This remarkable and beautifully illustrated book describes over 75 ingredients used in Middle Eastern cooking. The cuisines covered include those of Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Egypt, Yemen, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman; Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Influenced by the Persian, Islamic, and Ottoman Empires, these country's common culinary tradition also reveals the legacy of the Byzantine and Roman empires. The insightful texts take readers and cooks into the history and diversity of these ancient cultures, while 150 recipes allow them to put their knowledge of these ingredients to practical use. Each ingredient is broken down in sections on descriptions and tastes of the spices, historical background, and cultivation or manufacture methods. Each is illustrated with specially commissioned photographs.

The Ultimate Guide to the One-of-a-Kind Flavors of the Middle East Delight your senses and excite your palate as Yaniv Cohen, aka The Spice Detective, leads you on a culinary tour through the exciting world of Middle Eastern spices–including turmeric, cumin, sumac, za'atar, clove, cardamom, caraway, baharat, coriander, dukkah, paprika, anise, nigella, allspice and cinnamon. With a lineup of delicious recipes, Yaniv highlights each spice's unique flavor. In a blend of traditional and modern cuisine, he expertly reveals the fullness of Middle Eastern spices in such dishes as Baharat-Scented Lamb Loin with Mint Pesto, Tunisian Caraway Carrot Salad, Cardamom Yemenite Beef Soup, Cinnamon-Scented Moroccan Couscous with Dried Fruit, Fresh Strawberries Stuffed with Clove-Spiced “Cheesecake” Mousse, Pan-Fried Cauliflower Steak in Nigella Seed Batter and Spiced Coriander Banana Cookies. To anyone looking to add vibrancy to their dishes: This cookbook belongs on your shelf.

Growing up in an Arab American household, rich traditional Arabic dishes were central to Blanche's family's life. However she noticed that previous generations of her family did not document these heirloom recipes on paper, but passed the cooking techniques only by word of mouth. So Blanche began a mission of cultural preservation, taking down the cooking methods and exact ingredients of these hundreds of year old recipes. She launched a popular YouTube cooking show called ''Feast in the Middle East'' to not only share these recipes with her family, but with the world. Some of these dishes are classical favorites, like smoky Syrian Muhammara dip with walnuts, pomegranate molasses and roasted peppers, ''Warak Enab, '' or rice and lamb rolled into tender grape leaves and cooked in a tomato broth, or Lebanese semolina custard scented with rose water called ''Layali Lubnan'' or ''Lebanese Nights''. Other dishes, like Musakhan, come from small and obscure villages like Ein Erik in the Palestinian West Bank. Musakhan is a sumac spiced chicken roasted on bread and smothered with caramelized onions and toasted pine nuts. Ancient recipes like chewy semolina date ring cookies called Ma'moul commemorate both Easter and Ramadan, while an over 1000 year old cinnamon spiced bulgur wheat porridge called Burbarra celebrates the Feast of Santa Barbara in the Arab Levant, Malta, and even Eastern Europe. While many of these dishes used to take hours to make, Blanche modernized these recipes to adapt to today's western palate and busy lifestyles. Readers will be able to recreate street foods like Chicken Shawarma and crispy Felafel in their own kitchens using easy techniques and familiar ingredients. Fusion dishes like Baklava Granola with pistachios and cardamom, Middle Eastern Nachos or ''Machos'' with pita chips and cucumber yogurt sauce, and a Lemon Cheesecake made with creamy labneh cheese adapt middle eastern spices and ingredients to western tastes. Today the ''Feast in the Middle East'' YouTube series has brought together a global cooking community in an unexpected and beautiful way. Now viewers are making these recipes in the United States, Canada, India, Australia, Spain, Korea and beyond. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Blanche Araj Shaheen is the YouTube personality and host of the popular cooking show, Feast in the Middle East. Prior to her foray into food, she was a television host and reporter in both entertainment and news. She reported and hosted programs for PBS, G4 Television, and Link Media's ''Mosaic World News of the Middle East.'' She also became the first Arab American entertainment reporter, as a contributor for the ABC live show called ''View From the Bay.'' In 2010 Blanche made the switch to hosting her own YouTube cooking show, sharing heirloom recipes preserved by her mother and grandmother. With her journalism background, she decided to document the recipes in this cookbook, and Feast in the Middle East was born. She gives the historical relevance of many signature dishes, and shares personal stories from her own family traditions and trips to the Middle East. Aside from her ongoing cooking series on YouTube, Blanche's Feast In the Middle East has been featured on Virgin America Airlines AUTHOR HOME: Los Altos, C

An excellent collection of recipes presented with infectious humor and charm... Hot on the heels of The New Middle Eastern Vegetarian, Sally Butcher brings us The New Middle Eastern Street Food Cookbook: a fabulous collection of quick, healthy, and easy-to-prepare recipes from Snackistan, a fictitious land where tummies are always full, and there's a slightly naughty smile on every face. It features simple fare that people actually eat on a daily basis: street food, or dishes they prepare at home, or cook to share with friends, or look forward to indulging in at the end of the week. Street food has come of age and, increasingly, formal dining is being nudged aside in favor of meze-style spreads. In malls and farmers markets across the world, food on the hoof has become a stylish and popular way to feed. This book picks out the Middle East's most exciting street foods and meze dishes, together with a variety of homely and simple snack recipes elicited from family and friends. Chapters comprise Nuts and Nibbles, Fishy Things, Meat on Sticks, Meat Not on Sticks, Salady Stuff, Hot Veggie Dishes, Mostly Carbs, Puds, and Something to Wash it Down with. The burst of flavors is intoxicating, as is Sally's trademark wit and attention to detail—a must-buy for all Middle Eastern food enthusiasts. • Over 100 recipes for mouthwatering Middle Eastern snacks • All aspects of simple snack foods are covered: street food, home comfort food, meze-style spreads, even the drinks are included • Bright, eye-catching design and mouth-watering photography

Tangy lemony tabbouleh, smoky, rich baba ghanouj, beautifully spiced lamb shank...the recipes in Olives, Lemons & Za'atar provide something irresistible for every occasion. These dishes represent the flavors of Rawia's Middle Eastern childhood with recipes copied faithfully from family cookbooks (her mother's most treasured harissa), and then developed with a creative flourish of her own. Her food is deeply personal and so she includes the classics but also the Mediterranean influences that come from summer holidays in Spain and living in Bay Ridge, the old Italian neighbourhood in Brooklyn. The result is a sensational cross-cultural mix and provides you with everything you need to enjoy the best home cooking and share the most convivial Middle Eastern hospitality.

It is a well-known fact that the cuisine of the Mediterranean, rich in olives and pulses, fresh fruit and vegetables and fish plucked straight from the sea, is one of the healthiest diets known to man. Meat is used sparingly and butter is replaced by aromatic olive oil. This does not mean that the food lacks flavour; on the contrary, their absence allows the subtle flavours of herbs and spices to emerge. The cuisine of the Levant - Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and Syria - is full of colourful, fresh and delicious dishes that are low in cholesterol and high in flavour. planned with good health in mind. Each dish, from tempting appetizers such as falafel and stuffed vine leaves to exotic desserts like walnut pancakes, has a nutritional breakdown listing the amount of calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium contained in the food, so that you can plan your diet without depriving yourself of delicious flavours.