Herbs & Spices

There is a dish of rice cooked in yogurt which has been stabilized so that it doesn’t curdle (see page 113), but it is simpler and just as good to pour yogurt over plain rice. Everyone likes this, and Arab doctors prescribe it for people with stomach troubles.

A great variety of vegetable fillings exist. Vegetables with a meat filling are meant to be eaten hot, those with a meatless filling are usually cooked in oil and eaten cold. In Turkey these are called yalangi dolma or “false dolma,” because of the lack of meat. The following are the fillings most widely used. Quantities are enough to stuff about 2 pounds of vegetables, but this varies according to the size of the vegetables and the amount of pulp scooped out.

A delicious version, to be served hot with plain rice or with roz bil shaghria (rice with vermicelli, page 340).

A street vendor in Cairo used to sell these wrapped in newspaper, to be eaten on the spot or carried home. Other small or medium-sized fish can be used in the same way.

This is a specialty of Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt. Sweet ataïf (pancakes) are extremely popular stuffed with nuts and soaked with syrup). These savory ones are less common.

A refreshing sweet-and-sour Persian syrup to be diluted in ice-cold water.

In Morocco tea—a refreshing infusion of both green tea and mint—is the symbol of hospitality, prepared with art, served with ceremony, and drunk at all times of the day. Introduced in the nineteenth century by the English, tea became an indispensable drink. It is traditionally served in richly engraved English-style silver teapots (the grandest are from Manchester) on silver trays with tiny legs. It is poured from a great height into small, ornamented colored glasses. Spearmint is the type of mint used, and the infusion is sweetened in the teapot. In Morocco they like it very sweet, with many lumps of sugar, but you can suit your taste.

If you go to Egypt, one thing to bring back home is wine-red dried hibiscus petals.

A famous North African specialty with an exciting bittersweet flavor.

This wonderful, heartwarming winter drink is hot milk thickened with the starchy ground bulb of an orchid called Orchis mascula. This was sold by street vendors from the large copper urn in which it was made. The stone-colored powder called sahlab (salep in Turkish and Greek) is expensive and not easy to find. I have often bought it in Middle Eastern markets only to discover that it was a fake or adulterated mix. Cornstarch is an alternative which gives a creamy texture but not the same special flavor.

This deliciously refreshing drink, called doug by Persians, ayran in Turkey, and laban by others, is consumed extensively all over the Middle East and particularly in Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran. It is prepared in the home, served in cafés, and sold by street vendors. It is good served chilled or with ice cubes.

The flavors here are rich and exciting.