Food Corner

Arabic cuisine has its roots in tent cookery. Nomadic tribes could use only transportable foods such as rice and dates, or ambulatory stock like sheep and camels in their recipes - which tended to be rough sketches rather than strict formulae. As the caravans journeyed throughout the Middle East, new seasonings and vegetables were discovered and added to the existing repertoire. Each new discovery was incorporated into the diet in quantities palatable to a particular tribe - a fact that many cooks believe is responsible for the anomalies found in some Arabic dishes today. • The nomadic Bedouin influence is broadened by other cuisines from the Arab world, notably from Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt, resulting in a highly diverse food and drink culture. • Lebanese contributions have been the greatest influence on modern Middle Eastern cuisine, in no small part due to the entrepreneurship of the Lebanese that has helped to spread Arabic cuisine throughout the world from its centre in the Levant in such areas as Aleppo, Damascus, Beirut and Nablus. Lebanese culinary influence and business skills provide the framework for the exotic cuisine recognised internationally as Arabic. Hospitality in the Arab world is second to none, and nowhere is it better expressed than in the age-old custom of serving freshly-brewed coffee or mint tea to every guest, whether the gathering be business or social. • The foreigner who takes time to learn and experiment with this excellent cuisine will be immediately won over and rewarded with many wonderful surprises. Arabic food can rival any international gastronomy for originality and good taste, and, because it basically comprises simple, natural and easily digested foodstuffs, it ranks high in nutritional value with today's fitness-conscious society.

Glossary of Arabic Cuisine
Arabic Bread (Khubz Arabi, pita)	Flat, round bread, which can be easily split to make a sandwich, or broken apart and used as a utensil for scooping food
Arayess	Deep-fried lamb sandwich
Ataif (gatayef, kataif)	Small pancakes stuffed with nuts or cheese and doused with syrup
Baba Ghanoush	Char-grilled eggplant, tahina, olive oil, lemon juice & garlic purée - served as a dip
Baharat (bjar)	Arabic mixed spices
Bamia	Baby okra and lamb in tomato stew
Baklawa (baklava)	Dessert of layered pastry filled with nuts and steeped in honey-lemon syrup - usually cut into triangular or diamond shapes
Basboosa	Semolina tart soaked with syrup
Bukhari Rice	Lamb and rice stir-fried with onion, lemon, carrot and tomato paste
Burghul (bulghur wheat, bulgar)	Parboiled and dried wheat kernels processed into grain, used in tabbouleh and mixed with lamb in kibbeh
Cardamom	Aromatic spice, member of the ginger family, used to flavour Arabic coffee, yoghurt and stews
Coriander (cilantro)	Lacy, green-leaf relative of the parsley family with an extremely pungent flavour akin to a combination of lemon, sage and caraway
Ejje	Arabic omelette
Falafel	Small deep-fried patties made of highly-spiced ground chick-peas
Fatayer	Pastry pockets filled with spinach, meat or cheese
Fattoush	Salad of toasted croutons, cucumbers, tomatoes and mint
Foul (ful)	Slow-cooked mash of brown beans and red lentils, dressed with lemon, olive oil and cumin
Gahwa (kahwa)	Coffee
Haleeb	Milk
Halwa (halva)	Sesame paste sweet, usually made in a slab and studded with fruit & nuts
Hamour	Red Sea fish of the grouper family
Hommus	Purée of chickpeas, tahina, lemon and garlic - served as a dip with Arabic bread
Jarish	Crushed wheat and yoghurt casserole
Jebne	White cheese
Kabsa	Classic Arabian dish of meat mixed with rice
Kebab	Skewered chunks of meat or fish cooked over charcoal
Kamareddine	Apricot nectar used to break fast during Ramadan
Khubz Marcook	Thin, dome-shaped Arabic bread
Kunafi (kunafah)	Shoelace pastry dessert stuffed with sweet white cheese, nuts and syrup
Kibbeh (kibbe)	Oval-shaped nuggets of ground lamb and burghul
Kibbeh Naye	Raw kibbeh, eaten like steak tartar
Koshary	Cooked dish of pasta, rice and lentils to which, onions, chillis and tomato paste are added
Kouzi	Whole lamb baked over rice so that rice absorbs the juice of the meat
Kufta (kofta)	Fingers, balls or a flat cake of minced meat and spices that can be baked or charcoal-grilled on skewers
Laban	Tangy-tasting sour milk drink widely used in cooking as a substitute for milk
Labenah	Thick creamy cheese, often spiced and used as a dip
Lahma Bi Ajeen	Arabic pizza
Loubia (fassulya)	Green beans cooked in tomato sauce
Ma'amul	Date cookies shaped in a wooden mould called a tabi
Makloubeh	Meat or fish with rice, broad beans and cauliflower
Mai	Water
Mantou	Dumplings stuffed with minced lamb
Markok	Lamb and pumpkin stew
Mehshi	Means stuffed - aubergines, courgettes, vine leaves or cabbage may be stuffed with a mixture of minced meat, rice and onions
Melokhiyyah	Green, spinach-like vegetable
Mezze (mezza, meze, mezzah)	The Arabic word for appetiser
Mish mish	Apricots
Mouhammara	Mixture of ground nuts, olive oil, cumin and chillis, eaten with Arabic bread
Moutabel	Eggplant dip made with tahina, olive oil and lemon juice
Mubassal	Onion pancakes
Muhalabiyyah	Silky textured semolina pudding served cold
Musakhan	Chicken casserole with sumac
Mutabak	Sweet or savoury pastry turnovers usually stuffed with cheese, banana or meat
Najil	Saddle-back grouper
Rocca	Aromatic salad green with a peppery mustard flavour, used in salads or mixed with hot yoghurt
Sambusek	Triangular pies filled with meat, cheese or spinach
Sayyadiya	Delicately-spiced fish dish served on a bed of rice
Seleek	Lamb and rice dish where the rice is cooked in milk rather than the juice of the meat
Shai (chai)	Tea
Shaour	Red Sea fish from the emperor family
Shawerma	A cone of pressed lamb, chicken or beef roasted on a vertical spit where the meat is shaved off from the outside as the spit keeps turning. Saudi Arabia's most popular sandwich is Arabic bread filled with shawerma meat, salad, hot sauce and tahina
Sheesha (hubbly bubbly)	Pipe for smoking tobacco leaves or dried fruit through a water filter
Shish Taouk	Skewered chicken pieces cooked over charcoal
Shourba	Soup
Snober	Pine nuts
Sukkar	Sugar
Sumac	Ground powder from the cashew family, used as a seasoning
Tabbouleh	Salad of burghul, tomato, mint and parsley
Taklia	Spice consisting of ground coriander and garlic
Tahina	An oily paste made from ground sesame seeds, used in hommus, moutabel and baba ghanoush
Tamr	Dates
Taratour	A thick mayonnaise of puréed pine nuts, garlic and lemon, used as a sauce or dip
Um Ali	'Ali's mother' is a pastry pudding with raisins and coconut steeped in milk
Warak Enab (warak dawali)	Stuffed vine leaves
Yansoon	Hot spiced tea, used for medicinal purposes
Zatoon	Olives
Zattar	Blend of spices including thyme, marjoram, sumac and salt