Arabic Cuisine

Below are some of the foods eaten by the Arab nomads during the middle ages. Originally Arab food was the food of the desert nomads. Try out these Arabic recipes (^_~)

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 and 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 and 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