Recipes with Photos inside!
If your family is anything like mine, the winter holiday season has always involved gathering in the kitchen for an extravaganza of cozy cooking, eating, and entertaining. I like to bring something new to our holiday menus each year.
This season, I will be experimenting with the Arabian flavours of the Mediterranean’s North African and Middle Eastern coasts.
I was recently invited to a lunch with a chef specialised in the Levant Kitchen. The food was so delicious and unique, a brand new blend of flavours for my palate. The dishes were abundant with ingredients such as dandelion greens, pomegranate, beetroot, mint and dates - many of which I have growing in my Med Garden - and new-to-me combinations of spices and grains.
In case you were wondering, yes you read correctly, Dandelion greens! I can’t say I had ever knowingly tried these, so I Googled it: Cooked Dandelion root (or Chicory) is tossed with lemon and olive oil and topped with caramelized onions for the delicious Lebanese vegan dish known as Hindbeh - Link to recipe below!
This taste-bud opening lunch experience got me thinking about how I could bring more of the Arabian and Middle Eastern Mediterranean flavours into my Mediterranean & Metabolic diet recipes. In this blog I share what I have learned so far.
Read on for primer on Arabian cuisine and links to the Arabian-Mediterranean recipes I am trying out this holiday season!
How Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines converge
The flavours of the Mediterranean diet include Epicurean traditions from Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon as well as exotic influences from the Arabian countries of the Middle East.
The Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions’ geographical proximity has cultivated delicious blends of cuisines over centuries. Similar climate zones and native ingredients have led to similar diets that heavily feature vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and nutritious fats from olive oils, nuts, and seeds, as well as less red meat than many other cultures. Staple ingredients in common include: olive oil, chickpeas, pomegranate, eggplant, cucumber, parsley, cumin, and mint.
Both cuisines are known for their flavourful herbs and spices. The Middle East leans toward warm, earthy spices like harissa, anise, caraway, sumac, saffron, cardamom, and turmeric, as well as spice blends like Za’atar. Mediterranean cuisine uses more sweet and aromatic herbs and spices, such as oregano, thyme, basil, coriander, paprika, fennel, tarragon, sage, and rosemary.
Middle Eastern cuisine also favours the abundant use of healthy legumes for its proteins — such as lentils and beans. Distinguishing its cuisine from the Mediterranean diet, Middle Eastern diets feature diverse grains like bulgur wheat, rice, barley, and wheat berries. You see this in traditional meals like Mujaddara "cooked lentils and rice with caramelized onions and herbs" - link to recipe below!
Arabian-Mediterranean spices to add to your Med Food pantry
There are many new flavours and variations of spice and ingredient combinations in Arabian recipes. I note here two distinct and new-to me spice blends that stood out - and that I am adding to my Med Food pantry:
Za’atar (a thyme herb blend) is a spice mixture that includes toasted sesame seeds, oregano, dried sumac and thyme. It’s extremely fragrant and nutty and can be used in a wide variety of recipes. Use za’atar on salads, on scrambled eggs, or, simply mixed with olive oil as a dip with bread.
Sumac (crushed sour berries) is used in many Middle Eastern dishes to provide a bright and slightly sour flavour to dishes. Sumac’s citrus-like flavour is similar to lemon zest, and therfore can be used in many of the same dishes.
5+ Arabian-Mediterranean recipes to try this holiday season!
Immediately following my lunch with chef Maryam, I wanted to learn how to do-it-myself! I did some digging and found some recipes online that seemed to loosely match the ingredients that I experienced at that glorious lunch by chef Maryam - Links to the recipes I found below - with photos!
1. Roast Beetroot and Brazil-Nut Salad - with Feta & Mint add
By Donna Hay at donnahay.com.au
Chef Maryam’s signature salad featured beetroot mixed with cheese, nuts, a medley of greens and mint. It was divine!
Before that moment I was not too hot on beetroot. But after tasting it in this salad, roasted and blended with the cheese, nuts and mint, I had to have more beetroot!
As I am new to Arabian-Mediterranean recipes, I found this one at my go-to-favourite recipe website, Donna Hay.
Shout out: I have loved Donna Hay's recipes for years. They never disappoint with flavour, and are super easy to follow - JLM recommended!
Find Donna Hay's Roast Beetroot and Brazil-Nut Salad recipe here! I added feta cheese and mint to get closer to what I remember from Chef Maryam's salad.
For a variation, I found this recipe as well from Zahlir Restaurant in Australia: rocket leaves, beetroot, spanish onion, sumac, and walnuts with fresh lemon juice & olive oil.
2. Shakshuka "Turkish Eggs in Tomato Sauce"
By Einat Admony at Epicurious.com
I didn't try this dish at chef Maryam's lunch, but I recognized it on the menu from earlier days that I had spent in Turkey. It is a glorious blend of eggs, tomato and spice. I hadn't seen this dish on a menu in years - Just seeing it on the menu made me want to try to cook it for breakfast the next day!
When I went searching for a recipe I landed on another favourite recipe website, Epicurious - the recipe website of Gourmet & Bon Apetit magazines.
Epicurious says about this about the Shakshuka recipe: "Make our easy shakshuka for a comforting brunch. Vary this dish by flavouring the simple tomato sauce with whatever you have to hand - curry powder, pesto or fresh herbs"
3. Mujaddara "Cooked lentils & rice with caramelized onions & herbs"
By Suzy Karadsheh @Themediterraneandish
This rice and lentil dish came highly recommended by chef Maryam for my vegetarian lunch companion - When anything is recommended by the chef, I have to try it too! The chef was right. This dish was aromatic with a hint of spice. The caramelized onions and herbs served on top blended perfectly with the rice and lentil comfort flavours to create delicious simplicity.
I suspect the lentils were LePuy, a special variety of lentil with a peppery flavour.
When searching for this recipe, I found a recipe website for Mediterranean cooking that I hadn't seen before, The Mediterranean Dish.
I'm always up for trying new things and found this recipe to be excellent! Find Suzy's Mujaddara recipe here @Themediterraneandish
For a variation I found this recipe also from Zahlir Restaurant: lentil & rice pilaf, topped with crispy fried onion, served with mixed garden salad - I really need to check out Zahlir when next in Australia!
4. Hindbeh with Chicken & Rice "Chicken & dandelion greens in broth"
By Sonoko Sakai at LAtimes.com
After tasting what chef Maryam could do with rice and lentils, my main dish came next. I had asked to try a chicken dish.
What arrived was a clay pot which opened to a burst of aromas and vibrant greens with pink seeds (which turned out to be pomegranate seeds) soaking up a warm broth. There was some shredded chicken in there too, but this was not any chicken soup! This dish was spicy, warm and full of unique flavours!
This was my introduction to dandelion greens or Hindbeh, and just like that I had a new recipe ingredient muse.
I did not find dandelion greens or Hindbeh in my initial search of my favourite recipe websites.
However, a broader Google search found this recipe written up in the LA Times, Rice with Chicken and Dandelion Greens - find the recipe here.
5. Hummus 3-ways & Baba ghanoush "Smoky eggplant puree"
By Donna Hay at donnahay.com.au
Garlicy Hummus and smoky Baba ghanoush may not be new to many of you. But I have to say, a must for Arabian-Mediterranean flavours. They are the perfect addition as an appetizer or in between courses snacking for your Arabian-Mediterranean menu.
The smoky flavours of Baba ghanoush taste of a cozy outdoor fire - you may remember from my previous Med Food blog that I love to BBQ, and so I skipped the store-bought Baba ghanoush, and had to try to make my own, DIY!
Donna Hay has many delicious Hummus variation recipes here - when you are looking for spicy, savoury, sweet or a combo of all of the above!
Fire up the BBQ and make your own Baba ghanoush dish with Donna Hay's recipe, Grilled Eggplant with Halloumi and smoky Baba ghanoush here.
For desert, although there was an impressive selection of options, we chose to opt for just a coffee - after filling up on chef Maryam's mastery. In the end the coffee came with delightful home-made date cookies.
This was the perfect toping on an unforgettable meal.
I look forward to experimenting much more Arabian-Mediterranean flavours, ingredients and recipes this holiday season. I’ll keep you posted on which ones turn out to be the family favourites!
If you find yourself in Dubai, be sure to drop into chef Maryam’s Michelin guide restaurant, Bait Maryam Levant Kitchen - it is a culinary experience that you won't want to miss!
Share your favourite Arabian-Mediterranean recipes in the comments below!
Jade
Lewon
Med
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