Middle Eastern Recipes
319 recipes found
A Different Guacamole
This recipe is based on a version of guacamole I was once served at a Middle Eastern restaurant. It's become a staple ever since.
Garlicky Leeks in Olive Oil
This recipe lets the leek shine with other savory flavors that are meant to enhance. They are prepared here with olive oil and a garlicky herbal undertone.
Martha Rose Shulman's Harissa
Harissa is that fiery paste used in Tunisian cuisine. You can get it in tubes, but the homemade version tastes much fresher. Make a note on the label to top up with olive oil whenever the harissa is used so that it will keep for a long time.
Lebanese Potatoes With Cilantro Sauce (Batata Harra)
Batata Harra is a Lebanese dish of twice-fried potatoes. The crisp, golden cubes are served with a sauce of cilantro, garlic, and olive oil. Philippe G. Massoud, the executive chef and co-owner of Ilili in New York, says it’s “a poor man’s dinner, eaten with eggs, or with tomatoes and scallions.”
Red Bell Pepper-Walnut Dip (Muhammara)
PALLAPPAM (Crisp Laced Rice Pancakes)
These Pallappams are light & have a delicate yet yielding crispy crunch. The coconut milk in the recipe confers a mild nutty aroma that balances the dish.
Winter Squash Puree With Tahini
This popular appetizer from the Middle East is a sort of sweet-tasting hummus, in which winter squash substitutes for chickpeas. This recipe is an adaptation of one by the cookbook author Clifford A. Wright.
Baba Ghanouj
Baba ghanouj is a signature grilled eggplant purée found across the Middle East, enriched with tahini and seasoned with lemon juice and lots of garlic. The dish has a smoky, pungent flavor. Don’t forget to pierce the eggplant before you put it on the grill or over a gas flame on the stove. If you can, for the best consistency, use a sesame tahini that's slightly runny. Also, as tahini sits, the oil separates, so the mixture should be stirred before it’s used.
Reconstituted Steamed Couscous
Unlike pasta, couscous should never be boiled (pay no attention to the instructions on most boxes), just reconstituted and steamed. The couscous dishes I’ll be presenting this week make perfect winter dinner party fare; the vegetable and bean dishes will be particularly welcome if there are vegans at your table.
Family Meal Falafel
Rawia Bishara's Vegetarian Musaqa
Stuck-Pot Rice With Yogurt and Spices
Rice isn’t actually “ruined” when it sticks to the bottom of the pot. Indeed, in a lot of places and across the Middle East, stuck-pot rice is encouraged for its sticky, crusty deliciousness. This is a dead-easy way to cook it, before serving with yogurt and spices. It’s homey and delicious, beautiful and fragrant, all at once.
Suad Shallal’s Iraqi Lentil Soup With Meatballs
This recipe came to The Times in a 2004 article about iftar, the breaking of the fast during Ramadan, the monthlong Muslim holiday during which observers abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Soup, like this hearty, spiced lentil soup with meatballs and angel hair pasta, is a common iftar meal as it provides substantial nutrition as well as plenty of hydration. It is adapted from a recipe belonging to Suad Shallal, who moved with her family from Iraq to the United States, in 1966. It was served at her son Andy's restaurant, Mimi's American Bistro in downtown Washington, each day during Ramadan. (The restaurant is now closed.) Mrs. Shallal's recipe calls for ground allspice, but feel free to experiment with other spices found in Middle Eastern cooking like cumin, coriander, cardamom and turmeric. And don't forget to taste and season with salt as you go.
Molly O'Neill's Tabbouleh
Eggplant Brochettes With Yogurt Coriander Sauce
Hawaij (Yemenite Spice Blend)
Pierre Franey's Tabbouleh
Tabbouleh With Romaine Leaves
Mast-o Khiar (Persian Cucumber and Herb Yogurt)
Yogurt, both plain and with cucumbers, is everywhere on Iranian tables — the thicker and sourer, the better. Mast-o khiar is an everyday side similar to Indian raita or Greek tzatziki, but raisins, walnuts and rose petals elevate this version of the dish, adding a host of different flavors and textures. Dice, rather than grate, the cucumbers to keep them from getting watery, and don’t skip the dried mint and dried dill, which add dimension to the fresh herbs.
Namoura (Syrup-Soaked Semolina Cake)
Amanda Saab, a social worker and home cook who lives near Detroit, riffs on her Lebanese grandmother's recipe for namoura, a cake made from semolina flour, soaked in syrup while it's still warm. When she serves it at iftar dinners during Ramadan, Ms. Saab often doses the syrup with a little bit of lavender extract. You could follow her lead, or use another floral note like vanilla or rose. The cake has no eggs, but this version gets its rich flavor and texture from aerated yogurt, which goes bubbly within minutes of being mixed with a little baking soda.
Khoresh Rivas (Savory Rhubarb and Bean Stew)
In Iranian cuisine, rhubarb is often used in savory dishes rather than in sweet ones. The hearty pinkish-red stalks, which cook down quickly and tenderize, provide just the right amount of tang to herb-based stews like khoresh rivas. Typically, this bright and flavorful dish is prepared with red meat, but hearty butter beans star in this vegetarian version. Fresh herbs are used in impressively large amounts in this cuisine, often holding their own as main ingredients. Mint and parsley are a common combination for the base of many stews. Gently frying the herbs separately before adding them to the stew concentrates their flavors, adding layers of depth. This stew tastes even better the next day. Serve khoresh rivas with rice and a side of plain yogurt.
Skillet Chicken With Cumin, Paprika and Mint
Chicken shawarma, a rotisserie favorite heady with spice and flavor, is usually cooked on a spit, then shaved into sandwiches and salads. But it also belongs on a bed of rice, cooked in a pan for a filling family meal that’s easy to return to again and again. White rice does a fine job rounding out this meal, and cooks quickly. But, if brown rice is more your speed, look for the sprouted short-grain variety, which cooks faster than regular brown rice and reaches al dente just as the chicken begins to split into tender morsels. (To cook the rice even faster, soak it while you marinate the chicken.) Cooking this on the stove yields crisp rice bits along the bottom of the pan, especially nice against the tender, flavorful chicken. Since even the best shawarma is only as good as its bright flavors, be generous with mint, parsley, yogurt and lime: the more, the better.
One-Pot Mujadara With Leeks and Greens
Cookbooks will tell you that, in the Middle East, mujadara is the essence of comfort food, a humble dish made from pantry staples. To that I will add how easy it is to make. The only part that needs some attention is the frying of the onions (or in this case, leeks). To get them crisp, you have to cook them until they are deeply brown and darker than you might be comfortable with. But without the deep color, you don’t get the crunch. Just make sure to take them off the heat before they burn. You want the majority to be mahogany, not black (though a few black strands would be O.K.).
Middle Eastern-Inspired Herb and Garlic Chicken
This recipe was inspired by the Middle Eastern dried seasoning mix called za’atar, a combination of herbs (usually thyme, oregano and marjoram), sesame seeds and sumac, often spiked with salt. Here, fresh herbs are substituted for the dried, which, along with fresh parsley and mint and plenty of lemon and garlic, are used to marinated boneless chicken thighs. If you can’t find sumac, just leave it out. It does add a nice tang and vibrant color, but the dish will work without it. Optimum marinating time here is 8 hours. But feel free to leave it for as little as 15 minutes or as long as 24 hours. If you would rather use white meat, substitute boneless skinless breasts but reduce the cooking time by a few minutes.