Traditional Arabic poultry dishes. National cuisine of the UAE
The United Arab Emirates is a truly cosmopolitan country where tourists from all over the world flock to see the local attractions. The country has noticeably increased its status as a rapidly developing region.
Apart from the sights to see, you can enjoy traditional delicious food all over the country. Whichever place you choose: , or Ras Al Khaimah, do not miss the opportunity to taste their best cuisine.
If you do a little research on the cuisine, you will find that the traditional dishes of this country have a rich and unique taste. Lots of spices will remind you of Indian cuisine.
Traditional dishes are prepared with rice, fish and meat as the main ingredients. Arabs eat sheep and goat meat. Meanwhile, in special cases For example, on Ait (Muslim holiday) and for weddings, festive dishes are prepared from camel meat. However, this traditional dish is served in restaurants for tourists and visitors all year round.
The following 5 must-try dishes include:
Stuffed Camel
Stuffed camel is one of the most amazing dishes in... It was included in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the largest dishes in the world. It is usually served at weddings in elite families. The main ingredients are a whole camel, one lamb, 20 chickens, boiled eggs, fish and rice.
To prepare this dish, the camel is stuffed with basic ingredients. So, one of the most amazing dishes you can taste around the globe is roasted camel.
Al Harees
Al Harith is a famous dish in the UAE with a very exotic taste. It is made from meat and wheat. This is a simple and elegant dish that requires few ingredients but a long cooking time. This dish is usually served during Ramadan, weddings and festivals, etc.
Wheat and meat with a pinch of salt are thrown into boiling water and cooked for several hours until all the ingredients turn into a homogeneous paste, which is then cooked in a covered clay pot over coals almost overnight.
This dish has a simple salty taste and rich aroma of meat and wheat. Add other spices to enhance the flavor according to your taste preferences. Al Haris is served by first pouring ghee on a flat plate.
Shawarma
Most often we can see shawarma being eaten in this country. Similarly, shawarma has become popular in Asian countries. All restaurants serve this dish differently. Typically, garlic sauce, pickles, potatoes and tomatoes are wrapped in Arabic roti (dough). This dish is more like a kebab.
The taste and preparation method vary from place to place. However, despite all this, the demand and popularity for shawarma has never fallen. In the UAE, shawarma is usually ordered with a special fruit drink made from strawberries and banana.
Al Machboos
Al Mahboos is also a very popular and traditional dish in the UAE. The basic ingredients are rice, meat, onion and dried lemon (Lumi). Other seasonings use spices and salt.
To prepare this dish, all the ingredients are boiled until they are tender. The meat is then separated and the rice is added to the remaining mixture. The meat is then added back to the rice and vegetable mixture and cooked for two hours. This dish is the best in the Gulf region.
Hummus
Hummus isn't really a dish at all, it's more of a well-known puree made from chickpeas (chickpeas), olive oil, lemon juice, tahini paste, salt and garlic. It is served with other dishes such as shawarma or pita bread. It is also a wonderful snack with a truly unique taste.
Top 5 dishes will add flavor and fun to your trip. Be sure to go out for dinner if you visit the UAE.
Arabic cuisine includes cuisines from the Middle East as well as the Arabian Peninsula. Many experts argue that in order to become more familiar with the features of traditional Arabic cuisine, there is no need to go to any expensive restaurants. It is enough to visit a cafe or look into a street tent. Here you can find a variety of lunches as well as snacks.
Arab national cuisine is oversaturated with a variety of delicacies, which are characterized by quite unusual tastes and aromas. No dish will be identical to another.
If you decide to visit the United Arab Emirates, it's worth trying a little of everything to see what you like best and what you can cook when you get home.
On the site you will find various step-by-step photo recipes that explain how to prepare this or that dish of Arabic cuisine with your own hands at home.
Recipes with photos
- Homemade pita
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Dzhezerye carrot candies -
Beef up your sleeve -
Eggplants with minced meat in a frying pan -
Lamb with beans -
Kebbe
Features of national dishes of Arab cuisine
The peculiarity of the national dishes of Arab cuisine is that it has a huge number of different recipes for products where the main ingredient is rice, since the Arabs are very fond of this product. Also widely popular here are first courses (harira, beyzar), snacks (falafel, manakish), as well as fish (bricks) and meat (biryani, haris) delicacies.
It is worth clarifying that the cooking of Arab countries is conventionally divided into cuisines:
- Arabian. This cuisine is replete with legumes (lentils, beans), milk (camel, goat), rice, bakery products(flatbread) and dates. On ordinary days, Bedouins very rarely eat meat products. This product is usually served only on major holidays. If someone has a baby or is planning a wedding, then, according to tradition, in honor of the occasion, the whole goat is baked and served along with boiled rice.
- Mediterranean. Includes Maghreb cooking. This cuisine is famous for the fact that aromatic spices such as saffron, cumin, cinnamon, black red pepper, and ginger are added to almost every dish. In addition, fish and seafood are very often eaten in the Maghreb. The Maghreb people also prefer to eat soups and stews. The most famous and popular first dish is harira, made from lentils.
- Syrian. Syrian cuisine is famous for its well-known shawarma, which requires special preparation. You need to grease the warm flatbread with butter or yogurt, and then just spread the filling. In addition, the cuisine of the Syrian people is characterized by the fact that to create any delicacy, the ingredients must be cut finely. Vegetables are mostly stuffed. Local residents also love to consume grains and olive oil. Some products undergo several relatively complex cooking steps. What is noteworthy is that food in Syrian cuisine, unlike other Arabic ones, is not very spicy and greasy. There are no side dishes or soups as such. Most delicacies are a mix. To make various products, fermented milk drinks are often used, for example, lyabne, which is a thick yogurt, which is seasoned with olive oil, pickled cheese and mint. In addition, Syrian cuisine is rich in a variety of desserts (baklava, sherbet). The most famous delicacy is kunafa - a dough with nuts, cheese or cream, sprinkled with syrup.
The culinary masterpieces of the Arab states (Libya, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria and Iraq) differ from each other and at the same time have several similar features, namely the use of the same products, as well as the same methods of preparing similar products . By the way, some of them are prepared identically, differing only in the name. For example, an Iraqi delicacy called “kuzi” is called “haruf bir-rizz” in Syrian cuisine, but in the cities of the Maghreb this product is known as “couscous”. That's why experts talk about a common national Arab cuisine.
Traditional Arabic cuisine is characterized by the fact that it often uses lamb as a meat ingredient. In addition, Arabs eat poultry, but rarely eat veal. Due to the fact that Islam is widespread in Arab countries, pork is prohibited from being eaten.
The highlight of Arab cuisine is the specific heat treatment of food. Most meat delicacies are made without the use of fat. To do this, the frying pan is heated strongly (up to about three hundred degrees), then meat pieces are laid out, which, touching the heated surface of the container, are covered with a thin golden crust at lightning speed. By the way, this crust prevents the meat juice from evaporating. Due to this, the meat always turns out incredibly tender and juicy. Sometimes pieces of meat are first fried in a dry, well-heated frying pan, and then fried in fat. Arabs like to serve boiled rice and stewed or fried vegetables as a side dish for meat.
Also in Arab cuisine, a special place is occupied by cheeses (somewhat reminiscent of feta cheese), eggs and fermented milk products.
As for diet, most people in Arab countries prefer to eat twice a day. Breakfast must be hearty, lunch comes before or after the sun sets.
Lunch on holidays usually begins with berries such as melon or watermelon. After this, bintas-sakhn (sweet dough, topped with butter and honey), boiled meat with spicy sauce, or lamb are served. At the end of the meal, broth is always served. For snacks they eat fresh or pickled vegetables, game, watermelon seeds, nuts and much more. In addition, it is customary to serve helba (a spicy sauce containing seasonings and mustard) for lunch.
It is worth noting that during the feast you need to eat only right hand and only those products that are offered by the owner of the house.
In many Saudi Arabian cuisine recipes, fruits are found, in particular dates, which play an important role, as well as grain crops. This fruit is often used to make a paste that can be stored for twelve months. In rare cases, date paste is combined with barley flour. Also, the Arab people prefer to eat sun-dried or dried dates.
Secrets of preparing homemade products: soups and main dishes
There are not too many secrets to preparing homemade items such as soups and main dishes. As for hot dishes, the Arab people prefer to eat soups cooked in meat broth, which also include rice, potatoes, beans, capers or peas.
The technology for preparing soups implies the following. Before sending the meat to cook, the product is fried in a frying pan without adding fat, then completely filled with cool water and left to cook until fully cooked. Prepared vegetables are placed in already prepared and filtered broth.
It is worth noting that soups should definitely be served with kubbe (a flatbread stuffed with meat, made from dark flour coarse) or several varieties of sambusa (triangle-shaped pies). Each type will have its own filling:
cheese is placed in the jabna;
Lyakhma uses meat filling;
spinach is used in sabeneh;
the khudar is stuffed with vegetables.
Among the traditional main dishes, meat and fish delicacies, as well as seafood, stand out.
For example, chefs can dry fish, bake it on the grill, or cook it in the form of a kebab. Vegetables are often a side dish for fish delicacies. Hot spices and spicy sauces will add a zest to the taste. In Arabic cuisine restaurants you may be offered to try barracuda, lobster, shark, tuna, as well as various types of shrimp.
Meat products are not inferior to fish. In national Arab cuisine there are quite a lot of different recipes for making dishes from veal, lamb, chicken and other, more exotic types of meat. Mostly tourists coming to the United Arab Emirates first of all want to try kebab. This dish is quite popular in Arabic cuisine, and the locals really like it. The product can be cooked different ways. However, the taste of the finished product will always be excellent. Sometimes kebab is made from several types of meat. Arabs love to cook classic recipe lamb kebab marinated in lemon juice and herbs. What is noteworthy is that such a fried dish without the use of fat requires a special sauce.
Also, in addition to seasonings, almonds, raisins and figs can be added to meat products.
Don’t forget that pilaf made from rice and lamb meat is quite popular in this cuisine. It also contains almonds, figs and raisins.
In addition, burgul is quite often prepared - this is a porridge made from corn, which is either poured with sour milk or served at the table along with small pieces of meat.
Traditional salads, desserts, sauces and snacks
Traditional salads, desserts, sauces and snacks of national Arab cuisine are characterized by excellent taste and a fairly simple recipe. Among the desserts, the most popular and widely sought after are:
baklava ( puff pastry with nuts, sprinkled with syrup);
halva (made from seeds, granulated sugar and nuts);
candied fruits (fruits that are boiled in sugar syrup).
In addition, in Arab cuisine there are recipes for creating pies with various fillings, pies with cheese, nuts or raisins, candied fruit, honey, and cream donuts.
Another favorite sweet delicacy of the Arabs is dates, dipped in honey or chocolate. Flatbreads are often prepared from such fruits and eaten together with butter.
Among the traditional snacks of Arab cuisine, meze stands out, which is a set of various tasty and quite appetizing snacks. A huge round dish is served on the table, which is divided into several small cells. Corn or corn are often placed in such compartments. wheat porridge, several varieties of vegetable salads with the addition of chopped parsley, triangular pies with meat, cheese or vegetables, mutabal or baba ganoush, nut-garlic paste.
Salads in home Arab cuisine are made from a wide variety of products (vegetables, fruits, meat). At the same time, they can be either light (almost dietary) or quite filling.
Traditional sauces in Arabic cuisine can be both spicy and not very spicy. The famous one is helba sauce, made from mustard, red pepper and aromatic spices. Local residents also use vegetables, yogurt with lard, and tomatoes to prepare this product.
On our website you can find a variety of recipes with photographs for preparing appetizers, salads, sauces and desserts of Arabic cuisine.
Arabic drinks
Arabic drinks can be either alcoholic or non-alcoholic. Among the latter, an important role is played by coffee, which the Arabs prepare according to a special recipe. Initially, coffee beans are roasted, which must be stirred regularly with a metal rod. After this, the fried grains are crushed in a mortar. Coffee is brewed in brass or copper containers that look like a teapot. Then the brewed coffee is poured into cups and served to guests according to seniority. It is customary for guests of honor to be served a hot drink three times, after which they must generously thank and refuse. Traditional Arabic coffee is consumed without adding granulated sugar. However, it may contain cardamom or cloves.
Locals also like to drink after eating meat dishes. green tea, which is brewed with mint or sage.
This kitchen also prepares a milkshake with grated banana called “muz bi-l-laban.” The Arabs claim that this drink, although light, is quite filling.
A traditional alcoholic drink in Arab cuisine is arak (anise-flavored vodka), which was originally made from dates, and then the drink was made from rice and grapes. Arak is poured into glasses surrounded by ice. Then water and honey are added to the drink. When it comes into contact with water, arak becomes cloudy, acquiring a milky hue. When the drink is drunk, a residue will remain on the walls of the container. Therefore, for a new portion of alcohol, you should take a clean glass that has been cooled in advance.
Recommendations on what to try upon arrival in the United Arab Emirates will help you decide which dishes you want to eat first from the national Arab cuisine. Below is a list of the most popular and widely sought after dishes that are prepared in this country.
Name of the dish | What it is? |
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Fish delicacies |
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Meat products |
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First meal |
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Of course, the table does not give the entire list of dishes that are present in the national Arab cuisine. You can get acquainted with its flavor only while visiting the country.
On our website you will find a huge number step by step recipes with photos that describe the preparation of various delicacies inherent in Arab cuisine, which you can easily make yourself at home.
The culinary traditions of any nation fully reflect its culture, religion and history. National Arab cuisine is a very broad concept that combines the common culinary features of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
The formation of the Arabic cuisine menu was not only influenced by Islam - the main religion for all these countries, which prohibits the consumption of alcohol and cooking from “unclean meat” pork. In addition, geography also played a significant role - the generous southern sun gave the Arab peoples a rich selection of vegetables and fruits, and the scarcity of freshwater bodies - rivers and lakes - limited the consumption of fish. Travelers who have visited the East know from their own experience how few fish dishes are included in traditional Arab cuisine - and even then only in areas adjacent to the sea.
When it comes to the meat from which Arabic cuisine is prepared, many mistakenly believe that we are talking about lamb. Indeed, due to special natural conditions, it was sheep breeding that became widespread in this region, and many religious holidays require the obligatory sacrifice of a lamb, the dishes from which then end up on the festive table. But everyday Arabic cuisine, recipes with photographs of which are on the website, also uses goat meat and poultry. More expensive veal is much less common in oriental cuisine.
Another myth is soups. It is believed that in the east they do not know and do not know how to cook first courses. This misconception is based, first of all, on the different ideas about soups among northern and southern peoples. Arab cuisine really does not abound in soups - their recipes are very simple. All of them are prepared on the basis of rich meat or vegetable broths, almost always with the addition of beans, peas, chickpeas or cereals. The low popularity of soups, of course, is also associated with Muslim traditions - Allah commanded to take food with your hands, which in this case is quite problematic. Therefore, initially the first course was a rich broth in which large pieces of meat were cooked. The meat was taken out and could be picked up with your hands, and the broth was drunk from special bowls.
Arabian spices
Without exception, all Arabic cuisine, recipes with photos of the most exotic and at the same time easy-to-prepare dishes can be found on our website, is replete with spices. All varieties and varieties of pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron, cumin, cloves - in the East they do not recognize the European approach to cooking, when one taste predominates in a dish, and all other ingredients create only the basis for its sound. This “economical” principle, according to the Arabs, seems boring and insipid to them. Authentic Arabic cuisine, the recipes of which sometimes include dozens of different spices, is an explosion of taste. It is no coincidence that it is customary here to add not just one spice to a dish, but mixtures of them - seasonings. The most popular among them are baharat and za'atar.
Features of Arabic cuisine
Arabic cuisine is far from the spiciest - it is seriously inferior to Asian cuisine in this regard, but it is definitely the most aromatic and... the sweetest! Not only are they bursting with delicious desserts... festive tables, but also the most everyday ones. Whenever you visit an Arab, you will certainly be offered coffee or tea and seated at a table full of candied or dried fruits, halva, puddings and other things. Moreover, all this is prepared with an incredible amount of sugar and honey, and when finished, it is also sprinkled with powdered sugar or poured over with syrup.
It is difficult to say where Arabs have such a love for sweets, but perhaps this, like many other features of Arab cuisine, is associated with the ban on alcohol. Since religion already prohibits feasts with wine, in the East real feasts are organized for those with a sweet tooth.
Situated at the crossroads of Africa and Asia, Egypt has a lot to offer that is delicious and original. Egyptian cuisine has incorporated dishes from other eastern countries; Egyptian chefs have adapted recipes from Turkish, Lebanese, Syrian and Greek cuisines to suit Egyptian tastes. Simple national dishes are prepared with plenty of fresh and ripe fruits and vegetables, and seasoned with a small amount of spices, although Egyptian dishes are rarely spicy.
Every meal is accompanied by bread, which is called “aish”. Traditional bread "aish baladi" (Baladi bread) is a round and fragrant flatbread made from wholemeal flour, rolled in ground wheat. It is split in half, like Greek pita, and filled with various fillings. And of course, it is an integral part of mezze - snacks that you can order in many restaurants. Dip slices of bread in baba ghannuugh (eggplant dip with olive oil and garlic), hummus (chickpea paste) and tahina (chickpea paste). sesame seeds) Then try cold or hot wara inab - grape leaf rolls stuffed with minced meat and rice. And have a bite different salads: torshi (pickled vegetable salad) and tabulah (bulgur salad, parsley, tomatoes and onions, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil). Perhaps after such appetizers, the remaining dishes will not be ordered.
Along with bread, the daily diet includes legumes, fuul. They are prepared in different ways, for example in fuul midamess, when the beans are boiled with vegetables and bean puree is made with tomatoes, onions and spices. This dish is served with an egg for breakfast, and without an egg for lunch or dinner. You can buy Fuul bread from stalls on the street.
Chickpeas and beans are included in many national dishes, they are ground or mashed into a paste and added to tahini and hummus with lots of garlic.
There is no Egyptian lunch without rice and bread. Most Egyptians use meat for... large quantities, and cook it with vegetables or serve with rice. With lamb or beef they make torly, a vegetable goulash with onions, marjoram and lemon juice. Kofta is very popular - meatballs made from minced meat with spices and onions, which are put on skewers and served with traditional side dishes: rice, lentils, herbs, tomato salad, tahini sauce and bread.
Thanks to the proximity of the Red Sea, Egyptian cuisine offers a wide variety of fish dishes. The most common dish in restaurants is assorted fish. There are a lot of specialized fish restaurants. In addition to the usual snapper, try shrimp (hambari), squid (calamari), scallops (gandofli) and eel (ti"baan). Tender deep-fried eel meat can be easily purchased from street vendors.
Rice and vegetables
Rice is often cooked with nuts, onions and vegetables. In Egyptian cuisine, it is customary to stuff green leafy vegetables with various mixtures with rice, for example, wara inab - rolls of grape leaves stuffed with a mixture of spiced rice and a small amount of minced meat. A traditional salad, unchanged for the Egyptian table, is chopped tomatoes, coriander, mint, some green hot peppers and onions, dressed with garlic oil. The Egyptian dish mussaka is also prepared with eggplant, which is the main ingredient of baba ganoush: fried eggplant is layered with minced meat, sprinkled with cheese and baked. Recipes often use okra, white and cauliflower and potatoes, for example, stewed with tomatoes and garlic.
Hamaam - grilled pigeon stuffed with rice - is considered a national delicacy. They are specially grown in different parts of Egypt. Since pigeons are small, you need to order several at once, but they are difficult to eat, like any small bird. The most delicious pigeons are prepared in small local restaurants.
Egyptian desserts are usually drowned in honey syrup. Baklava (filo rolls with nuts and honey) is the least sweet of all desserts. You'll also find fatir pancakes with fillings ranging from eggs to apricots, and the extremely sweet basbousa dessert, made from semolina dough, soaked in honey and sprinkled with hazelnuts. At the end of dinner, many homes and restaurants serve fresh fruit: fresh figs, dates (of which there are more than 200 different varieties and sizes), oranges and pomegranates.
Coffee has always been and remains a national tradition - local residents often gather in cafes to drink coffee and discuss last news, play backgammon and listen to Egyptian music.
A special treat is fruit juices. Small shop owners often mix fruit juices with ice and sugar syrup to create a delicious hot weather drink.
As in any Muslim country, alcohol is not welcome and is very expensive for tourists. However, Stella, the local beer, has a mild taste and comes in large bottles, ideal to quench your thirst in this hot country.
Wine cream and papyrus.
Take a few eggs, break them, mix with melted honey and fresh grape juice. Boil red wine and mix with all ingredients. Then beat everything until foamy. Finally, add the pomegranate seeds.
The recipe belongs to the ancient Egyptians and is written on papyrus.
Some Egyptian names of dishes and products:
Tahini - sesame seed paste
Babaghanoush - eggplant puree with olive oil and garlic
Ta"ameya - cutlets with a side dish of beans
Kofta – minced lamb or beef cutlets
Kebab - well-marinated lamb or beef, grilled on skewers
Kalaoui - fried kidneys
Mayya ma"daniyya - water
Ahwa - coffee
Baklava - phyllo dough rolls stuffed with nuts and honey
Hamaam - pigeons
Torly - vegetable goulash with onions, potatoes, beans and peas
Hummus - chickpea paste
Fuul - thick bean sauce
Aish or aysh - Egyptian bread
Arabic cuisine is a phenomenon inherent in the entire vast “Arab continent” from Morocco to the Gulf, due to common culture and religion. Islam defines food prohibitions (primarily pork, blood, alcohol), influences the diet (food intake is regulated in the holy month of Ramadan, there are culinary traditions regarding the birth of a child, his circumcision and other important events), the manner of eating oneself and treat guests (the prophet commanded to eat with hands). However, each country has its own characteristics due to the presence or absence of certain products, outside influences and other reasons.
Not so long ago, the main food products for the Bedouins of Arabia were dates, bread, milk (camel and goat), yogurt and cream produced from it, and imported rice. Meat was rarely used, mainly on holidays and special occasions (weddings, births, etc.).
In this case, a whole sheep or goat was baked with spices and almonds and served on a pile of boiled rice. There were virtually no vegetables in the diet. Today, due to the influx of emigrants from other Arab countries, Lebanese cuisine, especially meze, has become very popular. Most Arabic dishes served in Dubai restaurants are essentially Lebanese.
The cuisine of the peoples of various Arab countries, despite some differences, has many common features. A characteristic common feature of Arab national cuisine is the use of lamb, veal, goat meat, poultry, legumes, rice, vegetables and fruits, fresh, dried or dried. Dishes from fish, eggs, fermented milk products(especially cheese reminiscent of feta cheese) occupy a special place. Arabic cuisine is unthinkable without spices and seasonings - onions, garlic, red and black pepper, cinnamon, aromatic herbs, olives.
Olive oil is used primarily for cooking, although it is typical to cook many meat dishes without using any fat at all. The meat is fried in a frying pan heated to 300ºС. The crust formed during such frying retains the meat juice, and the prepared dish will be especially tender and juicy.
Many peoples of Arab countries eat twice a day. With two meals a day, they eat a very hearty breakfast in the morning, and an equally hearty lunch quite late in the evening. Vegetables and potatoes are not eaten boiled. They eat only white bread. Fish is eaten fried, baked or pickled. Many Arabs do not like caviar, salmon, salmon, and balyk. Muslim Arabs do not eat pork.
The most popular first courses are meat soups with beans and rice, green beans, capers, and peas. Most soups in Arabic cuisine are prepared with meat broth prepared in a special way. Before cooking the broth, the meat is fried in a large piece without fat, and then poured with cold water and cooked until cooked. Vegetables are added to the prepared and strained broth.
The second course is usually meat or poultry, stewed or fried, or pilaf. Raisins, figs, almonds, spices, and hot seasonings are often added to meat dishes. Thus, a dish of young lamb stuffed with rice, raisins, almonds and spices is especially popular among Yemenis, as well as spicy helba sauce made from red pepper, mustard and aromatic herbs, which is an indispensable component of the table.
The favorite national dishes of the people of Iraq are pilaf made from lamb and rice, to which raisins, figs, almonds are usually added, as well as yakhni, a meat dish with spicy seasonings. In Syria and Lebanon, traditional meat dishes are qubbah - fried or boiled balls of meat, fish, various seasonings, yakhni with vegetables.
Various fresh and pickled vegetables are used as snacks: olives, tomatoes, peppers, etc., as well as nuts, watermelon seeds, dates.
A common dish among many Arab peoples is corn porridge - burgul, which can be poured with sour milk or served with small pieces of meat. Sweet dishes - widely known halva and candied fruits. Drinks include sour milk, tea, and, of course, coffee, which is usually drunk without sugar, but with added spices.
Coffee is a traditional Arabic drink, and the process of preparing it is often a complex procedure, usually associated with receiving guests. In Saudi Arabia, for example, coffee is prepared as follows. First, roast the grains, stirring them with a small metal stick. The coffee is then manually ground in a mortar, while trying to maintain a certain rhythm. To brew coffee, special copper or brass vessels of three sizes are used, somewhat reminiscent of teapots. When serving coffee to guests, a certain procedure is also followed.
Ready-made coffee is served to guests in cups, in order of seniority. The guest of honor is served coffee three times, after which, according to the rules of decency, it is customary to thank and refuse. As already mentioned, coffee is usually drunk unsweetened. In Saudi Arabia, it is customary to add cloves and cardamom as spices, and in Iraq, saffron and nutmeg are added to coffee. But in Yemen, a country that supplies the world's best coffee, the national drink is not coffee, but ghishr - a decoction of coffee husks. This drink tastes like coffee mixed with tea. This drink is brewed in a small clay jug, and when it is ready, sugar and sometimes spices are added.
The statement of one Arab scholar that “the Arabs live on dates, bread, rice and milk” is true if applied only to the most “purebred” Arabs, who still continue the life of Bedouin nomads in the desert. Indeed, the cuisine of those dashing horsemen, whose troops once conquered the lands of three continents - Asia, Europe and Africa, was extremely unpretentious.
Bread was a sign of luxury, and meat was prepared on major holidays and on the occasion of receiving guests. The food of today's inhabitants of Arab countries is very refined, because many dishes are inherited from ancient, already extinct civilizations that existed on this land long before the arrival of the Arabs. Arab gastronomes could not escape the influence of their neighbors: the Persians, Indians and Ottoman Turks, whose empire included most of the Arab lands for 400 years.
Of course, we can talk about Arab cuisine as a general phenomenon inherent in the entire “Arab continent”. After all, both culture and language from Morocco to the Persian Gulf have common roots. For over a thousand years, this sense of unity has not been tested by borders. To some extent, the “general tone” was set by the religion common to all Arabs - Islam, and the tradition associated with it (Sharia).
In any case, Islam determined food prohibitions (primarily: pork, blood, alcohol), influenced the diet (meal intake during the holy month of Ramadan and other holidays is regulated; and there are also culinary traditions regarding the birth of a child, his circumcision and other vital events), the manner of eating yourself and treating guests (the Prophet Muhammad commanded to eat with his hands).
A cook who planned to repeat someone else's recipe had two main obstacles. Firstly, the prestige of the dish. In Baghdad, it’s unlikely that anyone would have the idea of repeating food that is far from Moroccan. Anyone who wanted to try what the caliphs were treated to had to bring what it was made from. And this was the second obstacle. That is why Arab cuisine can still be divided into three zones.
Let's call them, say, Mediterranean, Syrian and Arabian. All contain, of course, unpretentious and satisfying Bedouin versions of dishes such as boiled rice or cereal with pieces of lamb, which differ mainly in name: kuzi in Iraq, kharuf bi-r-rizz in Syria, couscous in the Maghreb (that is, in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco). But everyone has something to be proud of.
The most famous is Syro-Lebanese cuisine. We are familiar with it from the stalls selling shawarma - pieces of meat roasted on a spit, wrapped in a flatbread. True, shawarma on our streets is not always made according to all laws.
The flatbread must first be heated and greased with a special sauce made from tender lard and yogurt, with thinly chopped salted vegetables and herbs placed inside. Not to mention the fact that the flatbread should be special... uh, whatever! To taste real shawarma, you need to go to Syria.
A hearty breakfast before work is unpopular among Syrians; they prefer to have a hearty snack at 10-11 o'clock, already at work. At this time, the central streets of cities and corridors are filled with boys serving simple food on trays: bread, without a lot of which the Arab table; olives or black olives; sour cottage cheese (lyabne), scrambled eggs, eggplants stuffed with nuts (makdus); soft sheep cheese; boiled beans in olive oil. There are almost no spicy dishes in Syrian cuisine; special seasonings are more valued here, giving them a special taste and aroma. Every self-respecting city has at least a small spicy market, where the abundance of strange potions and strong odors can easily make a European dizzy.
Lunch time depends on the arrival of the head of the family. Most Syrians sit down to eat between 2 and 5 p.m. In Syria it is not customary to cook anything on a quick fix from semi-finished products: most Syrian women do not work, so men have the right to expect a full and varied lunch from them.
Many dishes are triple cooked. Even something as simple as tabbouleh. To those who find themselves at the Arab table for the first time, this food will seem prosaic: finely chopped parsley, mint, tomatoes and onions mixed with wheat cereal, lemon juice and olive oil. But soon you will be in a hurry to put in more of it for yourself first.
Tabbouleh is part of the traditional Syrian meze appetizer. A real meze consists of 60 dishes, each of which is served on a separate plate. Of course, it’s not easy to taste a real “mezeshka” with such extravagant elements as raw minced young goat or hearts of palm - whether in a restaurant or at a party. A stripped-down version is in use - from 10-15 items, but even here food lovers have something to amuse themselves with.
To the European eye, dishes that resemble either semolina porridge, or window putty. They are called: one - hommos bitahin - grated peas seasoned with lemon, garlic, olive oil and ground sesame seeds; the other is mutabbal - eggplant puree, seasoned with the same. It is recommended to take both “putties” with a piece of flatbread - it’s tastier.
You have already guessed that those who are invited as Arab guests should refrain from eating anything at least a day before the visit. After all, before the rich meze there will definitely be a long conversation with nuts and carrots cut into strips (for the appetite), and after the meze - first hot barak pies with meat, cheese and spy kubbe pies made from coarse wheat flour, with meat, and inside there is a filling of meat, nuts, and so on), and then hot dishes that it’s simply a shame not to try. Of course, on the table there may be only shish kebab (cut smaller than ours and with pieces of delicious fat tail fat) or kebab (even stuffed with liver, herbs and tomatoes).
However, if the hostess wants to be talked about for at least a few days after this evening, she will go for something more refined, such as kusa sheikh mashi - zucchini stuffed with fried meat and onions, stewed in yogurt. The appearance of this dish invariably evokes in guests a feeling of deep respect for the one who prepared it, because everyone knows: in order for the yogurt not to curdle, it must be constantly stirred, without even looking up from the stove for a second.
Unlike Europe, where the concept of “side dish” exists, in southern cuisine everything is combined into one. Some dishes in this regard are simply examples of eclecticism. Like fetta, for example. Fetta prepares like this. Soak one and a half glasses of large yellow dry peas, after 12 hours they are thoroughly washed and set to boil, adding a little soda. During this time, cut a flatbread fried in melted butter into small pieces, lay the pieces on the bottom of a deep plate and pour a few tablespoons of water over them. , in which peas were boiled. Then add boiled peas and pour in a mixture of salted yogurt, sesame oil, garlic and lemon juice. When the mixture has soaked the bread, add a little melted butter, finely chopped parsley and pine nuts. And finally, the topmost layer is “formed” from pieces of either meat, or chicken, or brains, or lard, or from all at once.
Maghreb Arab cuisine makes greater use of fish and other seafood. Moreover, it is possible to use products that seem more than exotic, for example, locusts. Good dried locust tastes like the most delicate smoked herring. In Morocco it is called "desert shrimp".
Maghreb cuisine places a higher premium on soups and chowders than in the eastern Mediterranean, and the famous Harira national dish, lentil stew, is a staple menu item during the holy month of Ramadan.
Ramadan is the month of the lunar Arabic calendar, in which the first divine revelations, later collected in the Koran, were sent down to earth through the Prophet Muhammad. The entire month is considered a month of fasting, but Muslim fasting: during daylight hours, a believer cannot eat, drink, or smoke , nor inhale the incense, nor even swallow saliva. But after the cannon signal is given at sunset, it is not forbidden to catch up. Since the entire month is considered one big holiday, with the onset of each night, not just satisfying hunger, but gluttony begins. And every evening the streets of Maghrib cities are filled with the aroma of harira.
In order to cook real, “Ramadan” harira, you need to spend a lot of time. First, finely chopped meat is boiled with bones, pepper, saffron, cinnamon and onion. Lentils are boiled separately, which are then crushed with your fingers and left in the broth. In the third vessel, boil finely chopped tomatoes (or tomato paste) and butter. Then everything is mixed together with flour diluted with two glasses cold water, and again brought to a boil with the addition of lemon juice and finely chopped herbs (parsley, cilantro). Harira is served very hot with dates or cakes - honey or almond shbakia or briuat.
Despite the high cost of foreign drinks, they try to please foreigners at the Arab table with whiskey, gin or vodka that is familiar to them. But a wise person will always prefer to drink what was selected for the local menu by the experience of previous generations. The ancestors of today's Arabs fell in love with arak - vodka with the smell of anise, which they human civilization They learned to make it from dates, and then from grapes and rice. Later, together with Arab warriors, Arak conquered the Mediterranean, and then the Turkish Janissaries brought it to the conquered Balkans. In some places, arak has retained its original name in a somewhat distorted form (Turkish raki and Bulgarian rakiya), and in other places it is called completely differently (Greek ouzu and French “Ricart” and “Pernod”), but here is the original culture of drinking this unusual drink preserved, perhaps, only in the Arab world.
Arak is served in glasses lined with ice. First, pour arrack into a glass, then add about one-third of the water and add ice. Arak mixed with water becomes cloudy and looks like milk. When the toast is made (and the Arabs’ toasts are no more complicated than ours, like: “Well, let’s be healthy”), and the contents are drunk (and, unlike us, you don’t have to drink it all at once), a coating remains on the walls. Therefore, in decent houses, each new portion is poured into fresh glass, cooled with ice.
“Tell me what you eat. And I will tell you who you are,” the Frenchman Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the author of the most famous book of his time, “The Philosophy of Food,” expertly assured about two hundred years ago.
The original homeland of the Arabs is the Arabian Peninsula. For many centuries, the source of the meager diet of the Arab nomads was local Agriculture. Back in the 8th century, they were content with little - they ate dishes made from dates or grains and washed them down with camel milk. But already during the reign of the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258), when the capital of the Arab Caliphate was moved from Damascus to Baghdad, many old customs and habits gradually began to fade into oblivion. Lush feasts, abundant to the point of extravagance, became commonplace for court dignitaries and their numerous servants. For example, when it was too hot, drinks were cooled with ice, which was delivered to their table from distant mountainous regions at great expense.
According to medieval Arab historians, the ruler of Baghdad, Ibn Yusuf, was the first to come up with the idea of using ice to cool drinks. He sent his people for ice to Mount Lebanon and even to the Caucasus. To prevent the ice from melting during the long journey through the desert, it was generously sprinkled with salt and covered with straw. In the 13th century, ice traders appeared on the banks of the Nile.
The precious goods were delivered on specially equipped ships from Lebanon. It was stored in a special building called “sharabkhane” - “beverage warehouse”. Then the ice was delivered to the customers by a special person whose profession was called “tallyag” - “snowman”. Over time, the ice trade grew so much that the “Tallags” even created their own guild. They say that it was these people who invented ice cream, which later conquered the whole world.
Even now, despite the rapid widespread spread of the Western way of life, the gastronomic preferences of the Arabs have not undergone much change and remain almost the same as before. But lunch among modern Arabs is not only the consumption of food, but also a kind of ritual consisting of active communication, as well as adherence to the unwritten laws of Arab etiquette. Of course, all this does not apply to the poor, who swallow their bowl of stew without further ado.
Strict observance of ancient customs primarily concerns the reception of guests. The logic here is this: the guest respected us with his arrival - therefore, we must treat him well. Apparently, this tradition comes from ancient times, when the Arabs roamed the desert, and a random traveler became the most dear guest, because he knew news about neighboring tribes, enemies and friends. They also expect news from the modern guest - reliable and not so reliable, as well as all sorts of entertaining stories. You can start a business conversation over coffee and fruit - otherwise you will offend the owner with your disrespect.
An invitation to the table for an Arab is a manifestation of good manners, friendliness, friendship, and often, especially in the provinces, the guest is served literally everything that is available in the house and the owner does not hesitate to borrow what is missing from his neighbors. Isn't this a familiar situation for us?
Arabs do not have the habit of forcing events by dragging a guest from the threshold to the dining table: good food requires a leisurely and pleasant foreplay. Look, while talking, your appetite will work up, so why rush?
As a rule, spring water and chilled nuts are served before meals. True, water can be replaced by Coca-Cola or Sprite, but this does not change the essence. (As a digression, a small detail. I have more than once been amazed at the skill of the Lebanese to drink water from the neck of a jug without touching it with their lips. The fact is that in almost all “folk” restaurants in the country water is served as a free “dessert” in large glass jugs Apparently, due to the fear of the spread of infectious diseases, the habit of drinking water by pouring it straight down the throat became fashionable here.
Water and nuts are followed by all sorts of salads. There are a lot of greens and it is almost impossible to remember the names of all the dishes. The next important part of the Arabic table is a selection of a wide variety of snacks. These are various bean porridges, pickled or baked eggplants and tomatoes, stuffed peppers and zucchini, pickles, red beets and much, much more. All this abundance is called in Arabic in one word - “mezze”. Even the most ordinary, everyday lunch in an Arab family looks rich due to the large number of these same snacks. (By the way, many peoples of Arab countries eat twice a day: breakfast and lunch before or after sunset, so they are very filling). Another distinctive feature of Arab cuisine is the widespread use of large quantities of various spices: onions, garlic, olives, black and red pepper, cinnamon, aromatic herbs. Used for cooking vegetable oil, mainly olive.
Despite some differences, the cuisines of the peoples of Arab countries (Egypt, Algeria, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Libya) have many common features, from the products they use to the methods of preparing individual dishes. That is why we can talk about a single Arab national cuisine, one of characteristic features which, along with those that I have already mentioned above, is the widespread use of products such as lamb, goat meat, veal, poultry, legumes, rice, vegetables, fresh and canned fruits. A significant place is occupied by dishes from fish, eggs, lactic acid products, especially cheese, reminiscent of feta cheese.
After the appetizers, something “substantial” is served, most often some kind of meat dish. Arabs like to eat meat fried and stewed, supplementing it with a huge amount of vegetables, herbs and various seasonings. Arab cuisine is characterized by heat treatment of meat dishes without the use of fat. In this case, the temperature of the pan during frying is brought to 300°. The whites of the meat, in contact with the hot surface of the frying pan, coagulate and form a crust, which retains the meat juice in the product. Thanks to this cooking method, the dish is especially tender and juicy. Another common method is to first fry the meat in a hot dry frying pan, and then finish frying it in a frying pan with fat.
In Syria and Lebanon, traditional meat dishes are qubbah - fried or boiled balls of meat, fish, various seasonings, spit-roasted lamb, vegetables stuffed with meat, yakhni - stewed meat with vegetables.
Among meat dishes, “shavarma” is undoubtedly considered the most democratic - a tasty and cheap sandwich with meat, which is prepared as follows. In front of the grill, richly flavored with all kinds of spices, a huge piece of meat is slowly spinning. An experienced master, with a deft movement of his hand, using a sharp knife, cuts off fried strips from this piece and, adding herbs and spices, wraps this entire culinary miracle in a warm flatbread. Shawarma is ready to eat. However, many people don’t need to explain what it is. IN last years kiosks with shawarma have appeared in many cities of Russia and now every Russian knows “what they eat it with.” Another thing is that this is not a real one, but an ersatz shawarma, only in appearance reminiscent of its Middle Eastern ancestor. An Arab or Turk would never put one in his mouth, rightly fearing for his delicate stomach.
A common dish among many Arab peoples is wheat or corn porridge - burgul. In Saudi Arabia, burgul is usually topped with sour milk. On special occasions, it is laid out in the form of a pyramid and filled with fat or covered with small pieces of meat. Porridge made from flour mixed with olive oil and capsicum is also popular.
All kinds of fruits have become widespread among the residents of Saudi Arabia, especially dates, which are no less important than grains. They are usually made into a paste that can be stored all year round. This paste is sometimes mixed with barley or other flour. Dried and sun-dried dates are very popular.
Every major Arab city sells European-style bread, but the real, traditional bread is a flatbread called “khubz ‘arabi.” It tastes best immediately after baking - crumbly and fragrant. Then this bread just melts in your mouth. Then, when the flatbread has cooled, it can perfectly replace the spoon and fork. The flatbread also helps in other cases: it is used to cover meat fried on a spit or on a grill so that it does not cool down. Every Arab country has its own favorite type of bread. For example, in Lebanon and Syria, street vendors on their two-wheeled carts carry the local delicacy “mannaish” - bread with thyme, seasoned with marjoram and sesame seeds - round, with a hole in the middle, but empty inside.
Sweets are a special item in Arabic cuisine. Few Arabs will deny themselves these. Maybe for this reason there are so many sick people in the East diabetes mellitus. The entire abundance of oriental confectionery art is simply impossible to describe in words - you have to try it! The craft of a confectioner is considered one of the most popular, and people in this profession often compete to see who can make the most magnificent and beautiful cake or who can prepare the most exquisite cream for cakes. To prepare sweets, all kinds of gifts of nature and the results of human ingenuity are used, but first of all, fruits containing as much sugar as possible, such as dates, apricots, melons or various nuts: pistachios, almonds, cashews.
Of the drinks, Arabs love coffee most of all. It is believed that it came to them from Ethiopia through Yemen only in the Middle Ages. The process of preparing and drinking it is a complex procedure, usually associated with receiving guests. First, roast the beans, stirring them with a small metal stick. Coffee beans are ground in a special mortar in accordance with a certain rhythm. Coffee is brewed in copper and brass vessels of three sizes, similar to teapots.
The finished drink is served in cups in order of seniority. Honored guests are served coffee three times, after which decorum requires thanking the host and refusing the next cup. Neither sugar nor milk is added to the finished Arabic coffee, but saffron, cardamom or orange essence is added. On the Arabian Peninsula they believe: the more cardamom in coffee, the more attentive the host is to the guest.
Arabs drink less tea and brew it dark and strong. It is never served with milk; it is usually sweet and various herbs are often added to the brew. Arabs believe that tea is a medicinal drink that relieves many diseases.
Since Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol, local chefs have come up with many other, no less attractive, tasty and invigorating drinks made from milk, fruits and herbs. For example, in the East, drinks made from coriander with honey or drinks made from almond milk are still popular. “Aitan” and “ayran” are widespread - local variants of Turkic fermented milk drinks. By the way, Turkish dominance is preserved in the names of some Arabic dishes, which sound completely Turkish. For example, “shish-tauk” (chicken kebab), the above-mentioned “aytan” and “airan”, “tatly” (jam), buza, dondurma (ice cream) and others.
Fruit sellers are located on the streets of Beirut, Damascus or Amman. They have juicers and mixers. On a hot day, they will instantly prepare you a drink from anything that is available in the shop: from apples, from huge Middle Eastern plums, from melons... At the request of the buyer, they squeeze juice from the fruit they have chosen, mix it, add a little ice. You can also make carrot juice by adding a little lemon juice.
In the Arab world, there is a popular saying: “Batn malaan, keif tamam,” which loosely means something like this: “He who has a full stomach is always in a great mood.” Therefore, probably, Arabs love to eat well themselves and are masters of treating guests.
