5 vegetarian street foods of the Middle East worth trying

The culture of the Middle East is known for its cuisine, which typically includes meat, and it's rare to find locals following a plant-based diet.

However, despite this, the Middle East also offers a wide variety of vegetarian dishes. You can often find them sold by street vendors in popular markets. Here are five vegetarian street foods from the Middle East that you can try to cook at home, as reported by News Bytes.

Dolma

Choose main vegetables, such as eggplant or zucchini. Finely chop the onion and pepper, and mince the garlic, then mix them with the core of the vegetables.

Securely stuff the vegetables in grape leaves and roll them up.

Place the rolled grape leaves in a skillet over medium heat and let them soak in lemon juice.

Once cooled, serve with yogurt.

Ful Medames

Heat the beans over medium-high heat. Season with kosher salt and ground cumin, then mash the beans.

Chop the garlic and green chili. Add lemon juice and mix.

Pour the hot sauce over the beans and stir. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Sprinkle with fresh parsley, diced tomatoes, and a few slices of hot pepper.

Falafel

Add soaked chickpeas, parsley, shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, and spices to a food processor or blender.

Blend the mixture until well combined. Add all-purpose flour to absorb some moisture.

Once coated, fry the mixture in a large skillet until browned, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside.

Serve hot with a sauce of your choice or hummus.

Adas

Fry onion and garlic in olive oil until golden brown.

Add chopped potatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Then, add the lentils and spices.

Stir well to ensure the spices are completely mixed with the lentils and potatoes.

Pour in vegetable broth and bring to a boil.

Cook over medium heat until the lentils are fully cooked. Serve hot.

Muhammara

Grill red bell peppers until the outer layer is charred.

Cool the peppers, then peel off the burnt pieces. Remove the seeds and stems and finely chop.

In the jar of a food processor, combine the peppers, balsamic vinegar, honey, and lime juice. The texture should be slightly coarse.

Transfer the Muhammara to a serving plate. Drizzle with olive oil and Aleppo red pepper flakes. Serve hot.

AsTravelWise previously reported, there are 5 great vegetarian dishes to try in Croatia .