Root Vegetable

Trid is described as the poor man’s bstilla. It is also said that the Prophet would have liked it best. He is known to have been fond of onions, and here a huge mass is reduced to a creamy sauce. I prefer it too.

In Turkey and Egypt during the period of the Ottoman Empire, the women in the harems, the wives and concubines of the Sultans and aristocracy, were the widows and daughters captured at war. The Circassians among them were known for their beauty and their culinary skills. This classic is part of their legacy. The recipe was given by Luli Fevsi and comes from the kitchens of the old Ottoman aristocracy in Egypt. It is a cold dish which may be served as an hors d’oeuvre or as part of a buffet table.

I like to make this Lebanese salad with basmati rice, because the grains stay very separate.

For this North African salad, use a firm white fish such as cod, haddock, or monkfish.

In Turkey all kinds of vegetables, including cauliflower and green beans, are dressed with a nut sauce called tarator. Here celeriac and carrots make a good combination of flavor and color, and yogurt is a refreshing addition to the sauce.

Serve this in a bowl with plain boiled or steamed vegetables such as runner beans, zucchini, or cauliflower.

This is a Turkish way of dressing beets.

Leeks are especially popular in Egypt.

You can find tamarind paste in Oriental stores. It gives the onions a delicious, intense sweet-and-sour taste.

For this Tunisian salad, use old carrots and mealy potatoes.

Use mealy potatoes for this Tunisian salad, which is served as an appetizer and also as an accompaniment to grilled fish.

In this Moroccan salad, the curious mix of sweet and spicy is quite delicious. It is nice as it is but you may add, if you like, a handful of black olives, the chopped peel of a preserved lemon (see page 459), and a tablespoon of capers.

The combination of raisins and pine nuts was brought by the Arabs all the way to Spain and Sicily.

I love this Moroccan salad. The eggplants are boiled, not fried, so it is not oily. It is best made several hours in advance so that the flavors have time to penetrate.

Broken pieces of toasted pita bread are sometimes placed at the bottom of the serving dish to become well moistened and soggy with the dressing.

A Moroccan salad with an intriguing combination of flavors

Tomatoes are banadoura in Arabic and tamatem in Egypt.

This is a homely version of the very green parsley-and-mint salad with buff-colored speckles of bulgur wheat you find in all Lebanese restaurants all over the world. Like many items on the standard Lebanese restaurant menu, it was born in the mountain region of Zahlé, in the Bekáa Valley of Lebanon, where the local anise flavored grape liquor arak is produced. Renowned for its fresh air and its natural springs and the river Bardaouni, which cascades down the mountain, the region acquired a mythical reputation for gastronomy. In 1920 two cafés opened by the river. They gave away assorted nuts, seeds, olives, bits of cheese, and raw vegetables with the local arak. Gradually the entire valley became filled with open-air cafés, each larger and more luxurious than the next, each vying to attract customers who flocked from all over the Middle East with ever more varied mezze. The reputation of the local mountain-village foods they offered, of which tabbouleh was one of the jewels, spread far and wide and became a national institution. What started as a relatively substantial salad, rich with bulgur, was transformed over the years into an all-green herby affair. When the first edition of my book came out, I received letters telling me I had too much bulgur in that recipe. One letter from Syria explained that mine was the way people made the salad many years ago, when they needed to fill their stomachs. You see, many of my relatives left Syria for Egypt a hundred years ago, and that was how they continued to make it. The following is a contemporary version.

This strong-tasting Egyptian salad made with feta cheese is good with ful medames (page 328).