Feast

by Anissa Helou

  KACHNAR

  The flower of the orchid tree, this is used when in season in various dishes including a kachnar curry where the buds are cooked with onion and yogurt and various spices to produce a dish prized not only for its seasonality but also for its health-giving qualities.

  KHOYA/KHOA/MAWA/MALAI

  A dairy product made by boiling full-fat cow or buffalo milk down to the milk solids to become the “ricotta” of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Khoya is sold either as curds or pressed into beautiful cakes that are stamped with the maker’s name. It is used the way we use cream, to enrich both sweet and savory dishes.

  MOGHRABBIYEH

  Mistakenly labeled in the United States as Israeli couscous, the word moghrabbiyeh in Arabic means “from North Africa,” and it describes a large-grain couscous that is known as m’hammsa in Morocco and Tunisia. The large-grain couscous is boiled rather than steamed.

  PALM SUGAR

  Available in different shapes from thick cones to rounded cakes, and different colors from light to dark, palm sugar is the favorite sweetener in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is somewhat less sweet than cane sugar, with a distinctive flavor. You can break palm sugar into small pieces or grate it before using. It is also used in India and Pakistan where it is known as jaggery.

  SUMAC

  Sumac is the dried berries of a shrub, Rhus coriaria (tanner’s or elm-leaved sumach)—not to be confused with other poisonous plants of the same family. The purplish brown berries are harvested at the end of summer and put to dry on the branch in the sun. Once dried, the berries are stripped off the branches, coarsely ground, and sifted to get rid of any stony seeds. The powder ranges in color from deep maroon to a brighter red. Sumac is used to impart a pleasing lemony flavor to salads, stuffings, fried eggs, and grilled fish or meat.

  TAHINI

  “Sesame is also widely cultivated in Syria, where, in preparing the oil, the grain is soaked in water for 24 hours, and then placed in an oblong pot, coated with cement, on which two men work with a hammer of 21 lb. weight. Efforts are not made to mash the kernels. The skins are separated in a tub of water, salted to a degree sufficient to float an egg. The bran sinks, while the kernels remain on the surface. The sesame seeds are now broiled in an oven, and sent to the mill to be ground. From the millstone the oil drops into a jar, and is thick, of a dark yellow color, and sweet. It is used extensively by the poorer classes in place of cheese, syrup, honey, etc., and is popular on account of its saccharin properties.

  Confectionery is made by mixing sesame oil with syrup and other elements.”

  LAW’S GROCER’S MANUAL, © 1892

  The above is one of the best descriptions I have read of the process to make tahini. There are two types of tahini in the West, one dark and the other light, with the latter being what is used in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Palestine. When you are buying tahini, look for the smoothest, creamiest light tahini. The quality differs from brand to brand and it is a good idea to try out different small jars before settling on the one you like best. Tahini separates when left for too long, but all you need to do is to stir the oil back into the creamy part before using.

  TEMPEH

  A typical Indonesian product made by fermenting soybean cakes to make a highly nutritious vegetarian ingredient that is an ideal source of protein. Tempeh cakes come in different shapes with some thicker than others. They are usually cut into slices that are fried and used in salads, soups, and stews.

  VERJUICE

  Verjuice is the sour juice of unripe grapes (hosrum in Arabic), which was traditionally used when lemons were out of season. The sour grapes are juiced, then the juice is boiled down with a little salt and preserved in bottles to use when needed. Commercial verjuice varies in strength from one brand to the other, and the homemade version is a lot more potent than many of the commercial brands.

  ZA’ATAR

  Za’atar is a mixture of dried thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds. The mixture varies from one country to another. In Lebanon, where the primary use of za’atar is for manaqish, a flatbread topped with a blend of za’atar and olive oil, the mixture is made up of just these three ingredients plus a little salt. In Syria, ground roasted chickpeas are added to the mix along with ground fennel and anise, coriander, cumin, and black sunflower seeds. The Jordanians and Palestinians add roasted pistachios to the classic trio of dried thyme, sumac, and sesame seeds for a greener mixture whereas the Syrian mix is reddish in color. The best Syrian za’atar comes from Aleppo, where vendors ask their clients if they want extra sumac and sesame seeds.

  To make your own Lebanese za’atar, mix together 7 ounces (200 g) dried thyme, 3½ ounces (100 g) sumac, and 3½ ounces (100 g) toasted sesame seeds in a medium bowl. Add salt to taste. Put in a large skillet over low heat and stir the mixture until it is warm, about 3 to 5 minutes. This will make the za’atar keep longer. In fact, if stored in an airtight glass jar in a cool dark place, za’atar will keep for months without deteriorating.

  The Lebanese like to mix za’atar with labneh and olive oil, or simply olive oil to make a quick dip, while Syrians serve it as a dry dip, with olive oil in a separate bowl for people to dip bread into before dipping it in the za’atar.

  Za’atar (meaning “thyme” in Arabic) is also eaten fresh, both in Lebanon and Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, but the variety of thyme used (Thymbra spicata) has long, thin smooth leaves and is usually cultivated. The leaves are picked off the stems and used in salads or fillings for savory pies. They are also pickled and you can fry them, tempura-style, dipping them first in a mixture of eggs, flour, and very thinly sliced scallions.

  SPICES

  ANISE SEEDS (YANSOUN)

  Whole or ground, anise is used in baking, and in sweet and savory dishes. It is similar in flavor to fennel seeds, licorice, and star anise, although it is not necessarily interchangeable.

  BLACK STONE FLOWER (KALPASI/PATTHAR KE PHOOL)

  Black stone flower is a type of lichen (Parmotrema perlatum) used as a spice in India. In the Middle East, it is referred to as shebat al ajooz or ishna.

  CARDAMOM (HAL)

  There are two types of cardamom: green (which lightens as it ages) and black. The flavors are very different and they are not interchangeable. Cardamom is an essential spice throughout the Arabian Gulf, often coupled with saffron. You can use it whole, or you can use it ground. For the most intense flavor, grind your own by opening the pod and extracting the seeds. Some recipes call for coarsely ground and others for finely ground, so grind in your mortar or spice grinder accordingly.

  GINGER (ZENJABEEL)

  Minced fresh ginger together with minced garlic are so essential to Indian cooking that you can buy them in the market already minced to save on the preparation. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle or a food processor to mince fresh ginger, grate it against the fine side of a grater, or use a very sharp knife to chop it very finely.

  KASHMIRI PEPPER

  A mild pepper grown in Kashmir. The whole dried peppers are available only when in season, but the powdered form is available all year round. I have bought it very mild, and I have bought it a little less mild. In either case, it is never too fiery and has the most vibrant red hue that colors both curry sauces and rice dishes. I have taken to using it almost universally instead of cayenne pepper.

  MAHLAB/MAHLEP

  Mahlab is the kernel of a wild black cherry and it is used ground to add an interesting, rather mysterious flavor to Lebanese/Syrian biscuits or breads. The grains are small and pear-shaped with a light brown husk and a pale soft core and you can buy it whole or ground.

  MASTIC (MISKEH)

  Often mistakenly referred to as gum arabic, which is a glue, mastic is a resin collected from the Pistacia lentiscus tree native to Greece, Turkey, and other eastern Mediterranean countries. The resin seeps through the bark of the evergreen tree and is harvested in July and August. Gum mastic producers go to the fields very early in the morning and make incisions in
the trees for the resin to seep out, a process called kentima. The transparent resin is then collected and rinsed in barrels. After that, it is spread out and left to dry before being sorted by hand. There are two kinds of mastic. The clear, tiny crystals, which are called dahtilidopetres (flintstones) and the larger, spotted soft ones, which are called kantiles (blisters). The latter is a lesser grade and is normally used for chewing—the resin being a natural chewing gum—while the finer grade is used in cooking in small amounts to impart an exotic taste to some puddings and ice creams and in some cases is also used in savory dishes.

  NIGELLA SEEDS (HABBET AL-BARAKA)

  Often described as black cumin, nigella seeds are used in baking as a garnish throughout the Middle East. They are used in the Syrian/Armenian braided white string cheese called majduleh. Nigella seeds are also used as a spice in Indian and Bengali cooking.

  TURMERIC (’EQDA SAFRAH)

  Ground from the dried rhizomes of Curcuma longa, turmeric is used to both flavor and color dishes in the Arabian Gulf and in South and Southeast Asia. The root is also used fresh.

  SYRUPS, SAUCES, AND PASTES

  CAROB MOLASSES (DIBSS AL-KHARRUB)

  Thick and dark carob molasses is extracted from carob pods. The long pods are picked when dark and ripe and are taken to a special press to extract their juice. Dibss al-kharrub is served with pita bread as a sweet dip and can be eaten alone or mixed with tahini to tone down the sweetness and make it richer. The ripe pods are also chewed on as a sweet snack, a favorite among Mediterranean children, especially when picked straight off the tree.

  DATE SYRUP (DIBSS AL-RUMMAN)

  A syrup extracted from dates, date syrup could be considered the honey of the Arabian Gulf. Drizzled over fritters or used to sweeten rice or cakes, it adds a lovely sweet yet not cloying taste to whatever you are using it with. Some syrups are thick and dark while others are lighter both in color and consistency, and I suggest you use the latter if you can find it.

  KECAP MANIS (INDONESIAN SWEET SOY SAUCE)

  This is a sweet soy sauce that is thicker than regular soy sauce and a lot sweeter because of the palm sugar that is added to the Aspergillus wentii molds that are mixed in with a fermented paste made of boiled soybeans, roasted grain, salt, and water. Spices such as star anise, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, and black pepper are often also added to the sauce.

  POMEGRANATE MOLASSES OR SYRUP

  A ubiquitous seasoning in Syrian and Iranian cooking, pomegranate molasses or syrup is made by boiling down the juice from the seeds of sweet sour pomegranates (called Abu Luffan in Arabic) until it becomes dark and thick. Pomegranate molasses has an intriguing sweet and sour flavor, and it is also used throughout the rest of the Levant.

  TAMARIND (TAMR HINDI)

  Tamarind is a rather sour fruit in the shape of a pod, which grows longer in Asia than in Africa and the West Indies. The pulp is soaked in water and the resulting juice is widely used to impart a tart flavor to a variety of dishes. Pure tamarind juice is sold on the street in countries such as Syria and others in the Middle East.

  TERASI (SHRIMP PASTE)

  Made from small shrimp that are dried and pounded with various spices, shrimp paste is a dense, pungent ingredient that is first heated to release the flavor, then mixed into sambals and various dishes to impart an unmistakable fishy flavor that can be overwhelmingly salty if you use too much. Be sparing in its use and stick to the quantities stated in the recipes.

  OTHER INGREDIENTS

  AKKAWI CHEESE

  This is a semi-fresh white cheese used to make the Lebanese Sweet Cheese “Pie.” If you cannot source it, use mozzarella made with cow’s milk as it is less wet than buffalo mozzarella, and make sure you pat it dry before using.

  ARABIC CLOTTED CREAM (QASHTAH)

  Arabic clotted cream is produced by pouring whole milk in a large shallow pan and placing the pan over low heat with the heat concentrated in one corner where the milk starts bubbling, pushing the skin away. As the skin forms, it is skimmed and placed into plastic buckets like those used for ricotta to let the excess liquid drain away leaving only a very thick layered cream that does not melt when used in dessert making. You need an inordinate amount of milk to produce the cream.

  COCONUT MILK/COCONUT CREAM

  In most countries where coconut milk is used, cooks make it themselves by grating fresh coconuts with a special implement—it is hard to grate coconuts—then adding water and pressing on the pulp to extract the milk. The first pressing produces the creamiest coconut milk, with the second and third pressings producing one that is more diluted. There are different qualities and I suggest you look for coconut cream to use with the recipes in the book.

  WARQA/MALSUQA/BRIK

  This is the North African equivalent of phyllo dough except that warqa (in Morocco, meaning “leaf”) or malsuqa (in Tunisia, meaning “stuck”) is actually very quickly cooked against a hot plate called a tobsil. It is used to make briouats and b’stilla. The commercial version is called brik and it is a lot thicker than that made by specialists. In the recipe for b’stilla, I suggest using fewer sheets than you would with the handmade warqa you can buy in the markets in Morocco.

  UTENSILS AND EQUIPMENT

  MA’MUL MOLDS (TABE’)

  These beautiful molds—traditionally carved out of wood but now also molded from plastic—are used to shape filled cookies that are a mainstay of both Ramadan and Eid. They come in three shapes: a round flat one for date-filled ma’mul, a round domed one for those filled with pistachios or walnuts depending on the region (or even family), and an oval domed one for those also filled with pistachios or walnuts, depending on the region or even the family. The trick to using these molds successfully is in making the cookies the right size so that they completely fit the mold without any overhang.

  SMALL GRINDER FOR SPICES

  Making your own spice mixtures is not only very rewarding but also yields better results than using the ready-packaged spice mixtures—unless you go to a spice vendor who makes his own mixtures (more often than not, they are men; women mix their own spices for home use). So, my suggestion is to buy a small electric coffee grinder that you use only for spices to make your own mixtures, and also to grind single spices for a fresher stock.

  SMALL GRINDER FOR GARLIC, GINGER, AND OTHER FRESH INGREDIENTS

  Get yourself a small electric coffee grinder to grind garlic and ginger and even turmeric, all of which are essential to Indian cooking as well as the cooking of the Arabian Gulf. Or make sure that your food processor comes with a small bowl for these as you mostly need them in smaller quantities.

  MORTAR AND PESTLE

  Most cooks in Indonesia grind chilies and other ingredients for sambal and for peanut sauces in a wide stone or earthenware mortar using a horizontal pestle. Only a few use a food processor. It is not so easy sourcing Indonesian mortars and pestles in the West, but any kind would work if you want to grind your ingredients by hand. And even if traditional cooks don’t like using food processors, there is nothing wrong in you doing so to save time and effort. The result may not be as smooth as grinding the ingredients by hand, but it will be good enough for you to use in any of the recipes here.

  Index

  The pagination of this digital edition does not match the print edition from which the index was created. To locate a specific entry, please use your ebook reader’s search tools.

  Note: Page references in italics indicate photographs.

  A

  Aceh-Style Goat Curry, 154–55, 155

  Advieh, 363

  Afghani Sikh Kebabs, 123

  Afghani Vermicelli Rice I, 238

  Afghani Vermicelli Rice II, 240, 241

  Aleppine Breakfast Porridge, 442

  Algerian Fish Cakes, 330

  Almond(s)

  Afghani Vermicelli Rice I, 238

  Afghani Vermicelli Rice II, 240, 241

  Awadhi Chicken Korma, 150–51, 151

  Carrot Halva, 465

&nb
sp; Cornes de Gazelles, 451–52, 453

  Date Halva, 459

  Dried Fruit and Nuts in Apricot Leather Juice, 443

  Festive Jordanian Lamb in Yogurt over a Bed of Rice and Bread, 176, 177–78

  Fresh, in Yogurt Sauce, 186

  Green, Turkish Pickled, 423

  Iranian Stuffed Whole Lamb, 96–97

  Jeweled Rice, 250–52, 251

  Lebanese Wheat and Mixed Nut Porridge, 497

  Moroccan Pigeon Pie, 36, 37–39

  Moroccan Rice Pudding, 482

  Qatari Chicken and Rice, 216–18, 217

  Spirals, Moroccan, 447

  Sugared, 499

  Sweet Couscous, 271

  Sweet-Savory Couscous with Chicken, 272–73

  Sweet-Savory Lamb Tagine for Eid el-Kbir, 149

  Zanzibari Sweet Noodles, 291

  Aniseed

  Fritters, 492, 493

  Garam Masala, 361

  Apricot Leather Juice, Dried Fruit and Nuts in, 443

  Apricots

  Baked Stuffed Fish, 312

  Dried Fruit and Nuts in Apricot Leather Juice, 443

  Iranian Stuffed Whole Lamb, 96–97

  Turkish Mixed Nut, Dried Fruit, and Legumes Dessert, 494, 495–96

  Arabian Coffee, 505

  Arabian Date Bread, 20

  Arabian Fish Spice Mixture, 368

  Arabian/Iranian fish sauce, about, 331

  Arabian Meat and Vegetable Stew over Crispy Bread, 84, 85–86

  Arabian or Indian Milky Tea, 506, 507

  Arabian Pancakes, 17

  Arabian “Pasta” with Meat and Vegetables, 76–77

  Arabian “Ravioli” with Fish, 346–47

  Arabian Spiced Fried Fish, 345

  Arabian Spice Mixture, 366

  Arabian Spice Mixture for Desserts, 367

  Ashura, xiii

  Awadhi Biryani, 202–3, 203

  Awadhi Chicken Korma, 150–51, 151

  Azerbaijani Sweet-Savory Rice, 260

  Azerbaijani Yogurt Soup, 193