by Anissa Helou
Sea salt
FOR THE SAUCE
¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
1 medium onion (5 ounces/150 g), finely chopped
1 small green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
1 cup (200 g) tomato paste
2 medium tomatoes (7 ounces/200 g total), processed into a puree
Sea salt
1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce
Finely ground black pepper
TO FINISH
2 medium wedges green cabbage
2 small turnips, peeled and quartered
4 Japanese eggplants (7 ounces/200 g total), halved lengthwise
½ butternut squash, peeled and cut into medium chunks
1 small yuca (cassava) root, about 3 inches (7.5 cm) long, peeled and cut into chunks
1 large carrot, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into chunks
Salt and finely ground black pepper
3½ ounces (100 g) okra, trimmed
1 teaspoon seedless tamarind paste
1 cup (200 g) bomba rice, rinsed and soaked for 30 minutes in lightly salted water
2 limes, cut into wedges
1. To make the rof: In Senegal, rof is made in a mortar and pestle, but it’s easier and quicker to use a food processor. Put all the ingredients for the rof in a food processor and pulse a few times until you have a coarsely chopped mixture.
2. To prepare the fish: Pat the fish dry inside and out with paper towels, then lightly rub them with salt, again inside and out. Make 2 diagonal slits on one side of each fish and place a little rof in the slits. Put the fish on a large platter and spread the remaining rof over them. Let marinate while you prepare the sauce.
3. To make the sauce: Heat the vegetable oil in a large deep sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, tomato paste, and pureed tomatoes and stir for a minute or so, then reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring regularly, for about 15 minutes, or until the onion and pepper have softened and the tomato sauce has changed color.
4. Add 2½ cups (625 ml) water and salt to taste and mix well. Increase the heat to medium-low and let the sauce bubble gently for about 30 minutes, until you see a little oil rising to the surface.
5. Stir in the Scotch bonnet, fish sauce, and black pepper to taste, then slip the fish into the sauce and let simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the fish is done to your liking. Carefully remove the fish to a platter and keep warm.
6. To finish: Add the cabbage, turnips, eggplants, squash, yuca, and carrot to the sauté pan and season with salt and more pepper to taste. Bring back to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and let simmer, covered for 15 minutes. Add the okra and tamarind paste and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until all the vegetables are firm-tender.
7. With a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a platter. Spoon a little of the sauce over the vegetables, also over the fish. Keep both warm in a low oven or by covering them with foil while you cook the rice.
8. Return the sauce in the sauté pan to medium heat. Drain the rice and stir into the sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer the rice for 10 minutes, or until it has absorbed all the sauce and is tender.
9. Transfer the rice to a large serving platter. Lay the fish in the middle and arrange the vegetables all over the rice. Serve hot with the lime wedges.
NOTE: Rof is the Senegalese equivalent of Italian gremolata, a mildly spicy herb paste made with onion, garlic, and parsley that is used to flavor fish by inserting it into deep slits made in the fish.
Spicy Baby Shark
JASHEED
QATAR | UNITED ARAB EMIRATES | BAHRAIN
Jasheed is a typical dish from the Arabian Gulf, made with baby shark, which is plentiful in the Gulf. If you can’t find baby shark, use Atlantic mackerel or Pacific halibut and prepare in the same way. Be careful not to let the fish dry out as you cook it. I tried it in many different places and only once did I have it moist, in a totally unpromising café in Fujairah, one of the seven emirates. The café was attached to a catering kitchen where we had been filming for my “The Chef Discovers” show that aired on Abu Dhabi TV several years ago. The chef was showing my co-presenter, the poet Tarek El Mehyas, and me how to prepare various Emirati dishes including jasheed, and the owner invited us to taste his dishes. His jasheed was by far the best I had tried and the following recipe approximates his. Jasheed is normally served with rice, but it is also lovely wrapped in pita bread, or spread over toasted bread to have an Arabian version of bruschetta.
SERVES 4 TO 6
FOR THE FISH
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
4 black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
2 green cardamom pods
2¼ pounds (1 kg) baby shark fillets (or mackerel or halibut)
Sea salt
FOR THE SAUCE
2 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter
1 medium onion (5 ounces/150 g), finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced to a fine paste
3 pale dried limes, halved
½ bunch cilantro (3½ ounces/100 g), most of the bottom stems discarded, finely chopped
1 small green chili, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons b’zar semach (Arabian Fish Spice Mixture)
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
Sea salt
White rice garnished with crispy fried onions or Pita Bread, for serving
1. To prepare the fish. Put the turmeric, peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, and 3 cups (750 ml) water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Add the fish and salt to taste and let bubble gently for 20 minutes, or until the skin peels off the fish easily. Drain well. Skin the fish and flake it into small pieces.
2. To make the sauce: Melt the ghee in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté, stirring regularly, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and dried lime and sauté for a minute or so. Add the cilantro and sliced chili, then the flaked fish and mix well. Cook until the mixture is fairly dry, then add the b’zar semach, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, and salt to taste. Reduce the heat to low and cook for a few more minutes, or until there is no liquid in the pan. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve with rice or wrapped in a pita.
Emirati Fish in an Onion and Tomato Sauce
SEMACH AL HASHO
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Traditionally, this dish is served with the muhammar (Sweet Savory Rice). Gulf cooks normally use whole safi (emperor or rabbit fish), a kind of flatfish with a firm flesh, for this recipe, but I doubt you will find safi outside the Gulf. So, I suggest you use whole sea bream. If you prefer not to have to deal with the skin and bones of whole fish, use fish fillets or steaks. Swordfish would also work well here, as would monkfish or cod.
SERVES 4
4 whole sea bream or pomfrets (about 10½ ounces/300 g each), or 2¼ pounds (1 kg) fish fillets or steaks
Sea salt
FOR THE SAUCE
4 tablespoons ghee or unsalted butter
3 large onions (1 pound 5 ounces/600 g total), halved lengthwise and cut into thin wedges
3 medium tomatoes (10½ ounces/300 g total), thinly sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon b’zar semach (Arabian Fish Spice Mixture)
1 tablespoon golden raisins, soaked for a couple of hours in hot water and drained
Sea salt
Vegetable oil, for pan-frying the fish
Sweet Savory Rice, for serving
1. Pat the fish dry with paper towels and lightly rub with salt inside and out. Let sit while you make the sauce.
2. To make the sauce: Melt the ghee in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook, stirring regularly, until soft and golden, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, tomato
paste, b’zar semach, and drained golden raisins. Add ½ cup (125 ml) water and season with salt to taste. Cook for about 15 minutes, until the tomatoes have softened and you have a nice thick sauce. Take off the heat.
3. Set a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet. Place a large skillet over medium heat and pour in enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom. Heat the oil over medium heat until hot (to test it, drop a piece of bread in the oil; if it immediately bubbles around it, it is ready). Slip in the fish and fry for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until crisp and golden and just done. Transfer to the wire rack to drain off any excess oil. In between batches, wipe the pan clean and add more oil.
4. To finish, slip the fish into the sauce and return the pan to the heat. Let the sauce bubble for a few minutes. Serve hot with the rice.
Spices, Spice Mixtures & Spice Pastes
The Arabs had control over the spice trade long before the advent of Islam, and they kept this control after they converted to Islam, using the trade to start spreading their new religion beyond Arab lands along the spice trade routes. The spice trade was their main vehicle for spreading Islam—the other was violent conquest, although this was more in the early days. And when the Prophet Muhammad came into conflict with the powerful Quraish tribe in Mecca, who were people of his own family, it was a commercial relationship, again through the spice trade, that led the people of Medina (then known as Yathrib) to extend an invitation to the Prophet to take refuge with them.
Later, after Muhammad died and was succeeded by the Rashidun (meaning “rightly guided caliphs”), the Arabs expanded their trade and spices became even more important commodities. Not only were they not perishable and easy to carry over long distances, but spices were also very sought after, both for the taste they imparted to food and the fact that some spices could be used to preserve food.
Spices and spice mixtures are essential to the cooking in practically the entire Muslim world, whether in Asia, Africa, or Europe. Almost every Muslim majority country has its own spice mixtures, with some being very complex—like the Moroccan ras el-hanout with more than twenty-five spices in the mixture—to others such as the Tunisian b’harat, which is simply two spices, one of them being a fragrant flower. Each country can be associated with one or more spices. No dish in the Arabian Gulf would be complete without cardamom, whereas the Levant’s flavors are cinnamon, allspice, and black pepper. You wouldn’t find a kitchen in Iran without a stock of saffron, nor one in Morocco for that matter; many of these countries’ dishes are infused with the unmistakable taste of saffron. Ginger could be considered the flavor of India and Pakistan, not to mention the amazing garam masalas that are used to enhance both rice dishes and curries, as well as side dishes and the fillings in samosas. Chili is the spice of Indonesia, Malaysia, and most of Muslim Africa.
In this chapter, I give recipes for essential spice mixtures, condiments, and sauces.
Lebanese 7-Spice Mixture
SABE’ BHARAT
LEBANON
This is a Lebanese/Syrian mixture that varies slightly from one spice merchant to another, or from one butcher to another—many like to make their own—and even from family to family if they make their own. You can buy it premade, either in a package or loose from a mahmassa (which translates as “roaster,” but is a term to describe spice merchants), where they roast, grind, and mix their own spices. Obviously the one from a mahmassa will be better and fresher than prepacked commercial brands even if some of these are pretty good. You can also mix your own following the recipe below, which is my mother’s, or have the spice merchant prepare the mixture to your own recipe. In prewar Aleppo, I used to buy Lena Antaki’s Syrian 7-spice mixture from one of the Hilali spice merchants in the old souk, sadly completely destroyed now. I never wrote down her recipe, but it is headier than the Lebanese mixture and I remember it including galangal, and actually being made with more than seven spices.
MAKES ABOUT ¼ CUP (25 G)
1 tablespoon finely ground black pepper
1 tablespoon ground allspice
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Mix all the spices well in a medium bowl. Transfer to an airtight container and store away from both heat and light.
Dried Herb and Bulgur Mixture
TAHWICHEH OR KAMMOUNEH
LEBANON
Kammouneh (meaning “made with cumin”) or tahwicheh (meaning “foraged”) is more of an herb and spice mixture than just a spice mixture. It is specific to south Lebanon and, when prepared with fresh herbs such as marjoram, basil, mint, and parsley, it is known as tahwicheh while, when made with dried herbs, it is known as kammouneh. Both mixtures also include dried rosebuds, spices, bulgur, and onions. The mixture can be used as a spread over ground meat, or it can be mixed with the meat. When the tahwicheh or kammouneh is spread over the ground meat, the dish is known as malseh and when mixed in, it is known as kibbeh frakeh.
MAKES ABOUT 2 CUPS (250 G)
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 small onion (3½ ounces/100 g), quartered
¼ bunch flat-leaf parsley (2 ounces/50 g), bottom stems discarded
1 ounce (30 g) marjoram, leaves stripped off the stems
Small handful of basil leaves, plus more for garnish
Small handful of mint leaves
2 dried rosebuds, petals only
Zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
Zest of ½ unwaxed orange
½ cup (100 g) fine bulgur, rinsed under cold water and drained
Sea salt and finely ground black pepper
Put the cumin seeds, onion, herbs, and rosebuds in a food processor and process until very fine. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the lemon and orange zest and bulgur. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Store in a cool dark place in a hermetically sealed jar. Use with minced meat as explained below.
NOTE: The quantities I give above are enough for 10½ ounces (300 g) freshly ground lean lamb. (And please don’t buy preground meat, which will be too fatty. Also, you will not know which cut has been used.) Ideally, the meat to use for kibbeh should come from the top part of the leg. You can ask your butcher to mince it for you or if you have a meat grinder, you can mince it yourself using the fine attachment on the meat grinder and passing the meat twice through it. Once you have minced the meat, put it in a food processor, add salt to taste and 3 or 4 ice cubes, and process for a few seconds to make the meat really smooth. Scoop it out and spread on a platter. Spread the tahwicheh over the meat, leaving the edges free for malseh, or mix it with the meat and spread the mixture on a platter for frakeh. It is very important that you do either immediately before serving as the minced meat will change color very quickly and become less pink.
Garam Masala
INDIA | PAKISTAN | BANGLADESH
Garam masala is the spice mix Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis use in their cooking. There are many different garam masalas. In fact, most cooks keep their spices in a beautiful round box inside which are individual containers for each spice, and whenever they cook, they have the box at hand to use as much of each spice as they need to make their own mix. Here, I give three versions to use to your taste. There isn’t that much difference among them, just a change in proportions and a few extra spices from one to the other. They can be used interchangeably in the recipes calling for garam masala depending on which mix you like best. The method is the same for all three in that you need to toast the spices before grinding them. I keep all three and alternate their use depending on what I feel like on the day.
GARAM MASALA 1
MAKES ABOUT 1¼ CUPS (125 G)
¼ cup (25 g) anise seeds
¼ cup (25 g) caraway seeds
¼ cup (25 g) cumin seeds
2 tablespoons green cardamom pods
2 tablespoons whole cloves
2½ cinnamon sticks
2½ whole nutmegs
6 shards blade mace
GARAM MASALA 2
MAKES ABOUT ¼ CUP (25 G)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon whole cloves
12 green cardamom pods
6 black cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
½ whole nutmeg
2 shards blade mace
6 bay leaves
GARAM MASALA 3
MAKES ABOUT 3 CUPS (300 G)
⅔ cup (50 g) green cardamom pods
½ cup (50 g) cumin seeds
½ cup (50 g) fennel seeds
⅓ cup (25 g) black cardamom pods
⅓ cup (25 g) whole cloves
⅓ cup (50 g) black peppercorns
1 tablespoon whole cubeb pepper
⅓ cup (25 g) black stone flower or patthar ke phool (see Glossary)
3 cinnamon sticks
1 whole nutmeg
5 shards blade mace
5 bay leaves
Stir the spices in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat for a minute or two, or until fragrant. Let cool, then transfer to a spice grinder and grind until fine. Store airtight in a glass jar and keep in a cool dark place for up to one year.
Indian Biryani Masala
INDIA
This masala recipe is used specifically in biryanis.
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP (100 G)
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon black cumin seeds (shahi jeera)
1½ teaspoons whole cloves
¾ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
3 green cardamom pods
1 black cardamom pod
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise
½ whole nutmeg
2 shards blade mace