So her cookbook Palestine on a Plate is a homage to her family.
''These are old recipes that were created with love in a very different time to those we live today.''
She learned to cook from her Palestinian parents, whose families fled Lod and Safed during Israel's War of Independence.
Kalla was born in Qatar and grew up in London with her extended family, but the food they ate was always traditionally Palestinian.
Along with a section explaining common arabic ingredients there are recipes for the vegetarian and meat eaters. There are also sections for sweets and breakfast dishes.
The book provides an interesting insight into Kalla's life, politics and food.
Photos supplied.
Fattet hummus - traditional breakfast hummus
Fattet Hummus is one of my favourite types of dish - it is warm, hearty, packed with a tangy zing of garlic and brings back the comfort of home every time.
This type of dish is usually eaten during Ramadan but it is also often enjoyed for breakfast on a Friday, or for a Sunday lunch.
This dish is enjoyed hot and should be eaten as soon as it's made, otherwise the bread will go soggy.
My mum made this often at home - there was always a scramble to get your spoon in first to make sure you got the crunchy bread at the bottom.
But in all honesty the softer bread tastes sublime too - full of the yoghurt, lemon and tahini flavour. Chickpeas are packed with iron, zinc and protein, making them an excellent choice for non-meat eaters to get their daily burst of much-needed energy and vitamins.
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
150ml tahini
375ml Greek yoghurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 green chilli, finely chopped
juice of 2 lemons
4 Khubez (pita bread), cut into diamond shapes
olive oil, for drizzling
a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
paprika, for sprinkling
1 pomegranate, seeded
100g toasted pine nuts
sea salt and black pepper
fresh mint leaves, to garnish
For the hummus:
2 x 400g tin of chickpeas
juice of 2 lemons
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon sea salt
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C fan (or 200C normal bake).
Mix the tahini with the yoghurt, garlic, chilli and lemon juice. Season to taste.
Drizzle the pita bread pieces with oil and place them on a baking tray. Toast in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden.
Now make the hummus. In a saucepan, warm the chickpeas with the liquid from the tins until they are heated through. Strain, but reserve the cooking liquid.
Put half the chickpeas in a blender with the rest of the hummus ingredients and blitz to a smooth paste. Add this to the tahini/yoghurt mixture.
Place the toasted bread in a serving bowl, adding 120ml of the reserved chickpea cooking liquid and three-quarters of the remaining chickpeas.
Pour over one-quarter of the hummus and yoghurt mix and combine it all together until all of the bread is covered and coated. Top with the rest of the yoghurt and hummus mix.
Decorate with chopped parsley, paprika, pomegranate seeds, the remaining chickpeas and the toasted pine nuts. Drizzle with olive oil, garnish with mint and serve.
Tips: Make sure you have all the ingredients prepared and ready before you begin as this dish needs to be put together quite quickly once the bread and liquid have been combined.
I use tinned chickpeas to make this dish faster to prepare as it has so many components to it, but you can use dried chickpeas if preferred.
Khubez pita bread
Is there anything more satisfying than making your own bread? I think not. Auntie Dunia is the pastry queen in my family and this is her recipe.
We eat this type of bread all over the Middle East. The breads can vary in thickness but generally this is our staple version.
This recipe is extremely easy to make and can easily be doubled to make a larger quantity.
Keep an eye on the breads during baking - don't bake for too long otherwise the breads will be too crunchy and lose their softness.
Serves 8
Ingredients
7g instant yeast
240ml tepid/warm water
1 teaspoon golden caster sugar
400g plain flour
50ml olive oil, plus
extra for oiling
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C fan bake (240C normal bake).
Mix the yeast and warm water together in a large bowl. Leave for a couple of minutes and then add the sugar and stir through.
Add the flour and olive oil and knead together until you have a smooth doughy consistency that bounces back. This should take 6-8 minutes.
Leave the dough in an oiled bowl for about 1 hour until it has risen.
Once risen, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape them into nice balls.
Lay them on a baking tray and leave to rise for another 10 minutes.
Once risen, flatten each ball with a rolling pin (not too thin), lay on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until the pitas have puffed up.
Serve, dipping into some olive oil and za'atar if liked. These will keep for a few days if sealed in an airtight container.
