Last Updated on June 12, 2022
Maacaron bi Toum: Lemon Garlic Noodles
I’ve been to many “garlic lovers” restaurants including the “Stinking Rose” in San Francisco. Β I savored many ethnic garlicky dishes at friends’ homes. Β However, so far I’ve never come across any dish with a richer and more intense garlic flavor than this Homemade Lemon Garlic noodles, called Maacaron Bi Toum (or Maacroun bi Toum). The name simply translates to noodles in garlic. And here is the Maacaron bi Toum Recipe
Traditional Dish Lemon Garlic Noodles
This is a traditional “villager” dish Lemon Garlic Noodles from the mountains of Lebanon that city dwellers tend to shy away from. I tell you though to heck with shyness, bring on the garlic man!!
FAQs
Is aioli the same as toum?
Garlic, salt, and oil are the main ingredients in both sauces, though aioli sauce contains egg as a stabilizer too. On the other hand, toum sauce has only garlic as a stabilizer.
What is toum in English?
A condiment made from garlic, salt, olive oil, lemon juice, and mint that is popular in the Levant similar to aioli
Maacaron bi Toum - Lebanese Homemade Lemon Garlic Noodles Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 lb flour general purpose
- 1/4 teaspoon yeast
- 2-3 teaspoons salt
- 2 potatoes peeled, cut into small cubes
- 15 cloves garlic crushed
- 1/2 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed, not bottled
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
Dough Preparation and Cooking Method
- In a small cup, melt the yeast with warm water.
- Mix the flour, yeast, with 1 teaspoon of salt and 200 ml of water (around 1 cup) and knead by hand for 5 minutes or until you get a smooth dough. Let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes depending on your room temperature.
- Sprinkle some flour on your working area and start forming the dough into a βsnakeβ , that is 1/2 to 2/3 of an inch in diameter.
- Cut the βsnakeβ of dough into 2-inch long pieces.
- Place your index finger on each cut dough piece, and roll inwards towards yourself while punching a wedge inside the dough (as in the video). The point here is to create a wedge inside the dough so that it cooks through well.
Garlic Sauce Preparation Method
- In a food processor blend the garlic with 2/3 teaspoon of salt, and while the blender is running, slowly alternate between adding the lemon juice and olive oil until you have a nice paste.
Cooking the Maacaron bi Toum
- In a cooking pot, heat up a few cups of water with 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of olive oil until it reaches a boil.
- Lower heat, add the cubed potatoes, then add the noodles one handful at a time depending on the size of your pot. The boiling time should be 20-25 minutes.
Serving Maacaron bi Toum
- Once the noodles are cooked, strain from water then mix immediately and while hot with the garlic sauce.
- Server alongside Fattoush or other savory salads.
From what I understand, the people from places like Beirut do not eat this. My family came from the mountain town of Hardine. I’ve always loved this dish. For a shortcut, I use frozen gnocchi from the supermarket! Also, many of the people who came from the same region as my grandparents did buy and roll fresh bread dough from a local Lebanese bakery into the rope as a shortcut.
Like you, my family came from the mountains of Hardine π I love this dish.
My mothers best friend kept talking about this dish as one she remembered her father making when she was young. From what she describes I think it’s more the method that Rabia talked about but I assumed she would be happy with something close. I made it for her as a surprise and she was thrilled. She loved it but kept saying the noodles were not as delicate as they should be. Any idea what I may have done wrong to make the dough tougher then it should have been? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Beth it’s very impressive that you tried to do this Garlic noodles dish π it is a very extreme garlic dish and not many folks go for it.. anyway regarding the noodles, the way to have them delicate and tender is to serve them immediately after boiling them.. If they’re left a while they tend to harden at least that’s my experience with them. If this is not the reason on your end, perhaps you may want to try to boil them a bit less?
The difference between your ma3kroun and ours is that
first: we don’t use potatoes; we get the thick sauce from the flour that we sprinkle over the ma3kroun while we’re preparing them so they won’t stick to each other.
Second: we don’t strain the ma3kroun after boiling because we like the extra thick sauce to be eaten with pita bread or “khibiz saj” while it’s still hot…yummy!
Third: we mix the garlic, lemon juice, olive oil combination with the ma3kroun while it’s still cooking on very low heat for about five minutes.
Finally, to give this dish extra flavor, and this is optional each person adds some sour grape juice (hamoud ilhousroum) on his/her plate.
I’m sure it’s the same taste but the preparation is different.
And you’re right about “city dwellers tend to shy away from” some of them don’t even know about this dish. what a shame, their loss i guess π
Wow what an interesting method of making it – we should definitely try your way of Ma3roun b toom one day thank you SO much for sharing!
This is comfort food with a capital “C” wow, look forward to reeking of garlic with a smile on my face!
Love this recipe! I will be trying it out very soon! Love garlic, the more the better! Looks like this confirms my theory that Arabs are the original pasta makers!
Wow! That an interesting new way to do “Ma3kroun bi toum”
I’m a Lebanese from a town not very far from Bkarkasha but our Ma3kroun is made a totally different way.
I’m going to give it a try.
By the way I love your website and all these recipes that take back to childhood memories…
Keep up the good work π
Rabia
Hi Rabia – Thank you for your note and we’d love to learn how you and other towns do your version of Ma3kroun bi Toum π this is such a great dish
Love Lebanese food and do cook it once in a while. But wow, the noodles will be a refreshing addition to my practice of Lebanese cooking. I will follow ur recipe this weekend (this came right on point since I was searching for original cooking recipes for this weekend). Thanks
This Garlic noodle recipe is truly unique to Lebanon I haven’t seen anything so intense in garlic anywhere else. I hope you’ll like it and we’d love to hear your feedback after you’ve tried it.