Middle Eastern cuisine is one of the oldest and the most flavorful cuisines. It includes a huge variety of foods, and the most common ingredient is the spice and herbs that give it a unique flavor and deep textures. The cuisine in itself is a real meal and includes a variety of scrumptious dishes. The meal have a mezze platter, salad, main dish and a delectable sweet to finish with. Let’s indulge into some lip smacking dishes of middle eastern cuisine.
Lip Smacking Dishes of Middle Eastern Cuisine
1. Hummus: My personal favorite. Hummus is basically a dip made up of chickpeas, tahini paste and garlic. All the ingredients are blended together to get a smooth and creamy dip. You can have it plain or with pita bread. Hummus is usually served as an appetizer but can also be added to other dishes as a condiment. Its easy to make and a very healthy dip. Let’s look at the recipe.
Ingredients
● 1 1/2 cup boiled chickpeas
● ¼ cup tahini
● Juice of 1 lemon
● ¼ cup water
● 5-6 garlic cloves
● 2 tbsp olive oil
● 1 tsp cumin seeds
● Salt to taste
Method:
1. In a food processor, blend together tahini, water, lemon juice and garlic cloves.
2. Add chickpeas and blend till smooth.
3. Add olive oil, cumin seeds and salt and mix again.
4. Scoop out and serve immediately. You can also refrigerate it upto 2 weeks.
2. Baklava: A sweet, flaky and tempting pastry to indulge in. Thin sheets of dough are layered and stuffed with nuts, sugar and spices. It’s topped with sweet syrup as a finishing touch to complete the dessert. Pistachio baklava is the most common but you can stuff it with fillings of your choice.
Ingredients:
● 200 gms butter
● 200 gms pistachios
● 50 gms walnuts
● 3 tbsp honey
● Phyllo pastry sheets 2 packs
● 250 gms castor sugar
● ½ tsp cardamom
● ¼ tsp cinnamon
Method:
1. Preheat oven at 180 degrees and grease a square tin.
2. Chop nuts into small pieces in a food processor. Put them in a bowl, add honey and set aside.
3. Melt butter. Now take a phyllo pastry sheet in the greased tin. Apply some butter on the top. Layer up one pack of sheets by applying butter in the same manner.
4. Spread the honey and nut mixture and layer another pack of the phyllo sheets on the top. Brush it with melted butter and cut the baklava into squares or diamonds.
5. Bake it for 45 minutes in the preheated oven.
6. Meanwhile cook castor sugar with 200 ml of water. Add cinnamon and cardamom into the syrup. Heat gently till sugar dissolves.
7. Take out baklava from the oven, pour the warm syrup on it till it runs into the lines you have cut.
8. Leave it to soak completely.
9. Serve when it’s cold.
Apart from this you can also try pita bread, falafel, baba ganouj, kanufa, labneh and many more. Food is more glorious when served in it’s authentic form. And don’t blame us if you end up craving the dishes here.
Comments are closed.