipes?
Check out our category "Vegan Lebanese Recipes" you can find the famous Toum recipe aka Lebanese garlic sauce, Sfouf - a golden turmeric cake and Mujadarah Hamra Recipe.
Helen A
Easy to make! Awesome
plantbasedfolk
Thanks Helen! Did you enjoy it in a wrap?
Laura haddad
These recipes are exactly like having hamati at my elbow. This is the most delicious and the healthiest way to eat. I learned to cook these dishes by eyeballing everything. It's nice to have written recipes to refer to. Thanks for being willing to share.
plantbasedfolk
Thank you so much Laura - this is the highest compliment. I love Lebanese food so much, and I am glad it can be made vegan or is already vegan 🙂