Food from the Arab World

[touaregsand]

A couple of sites on desert truffles

Hereand here.

[andiesenji]

did anyone else notice the truffle recipe?

marinate one-inch cubes of truffle in oil & lemon juice, then skewer and grill them.  can you imagine?

←

I asked about desert truffles in one of the forums, I never got an answer. I did a little research and truffles are found in the Middle East and North Africa. There is a company that sells canned Lebanese truffles. I've never tried them.

←

The middle eastern market in Lancaster (where I live) sells canned truffles. The can is about the same size as a large can of tomatoes. Price is $19.00

I have yet to try them.

[FoodMan]

Very cool indeed.  Thanks for posting that link.

Hey!  This Lebanese cookbook uses the word "tajin"!  It's a fish tajin - fish cooked in sesame sauce.  We now have that word in (at least) Moroccan, Egyptian and Lebanese cookery, although the cookware is different in each case.  What does that word actually mean?  Does it refer to a method of cooking, like a slow simmer?  Cooking in a closed pot?

(My Elias Collegiate Arabic/English dictionary shows a frying pan, complete with long handle, in the tagine entry.  That's completely unlike  anything I've seen yet....)

←

Tajin in lebanon is a dish similar to "samke Harra" or Spicy fish. As far as I know it has nothing to do with the North African staple. It's just cooked fish mixed with tahini, onions, nuts, spices and lemon juice. Served as a maza usually.

Raqaqaat are another maza dish, very popular. It is made with Phylo dough stuffed with a salty cheese mixture and fried. I'm not sure why they called for "Unbaked Jewish Bread", could be a translation thing.

I have not checked the link yet, , but it sounds very interesting and I will take a look at it ASAP. Thanks for posting it Jason.

Elie

[Adam Balic]

Very cool indeed.  Thanks for posting that link.

Hey!  This Lebanese cookbook uses the word "tajin"!  It's a fish tajin - fish cooked in sesame sauce.  We now have that word in (at least) Moroccan, Egyptian and Lebanese cookery, although the cookware is different in each case.  What does that word actually mean?  Does it refer to a method of cooking, like a slow simmer?  Cooking in a closed pot?

(My Elias Collegiate Arabic/English dictionary shows a frying pan, complete with long handle, in the tagine entry.  That's completely unlike  anything I've seen yet....)

←

Tagine/tagine etc are derived from the Greek "teganon", the word for pan.

[Smithy]

Very cool indeed.  Thanks for posting that link.

Hey!  This Lebanese cookbook uses the word "tajin"!  It's a fish tajin - fish cooked in sesame sauce.  We now have that word in (at least) Moroccan, Egyptian and Lebanese cookery, although the cookware is different in each case.  What does that word actually mean?  Does it refer to a method of cooking, like a slow simmer?  Cooking in a closed pot?

(My Elias Collegiate Arabic/English dictionary shows a frying pan, complete with long handle, in the tagine entry.  That's completely unlike  anything I've seen yet....)

←

Tagine/tagine etc are derived from the Greek "teganon", the word for pan.

←

Thank you Adam, thank you thank you, for finally scratching that itch for me.

[zeitoun]

Cool link, one recipe that caught my attention was this one:

Little Birds

'ASSAFEER

Restaurants in the mountain resort towns of Lebanon specialize in these crisply roasted little larks. They are often served as meza with Arab bread and araq.

To prepare the birds, pull feathers, cut off beaks and legs and draw. Rub the outside with salt and pepper. Tuck the bird's head into its stomach cavity. Thread several birds together onto a skewer and broil over charcoal. Serve very hot.

The birds may be pan-fried in samneh or butter. Clean as above, rub with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and fry in one- half inch of hot fat

I've heard of this before but never had it, has anyone had any experinece with it before? Is it also prepared in a similar way in other countries of the Middle East?

[Behemoth]

Cool link, one recipe that caught my attention was this one:

Little Birds

'ASSAFEER

Restaurants in the mountain resort towns of Lebanon specialize in these crisply roasted little larks. They are often served as meza with Arab bread and araq.

To prepare the birds, pull feathers, cut off beaks and legs and draw. Rub the outside with salt and pepper. Tuck the bird's head into its stomach cavity. Thread several birds together onto a skewer and broil over charcoal. Serve very hot.

The birds may be pan-fried in samneh or butter. Clean as above, rub with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and fry in one- half inch of hot fat

I've heard of this before but never had it, has anyone had any experinece with it before? Is it also prepared in a similar way in other countries of the Middle East?

←

Yes, and it's gross!

Sorry, but I always felt it was really mean to cook so many little birds for one rather unpleasant bony little meal. I'd rather hear them outside my window in the morning...my dad's cousin was a hunter and would make that dish occasionally. My dad and I always refused to eat it. Ah well...

[zeitoun]

Yes, and it's gross! 

Sorry, but I always felt it was really mean to cook so many little birds for one rather unpleasant bony little meal. I'd rather hear them outside my window in the morning...my dad's cousin was a hunter and would make that dish occasionally. My dad and I always refused to eat it.  Ah well...

←

You have a point there...I think I would feel the same quite honestly.

But there again, I thought the same about roasted guinea pigs (a delicacy in and around Peru) until I ate my first one, and well, ummm... I really liked it!!!

After this experience, I tried to comfort myself thinking that after you take off all the cute fuzzy hair on a guinea pig, you end up with something that looks like a rat, but i guess that's not comforting either now that I come to think of it....

[FoodMan]

Cool link, one recipe that caught my attention was this one:

Little Birds

'ASSAFEER

Restaurants in the mountain resort towns of Lebanon specialize in these crisply roasted little larks. They are often served as meza with Arab bread and araq.

To prepare the birds, pull feathers, cut off beaks and legs and draw. Rub the outside with salt and pepper. Tuck the bird's head into its stomach cavity. Thread several birds together onto a skewer and broil over charcoal. Serve very hot.

The birds may be pan-fried in samneh or butter. Clean as above, rub with salt, pepper and lemon juice, and fry in one- half inch of hot fat

I've heard of this before but never had it, has anyone had any experinece with it before? Is it also prepared in a similar way in other countries of the Middle East?

←

Yes, and it's gross!

Sorry, but I always felt it was really mean to cook so many little birds for one rather unpleasant bony little meal. I'd rather hear them outside my window in the morning...my dad's cousin was a hunter and would make that dish occasionally. My dad and I always refused to eat it. Ah well...

←

It really is a matter of perspective. You think they are cute, many memebrs of my family think they are cute too, but taste VERY good after being fattened on figs in the summer . Ducks are cute as well, what about bunnies,....that's a different subject though.

Growing up I went hunting with family and friends, it is a big deal and the little fat birds (I mean solid white fat) are a delicacy. NEVER order them in a restaurant becuase like you said they are nothing but a bony meal. I even heard that restaurant birds are nothing more than sparrows caught in nets . I cannot verify if this is true or not, I can only say that they are a totally different creature than the hunted ones.

My current point of view is this: the damn things are tasty, but really not worth the effort. They are definitly not hight on my "to-have" list when I visit Lebanon.

Now, wild quails, are a different story. They are so much fun to hunt and taste better than almost anything else.

Elie

[chefzadi]

It really is a matter of perspective. You think they are cute, many memebrs of my family think they are cute too, but taste VERY good after being fattened on figs in the summer ohmy.gif . Ducks are cute as well, what about bunnies,....that's a different subject though.

The cuteness of an animal has never deterred me from eating it. The larks sound tasty after being fattened with figs.

[Behemoth]

I can't say cute was ever the issue for me -- I happen to think cows are really cute but still eat them. I also eat bunnies...I just found the rate at which things in Lebanon were being overhunted/overfished/forced out because of pollution just too alarming to take...And shooting 5-10 or so larks (or any kind of bird for that matter) per person to make a meal was just too much for me.

I hope people have gotten smarter about that since I left. I'm sure some pockets of good news exist but in general I doubt ithere's been much of a change. People just don't think past the immediate future, which is probably why we had the stupid war in the first place. Sorry, sore subject, obviously. When you were growing up it was probably different, Elie, but during the war it was just really hard to take all the senseless waste.

[chefzadi]

I even heard that restaurant birds are nothing more than sparrows caught in nets

Isn't there a Biblical reference to catching sparrows (or some small bird like, definately not quails though) in nets and eating them?

[Adam Balic]

Eating small birds is pretty common around the Med. (and also else where). In Tuscany it was they were very popular, hence the general lack of song birds there now. It is illegal to hunt them, but I recently saw these:

These are sparrows, and have been imported from Tunisia. I assume that they are popular at there point of origin still?

[chefzadi]

Sparrows are still eaten in Algeria. I'm sure they are in Tunisia.

[Dejah]

This thread is wonderful! I've been spending a lot of time looking through the recipes.

Thanks for the link, Jason.

My Saudi student had to return home for this term but will be back in Sept. I have these months to practice some of these recipes. He wants to bring back a camel for me, but I hope it is not possible!

The Morrocan cigars are wonderful. I have made them with lamb and beef. The recipe ran in one of our national papers and I have been making and stockpiling them in the freezer for quick appetitzers. I coat the tops with sesame seeds for that extra touch.

Little birds are sold as street vendor food in China. I remember eating them in HK years ago. They were very crispy and I think they were delicious, but I don't think I can handle them now.