Cuisine of Arabia

Overview

Saudi Arabia is known for being both intriguing and generous, and its cuisine is no exception. Saudi cuisine is a blend of rice, wheat, lamb or chicken, milk yoghurt, and potatoes gently flavored with exotic spices.

Although regional cuisines differ, some foods, such as Saudi Arabia's national dish, are found throughout.

The warmth, friendliness, and feeling of sharing that characterize Saudi Arabian culture are evident in the food prepared by the locals. The dish Kabsa is possibly the most significant representation of this culture.

History

When Arabs from the Arabian Peninsula landed on the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean in the 7th century and subsequently went on to dominate North Africa, they discovered a vast range of cuisines, some of which dated back to the dawn of civilization. They inherited a rich cuisine from these newly acquired countries, which had been the cradle of civilizations and had witnessed culture after culture grow, bloom, and fade. Some of the ancient empires that contributed to the Arab kitchen included the Hittites, Arameans, Assyrians, Egyptians, Nabateans, Greeks, Persians, Byzantines, and Romans.

The modest foods they brought from the Arabian Peninsula were added to the stockpile of foods they discovered among the colonized peoples. Furthermore, the many exotic minorities who inhabit the Arab world, such as Armenians, Berbers, and Kurds, as well as religious communities such as the Copts, Druze, Maronites, and Sephardim Jews, contributed their peculiarities, as did religious communities such as the Copts, Druze, Maronites, and Sephardim Jews with their ritualistic dishes.

These influences were refined and developed, regardless of how they were gained, to generate a vibrant Arab cuisine. According to some culinary historians, this elegant table has up to 40,000 dishes, second only to the Chinese, who are thought to have a kitchen with up to 80,000 dishes.

During their golden period, the Arabs developed an elegant kitchen from the eighth through the thirteenth century and brought much of it to the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, the Arabs created a magnificent haute cuisine in their Thousand-and-One-Nights capitals of Cordova, Fez, Cairo, Damascus, and Baghdad over the years. In their variety and wealth, the fabled feasts and banquets at the palaces of the emirs and sultans were unparalleled by any other governing elite of the time.

History

Many of the meals were developed in response to societal wealth. During these ages, food was praised in poetry and ballads across the Arab world. Cookbooks were published, some of which are still in print, documenting every detail of that opulent kitchen. However, another work by the same name, Kitab al-Tabikh, authored by Muhammad Hassan al-Baghdadi in 1239 A.D., is the most critical cookbook that has survived till our day.

Following their loss, a large number of Arabs from the Iberian Peninsula relocated to North Africa. They brought the exquisite cuisine of Al-Andalus, the Iberian Peninsula's Arab/Muslim province.

Today, entertaining visitors in the houses of the rich, particularly in Fez, is a colourful and romantic event. The rich meals, the luxury of the surroundings, the elegance of national attire, Andalusian music, dances, conversation, and courtesy of the hosts contribute to superb gastronomy and rich culture – most of it inherited from the Arabs of Al-Andalus.

Most of the delicious Moroccan sweets seen in North African city food stalls were created in Arab Spain and transported to North Africa by evicted Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula.

A cookbook titled Fadaalat al-Khiwaan fee Tayyibaat at Taaam wa al-Alwaan, written in the 13th century by Ibn Razeen at-Tujeebee—an Andalusian Arab from Murcia – contains many of the sweets and other foods cooked in Morocco today. This prominent Arab-Andalusian food author, along with other culinary authors from the Arab Al-Andalus, would have a massive effect on the world's cuisines in the centuries to come. It was the same narrative in the Western Hemisphere as it had been in North Africa. Many of the migrants who came to the Americas from the Iberian Peninsula had Arab-Muslim forebears, and they took their traditions and cuisine with them.

History

These were eventually passed to Europe, dramatically impacting the continent's culinary expertise. The arrival of expensive herbs and spices cemented in the minds of Europeans the notion that the places from where these spices came were regions of incredible riches.

The expanse of the land and the multifariousness of the inhabitants allowed for a diverse cuisine to emerge. Some Arabs nowadays want their food to be highly spicy, notably in the nations bordering the Arabian Gulf and Libya and Tunisia in North Africa, where spicy peppers are used to create flaming dishes. Others are pleased with essential, nutritious recipes that haven't altered much since they were initially consumed almost 5,000 years ago in Middle Eastern nations. These unique sauces and meals did not consistently impact the eating patterns of the Arab world's population.

The rich culinary legacy of the Arab world is claimed to have created the Arabs as food-obsessed people. This may be true because Arabs bring their cuisine with them wherever they go. Despite their propensity to swiftly integrate into their new homelands, they cling to their cuisine with tenacity, with many sharing this cuisine with their friends and neighbors. Diplomats and other foreigners who live in Arab nations develop an enduring love for Arab cuisine in most situations. Many acquire the technique of
Arab cooking and incorporate it into their regular menus when they return home.

Many of these rich ancient victuals, inherited and then refined by the Arabs, are still, to some extent, culinary mysteries buried behind an eastern veil from the Arabian Gulf to Morocco. However, because the globe is becoming more cosmopolitan, these dishes have a bright future.

They won't stay hidden for long since they're always delectable, appealing, healthy, and nutritious. Arab loaves of bread, falafel, hummus, meat, and veggie pies, and taboula may now be found in many prominent American and European cities' corner cafés and restaurants. There is little doubt that many more will follow tomorrow. Arab dishes continue to influence the kitchens of nations worldwide, as they have in the past in the Latin-speaking world.

Medieval Cuisine

Bread

The white bread barazidhaj was created with high-quality wheat flour and fermented dough that was leavened with yeast and "baker's borax" (buraq) and cooked in a tandoor, similar to raqaq bread but thicker.

Raqaq bread (dry, thin bread flavoured with tamarisk seeds) consisted of three types: labiq (soft, thin flatbreads) and jarmazaj (hard, thick flatbreads).

Sauces

Sauce (sibagh) recipes have survived from old Arabic cookbooks in large numbers. For example, Ibn Sayyar al-Kitab Warraq's al-Tabikh, published in the 10th century, includes multiple recipes for roasted fish credited to diverse authors.

Two sibagh recipes are credited to Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi: one made by mashing vinegar-soaked raisins with garlic, mustard, walnut, vinegar, and seasonings like asafetida and anise into the mustard sauce, and the other made by mashing vinegar-soaked raisins with garlic, walnut, mustard, vinegar, and condiments like asafetida and anise into the mustard sauce.

A sibagh prepared with whey, walnuts, garlic, olive oil, and murri may be found in the recipe collection of the seventh Abbasid caliph, Al-Ma'mun.

Seasonings such as ginger, pomegranate, spikenard, and cloves are used in comparable poultry meal recipes.

Medieval Cuisine

Sweets
Lauzinaj was an almond-based confection that had penetrated Medieval European cuisine by the 13th century, thanks to Andalusian influence, returning Crusaders, and Latin translations of recipe manuals. It was described as the "meal of kings" and the "supreme judge of all sweets." From mediaeval sources, we know of two forms of the dish.

This dessert, also known as lauzinaj mugharraq or "soaked lauzinaj," is thought to be the Ottoman dessert baklava's older cousin. It was produced by stuffing thin pastry dough with a mixture of crushed almonds (and perhaps other nuts like walnuts or pistachios), rose water, and perhaps luxury flavorings such as mastic, ambergris, or musk.

In Lauzinaj yabis, ground almonds were boiled in honey or sugar until they reached a taffy-like consistency. The raw form was prepared by combining the almonds with sugar and seasoning with camphor, musk, and rose water for a texture similar to marzipan. The final dessert was sliced into squares and triangles or molded into an animal or other shapes.

Vegetable
Endive, leeks, melilot, fenugreek, onions, purslane, Jew's mallow, and radish are among the vegetables. Then, with olive oil and murri, boiled asparagus is served. The cooking water can be sweetened with honey and seasoned with cilantro, rue, anise, and black pepper, then served as a drink on its own or mixed with wine.

Some vegetable recipes are prepared ahead of time and served cold. One example is eggplant with fresh herbs, and olive oil, seasoned with fermented sauces, vinegar, and caraway. Various cold eggplant recipes are similar, some of which include smoked eggplant, nuts such as crushed walnuts or almonds, and flavors such as saffron, cassia, and galangal.

Structure of Meals

In the Arab World, there are two primary meal structures: one that runs throughout the year and another that is specific to the month of Ramadan, when devout Muslims fast throughout the day.

Year-Round

Breakfast:

Croissants are frequently served for breakfast at cafés. Breakfast is often a quick meal consisting of dairy items and dairy bread, along with tea and jam. Labneh and cream (kishta, prepared from cow's milk) are the most popular breakfast foods.

Lunch:

Lunch is the supreme meal of the day, and it is generally eaten between 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. However, it is supper that brings the entire family together. Mezze and salads are served as side dishes to the main course, rather than as separate courses.

In addition to the fresh vegetables with the mezze and salad, the platter typically includes a portion of meat, chicken, or fish, rice, lentils, bread, and a portion of cooked vegetables.

The veggies and meat are frequently cooked together in a sauce (typically tomato, though other flavours are also popular) and eaten over rice to form maraqa. Bread is usually included in most families.

Drinks are not often offered with the meal, although there are several options, including shineena (or laban), karakaden, Naqe'e Al Zabib, Irq Soos, Tamr Hindi, and fruit juice, as well as other traditional Arabic beverages.

Carbonated soda and fruit-based beverages were increasingly popular over the twentieth century.

Dinner:

Supper is typically the lightest meal, but dinner has grown increasingly significant in terms of entertaining visitors in recent years due to the length of the workday.

Ramadan

Iftar:

Iftar, or fast-breaking, is the meal eaten when the fast is broken at sundown. The dinner is divided into three parts: first, diners eat a date following Islamic tradition.

Following that, people can have a soup or anything they like, with the most popular being lentil soup, but there are also chicken, oats, freeka (a soup made from whole wheat and chicken broth), and potato mash.

The main meal, traditionally served after an interval during which a Maghreb prayer is offered, is the third course. The main meal is primarily the same as what is served at lunch throughout the year, except that cold drinks are offered.

Suhur:

Suhur is a meal eaten immediately before dawn when fasting is required. It is consumed to provide enough energy to get through the day until dark.

Sweets:

Sweets are consumed far more than usual throughout the month of Ramadan. In addition to the two meals eaten during Ramadan (one for supper and one for Suhur before dawn); sweets and fresh fruits are offered between these two meals. Although most sweets, such as kanafeh, baklava, and basbousa, are manufactured all year, some, such as qatayef, are created just for Ramadan.

Traditional Food

Hininy: Hininy is a classic Saudi Arabian dish, particularly in Najd. It is often cooked during the winter months. Dates, brown bread, butter, cardamom, and saffron are used to make it.

Quzi: Quzi, often written as qoozi or ghoozi, is a rice-based meal popular in the Persian Gulf Arab republics. It comes with slow-cooked lamb, roasted almonds, and raisins, all served over rice. It is considered one of Iraq's national foods, and Syrian immigrants introduced it to Turkey.

Mandi: Mandi is a traditional Yemeni meal made mostly of meat and rice, cooked in a pit underground with a specific mixture of spices. It is prevalent and widespread throughout the Arabian Peninsula, and many places consider it a staple meal. Egypt, the Levant, and Turkey are also home to this species.

Jalamah: Jalamah is a traditional Asir dish from Bareg and Qunfudhah. It is a beef dish cooked with a blend of Arabic spices. To improve the flavour, the meat is usually a young, petite-sized lamb.

Ka'ak: The Arabic term ka'ak or kahqa means biscuit and can be applied to various baked foods made throughout the Arab world and the Near East. In Middle Eastern nations, the bread resembles a dry, firm biscuit and is usually ring-shaped. In Indonesia, this type of pastry is known as "kue kaak."

Kabsa: Rice and meat are used in this meal. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Yemen, Ahwaz (Iran), and Israel's Negev region are among the nations that supply it.

Traditional Food

Khmer: Red Fife wheat dough, self-raising flour, warm water, yeast, and a touch of salt are used to make Khmer. Hand-beat the ingredients until they are soft and creamy, then set aside to ferment.

Markook: A sort of thin bread known as Markook Shrek. After being rested and split into round parts, the dough is flattened and spread onto a circular cushion until it is light, then flipped onto the saj. Before being sold, it is frequently folded and placed in bags.

Aseedah: Aseedah is a mediaeval al-Andalus delicacy prepared from a baked wheat flour dough lump, occasionally with butter or honey. It is consumed in many North African and Middle Eastern nations and has a texture similar to gruel. In many Arab countries, it is regarded as one of the most popular sweets and traditional foods.

Murtabbaq: Murtabbaq is a packed pancake or pan-fried bread popular in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Thailand. The name and ingredients might differ significantly depending on where you are. The Arabic word mutabbaq means "folded." In Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, it is a popular street meal.

Sambusak: A sambusak is a savoury South Asian fried or baked pastry with spiced potatoes, onions, peas, beef, other meats, or lentils as a filling. Depending on the location, it can have various shapes, such as a triangle, a cone, or a half-moon. Sambusak is typically served with chutney and dates back to mediaeval times or before.

Saleeg: Saleeg is a white rice dish made with milk and broth (chicken or other meat). It comes from the Hejaz area in western Saudi Arabia, where it is often considered the region's national food.

Jallab: Jallab is a fruit syrup prepared from carob, dates, grape molasses, and rose water that is popular in the Middle East. In Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon, Jallab is quite popular. It's mostly grape molasses, grenadine syrup, and rose water, and it's smoked with Arabic incense. Crushed ice, floating pine nuts, and raisins are common additions.

Roz Bukhari: Manthoo is a rice or wheat meal that entails simmering the grains in stock or broth, adding spices and other components such as vegetables or meat, and utilizing some technique for obtaining cooked grains that do not stick together.

Beverages

Traditional coffeehouses (Maqhas) used to be commonplace, but food-hall type cafés are rapidly taking their place. According to the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission, "Serving Gahwah (coffee) in Saudi Arabia is a show of hospitality and kindness," The coffee beans were traditionally roasted, cooled, and crushed in front of the visitors using a mortar and pestle. During the grinding process, the host would add cardamom pods to the coffee beans. The coffee would be poured for the visitors once it had been brewed. Gahwah is no longer produced in front of the visitors; instead, it is served neatly in a Dallah and poured into miniature Finjan cups.

Usually, yoghurt is converted into a drink called Laban.

Sobia is an excellent drink that originated in the Hijaz but is now widely accessible across Saudi Arabia, particularly during Ramadan. It's produced using a lightly fermented blend of barley/brown bread, date palm sap, herbs, and spices. Depending on the flavour, it might be white or colored. It has also been discovered to offer health advantages.

Arabian Food Tour

Largest Modern Olive Farm: Since 2007, Al Jouf has started farming olives, a mainstay in Saudi cuisine. The Al Jouf Agricultural Development Company, which has more than 5 million olive trees and produces over 15,000 tonnes of olive oil each year, has been named the world's largest modern olive farm by Guinness World Records. The annual two-week Olive Festival, which takes place in January, comprises cultural, social, recreational, and educational events such as art contests and lectures on olive growing.

The Najd Region's Traditional Dishes: Najdi cuisine is influenced by the region's geography and desert climate; Najdi foods are hearty and nutritious, with rich stews, wheat, and rice dishes combined with aromatic spices dominating the menu. The traditional recipes have been passed down through the decades and vary from family to family. Traditional Najd food is famed for its meticulous preparation, but this labor of love is well worth the wait.

Jareesh: A nourishing and straightforward porridge meal made with coarsely ground wheat, your choice of meat, tomatoes (or without, depending on personal preference), and caramelized onions.
Mataziz and Marquq: Mataziz and Marquq, which are pasta-like meals with bits of meat, a handful of healthy vegetables, and wheat or rye flour dough discs cooked in a silky tomato sauce, are also delicious.The sole variation between the two is the size and soupiness of the Marquq discs.
Kleija: A filled biscuit dough moulded into the shape of a patterned disc using a specific wooden mould. These biscuits are made in the date-rich region of Qassim and are filled with a variety of fillings like a smooth date paste or a nut-sugar filling that goes great with a hot finjan of gahwa.

Inviting Umlui: Umluj, often known as the Saudi Maldives, is a popular place for unforgettable vacations. Under the sun, boat racing with dolphins, sunbathing, swimming, and chasing sunsets are all great ways to pass the time. However, Umluj is also noted for its high-quality mangos, guava, lemon, figs, and fresh fish.

Samak Nashif: In this dish, a parrotfish is cleaned, split in half, bathed with salt, and left to dry for at least a week under the sun. It's frequently served with ma'dous, a rice-and-yellow-lentil mixture.
Shorbat Habb: This is a meal that is typically served during Ramadan. It's a wheat grain-based soup. Instead of being traditionally tomato-based, the Umluj variation is made with sheep milk.
Aseeda: A wheat flour dough lump covered with honey and ghee and cooked with dates, millet, or oats. Be ready to get your hands dirty!

Arabian Food Tour

Medina on a Plate: Despite its enormous growth from its humble beginnings, Medina has retained its traditional identity as an oasis town. The dates, spices, and famous mint leaves are all cultivated locally in Medina's cuisine. The city's cuisine incorporates these elements into a variety of dishes in one form or another. The following are some of the must-try local flavors:

Medini Rice: Due to the many raisins and carrots used in its production, Medini rice has a somewhat sweet taste. It's frequently served with rotisserie chicken on top and duggus on the side (tomato salsa).
Turomba: Turomba is a dessert typically served after a heavy dinner such as Mandi or Kabsa. On the inside, it's light and doughy, yet on the exterior, it's crispy. The dessert also goes well with a cup of hot tea.
Red Tea with Mint: Red tea with mint may appear to be a standard elsewhere, but the difference here is in the mint utilized. The intense perfume of Medina's mint is well-known. Visitors to the city frequently carry bundles back.

Sharqiya Fresh Basket: The Eastern Province is the country's most significant, and one of the most acceptable ways to appreciate its diversity is to sample the local cuisine. Several nations border the vast province. Almost every traditional meal here may be traced back to its culinary origins. Here are some of the most popular meals in the area:

Hassawi Rice: Grown in the enormous oasis of Al Ahsa, Hassawi rice is one of the costliest rice varieties. The rice is distinguished by its reddish-brown colour and grows in extreme heat. It's also relatively healthy, which is why the locals are willing to pay a little more for it.
Balaleet: Balaleet is a classic meal comprised of vermicelli that goes well with a serving of steaming Hassawi rice. It's served sweet, with sugar, cardamom, and rose water, or savory, with sautéed onions and potatoes topped with fried onions.
Afousa: The kingdom is famed for producing some of the most remarkable dates in the world, and Afousa is a treat produced by mashing soft dates into a paste. The simplest way to explain it is that it's like a pudding that's been jam-packed with dates' sweetness.

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Overview

History

History

History

Medieval Cuisine

Medieval Cuisine

Structure of Meals

Year-Round

Ramadan

Traditional Food

Traditional Food

Beverages

Arabian Food Tour

Arabian Food Tour

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