cook this: 3 recipes from hello, home cooking, including an egyptian twist on focaccia
8 minute read
clockwise from top left: author ham el-waylly, pork chops and tomatillo nam pla prik, 'better than boursin' dip and focaccia baladi. author photo by sohla el-waylly/food photos by laura murray
our cookbook of the week is hello, home cooking by ham el-waylly.
jump to the recipes: ‘better than boursin‘ dip, focaccia baladi, and pork chops and tomatillo nam pla prik.
ham el-waylly found inspiration for his cookbook debut, hello, home cooking (clarkson potter, 2026), in his late mother’s notebook, with “bleached-blonde-era madonna” on the cover and all her favourite recipes inside.
“it was the core motivator for writing the book,” says el-waylly, a chef, restaurant consultant, recipe developer and video creator based in new york city. “i’d completely forgotten about home cooking and how powerful it was emotionally. it’s not just putting food on the table at home. it means a lot more, especially when you’re making things that have a lot of emotional weight to them.”
born and raised in doha, qatar, with a mother from bolivia and a father from a village outside cairo, el-waylly draws on a range of influences in hello, home cooking. as a professional chef, he had found fine dining to be all-consuming. it took the forced break of the pandemic for him to embrace home cooking and revisit the foods of his upbringing.
reading his mother’s notebook reawakened the desire to cook at home and made him realize how meaningful it can be. “it’s the most powerful way to reminisce. i read through that more than i look through any photo album or anything else, just because the memories of the things in there are so vivid that i feel like it reawakens memories better than any photo can.”
hello, home cooking is ham el-waylly’s cookbook debut.
clarkson potter
a return to home cooking also involved putting a stop to certain restaurant habits, such as “making way, way, way too much food.” he and his wife, sohla el-waylly, a fellow culinary creator, writer and video producer, have a toddler, which has deepened el-waylly’s understanding of home cooking even further.
advertisement
“ever since having my daughter, now, i really understand what home cooking is, because it’s a completely different ballgame. there are three meals that need to happen, no matter what, every day. they need to contain a certain amount of protein and fibre, and you need to be able to do it with a toddler yelling at you in the corner.”
the first recipe el-waylly made out of his mother’s notebook was her cheese empanadas — one of the few bolivian recipes she could make with local ingredients in doha. he recalls that she would make them when she was homesick, as a way to connect with her family and culture back home.
“whenever we’d come home, and we’d see a basket of the cheese empanadas on the table, it was delicious, and it was great, but it meant a lot more than that. and so, i’ve started making them, and i hope that one day, when my daughter’s feeling homesick, she can look at a basket of empanadas that she made and feel comfort.”
featuring his influences in hello, home cooking, and having people respond positively, has given el-waylly a new appreciation for how he grew up eating. “i’ve always been proud of where i grew up, and of all the different cultures that make me, me. but i never really thought about the food side of that a lot, which is weird because i think about food all the time. now, since writing this book and since seeing the positive reaction to all the dishes in there, it’s really heartwarming.”
better than boursin
boursin was a standard cheese in the el-waylly household — until ham el-waylly created this dip. “i wanted one that was smoother, a little bit lighter, had a little bit more tang, and then labneh that’s lightened up with a little bit of whipped cream got us there.”
laura murray
makes: 2 cups
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup labneh, room temperature
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
1/4 cup chopped dill
1/4 cup chopped chives
1 garlic clove, finely grated
kosher salt
extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish
1/2 cup labneh, room temperature
1/4 cup chopped parsley leaves
1/4 cup chopped dill
1/4 cup chopped chives
1 garlic clove, finely grated
kosher salt
extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish
step 1
in a medium bowl, add the cream and whisk until you have soft peaks (when the peaks of the cream droop only at the tip when you lift your whisk). be careful not to overwhip. gently whisk the labneh into the cream in three additions, until fully combined. using a spatula, fold in the parsley, dill, chives, garlic, and a pinch of salt until evenly distributed. taste and adjust the seasoning with more salt as needed.
advertisement
step 2
transfer to a bowl to serve and garnish with a drizzle of oil on top.
p.s. if herbs aren’t your thing, you can season the whipped labneh in any direction. you can even sweeten it with honey or maple syrup and fold in some vanilla and lemon zest. serve it with graham crackers for an instant cheesecake-ish dip.
focaccia baladi
“it has this lovely, satisfying chew because the hydration is so high. and my favourite part is that it definitely feels like you’re eating a version of aish baladi, which is egypt’s national bread,” ham el-waylly says of focaccia baladi.
laura murray
makes: 1 loaf
scant 3 cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups (200 g) whole wheat bread flour
1 tbsp (15 g) extra-virgin olive oil
4 1/2 tsp (15 g) kosher salt
scant 2 1/2 tsp (8 g) instant yeast
1 2/3 cups (200 g) whole wheat bread flour
1 tbsp (15 g) extra-virgin olive oil
4 1/2 tsp (15 g) kosher salt
scant 2 1/2 tsp (8 g) instant yeast
for baking:
2/3 cup (160 g) extra-virgin olive oil
4 tbsp (55 g) wheat germ
flaky salt, for sprinkling
2/3 cup (160 g) extra-virgin olive oil
4 tbsp (55 g) wheat germ
flaky salt, for sprinkling
step 1
in a large container with a tight-fitting lid or in a large bowl, combine the flours, oil, kosher salt, yeast and 2 2/3 cups (630 g) room-temperature water. stir with a spatula until no dry spots of flour remain. cover the container with the lid or the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 20 minutes.
step 2
after 20 minutes, uncover the dough. rub some of the oil on your fingers and place them underneath one corner of the dough. lift and pull the dough to the opposite corner. repeat with all four corners. repeat the process with all four corners one more time. cover the dough again and let it sit for 20 minutes. repeat this process folding all the corners twice every 20 minutes) three more times for a total of five complete rounds (the total rest time is 1 hour 40 minutes).
step 3
place the dough in the fridge and let it sit for 2 whole days. (i know. i’m sorry. come on this focaccia journey with me.)
step 4
pour 1/2 cup of the oil into a 9 x 13-inch metal baking pan and swirl to coat, making sure to get all the edges. sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the wheat germ along the bottom of the pan and slide the cold dough on top. press the dough down and outward with stiff fingertips to fill the pan as much as possible. (there may be some empty corners.) cover the pan with a towel and leave it in a warm place to proof until it is slightly poofy and has filled the pan, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
advertisement
step 5
preheat the oven to 500f (260c).
step 6
use stiff fingers to press into the dough, creating uniform dimples across the surface. top with the remaining oil and the remaining 2 tablespoons wheat germ. season with a sprinkle of flaky salt. bake the focaccia until the top is deeply golden brown, charred in spots, and crunchy all along the base, about 30 minutes.
step 7
transfer to a wire rack to rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
pork chops and tomatillo nam pla prik
the combination of fish sauce, lime juice and sugar in the thai- and mexican-inspired sauce for these pork chops “can’t be beat,” says ham el-waylly. “it’s just it’s so perfectly balanced. it’s so addictively delicious. you just can’t stop.”
laura murray
serves: 3 or 4
4 to 5 tomatillos (about 8 oz/227 g)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes), plus more as needed
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup sugar, dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water
1/2 cup cilantro, tender leaves and stems, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (packed) mint leaves, roughly torn
4 thai red bird’s-eye chilies, thinly sliced into rings (or fewer if you can’t handle spice)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
kosher salt
2 bone-in pork chops (each about 1 1/2 inches/4 cm thick; a total of 2 3/4 lb/1.25 kg)
2 tbsp neutral oil
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 4 limes), plus more as needed
1/2 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup sugar, dissolved in 3 tbsp hot water
1/2 cup cilantro, tender leaves and stems, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (packed) mint leaves, roughly torn
4 thai red bird’s-eye chilies, thinly sliced into rings (or fewer if you can’t handle spice)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
kosher salt
2 bone-in pork chops (each about 1 1/2 inches/4 cm thick; a total of 2 3/4 lb/1.25 kg)
2 tbsp neutral oil
for serving:
4 persian cucumbers, cut into spears
2 heads little gem lettuce, leaves picked
1 lime, cut into wedges
4 persian cucumbers, cut into spears
2 heads little gem lettuce, leaves picked
1 lime, cut into wedges
step 1
turn the oven to its highest broil setting. line a sheet pan with aluminum foil.
step 2
peel the tomatillos and rinse off the sticky residue. place the tomatillos on the sheet pan and broil until they are charred and soft, about 15 minutes. finely chop or blend until smooth.
step 3
in a medium bowl, whisk together the tomatillos, lime juice, fish sauce, and sugar syrup until well combined. add the cilantro, mint, chilies, garlic, and shallot. taste and adjust the seasoning with salt or more lime juice as needed. if you want it spicier, add another chili, tough guy. cover and transfer to the fridge until the pork is cooked and rested.
step 4
turn down the oven to 300f (150c). pat the pork chops dry with paper towels and aggressively season both sides with salt. place a heavy, medium skillet over medium-low heat and heat until it’s hot and lightly smoking.
advertisement
step 5
add the oil to the pan. increase the heat to medium-high and add the chops. press down firmly to ensure maximum contact with the pan. if you have some kind of press, this would be your big moment to use it. flip the pork chops every minute until they are golden-brown on both sides, about 6 minutes total.
step 6
check temperature, if not at desired temp (see note), transfer to oven to finish cooking.
step 7
transfer the pork chops to a cutting board and let rest for at least 6 minutes. slice the pork chops against the grain and transfer to a serving platter. spoon some of the sauce over the pork chops and serve the rest on the side. serve the cucumber spears, lettuce, and lime wedges on another plate. make lettuce wraps if you want. live a little.
note: pork should be cooked to an internal temperature of 155f (68c) and rested to a final internal temperature of 160f (71c), according to health canada.
recipes and images excerpted from hello, home cooking, copyright ©2026 by ham el-waylly. photographs copyright ©2026 by laura murray. published by clarkson potter/publishers, an imprint of the crown publishing group, a division of penguin random house llc.
our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our cookbook and recipe newsletter, cook this, here.
share story
