Book:The Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook- A Review
Author: Tess Mallos

Our favorite quick snack is freshly toasted Barbari flat bread with Zatar spice, drizzled with olive oil and feta cheese and some plump green olives on the side. We love this Middle Eastern snack which doesn’t involve any cooking! And over the many years I have been making and enjoying the delicious fillo pastry and nuts desert Bakhlava and Kataifi made from shredded vermicili pastry. Yet in spite of having been introduced to some of the delicious recipes and heard many Middle Eastern culinary experiences of people close to me , I made only a few Middle Eastern dishes over the years!

But yesterday I made Samke Harrah Al-Sahara , a Lebanese baked fish with chilli sauce and Fossoulatha, a Greek bean soup, recipes which I referred from The Complete Middle Eastern Cook book. This classic book though first published in 1977 is not revised and updated. The blue floral designed cloth book cover draws you into the book to the deliciously appealing food pictures and easy to follow recipes from the exotic countries of Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Iran and Afghanistan.

This Book is a compendium of 100’s of Middle Eastern recipes and covers all the popular and classic dishes of these countries. The book also has the recipes with the original name and pronunciation and its English translation detailed out. It has an introduction to each countries cuisine and a glossary explaining the unfamiliar ingredients. It’s a well written book and easy to follow for even people unfamiliar with the cuisine!

Check out the recipes of the dishes I cooked.

Fassoulatha- Bean Soup

Recipe from: Complete Middle Eastern Cookbook, Tess Mallos
serving size: 6-8

2 cups -dried haricot (navy) beans, Cannellini, Butter Beans(Lima beans) or Black Ice Peas
{ I added and substituted other beans too from my pantry to the recipe for equally delicious flavor}
1 large Onion finely chopped
1-1/2 cup – Tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 Tbsp – tomato paste
1 cup – celery, including leaves chopped
1 cup – carrot diced
3 tblsp- parsley chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp sugar
Salt – to taste
Black Pepper(freshly ground )- to taste

wash beans well in several changes of water. Place in a large pot with
about 2 litres of water and bring to the boil. Boil for 2 minutes, remover
from the heat and leave pan covered until beans become plump. time
varies acording to beans, with smaller beans plumping in 1 hour, larger
beans take about 2 hours. { To expedite the process of cooking, I pressure cooked the beans in water and set aside}
Add remaining ingredients except salt and bring to the boil. cover pan
and boil gently for 1 1/2 hours. Add salt to taste and cook for a
further 30 t0 60 minutes until beans are tender. Again, time depends on
beans.
{ I sauted the onions, and other vegetables in olive oil on the side and add the pressure cooked beans to this pot. This fast forwarded the process of cooking, yet with delicious end product.}
Serve hot in soup plates, sprinkling chopped parsley on each serving.
Crusty breads, black olives, cheese and wine can accompany fassoulatha
for a complete meal. { We ate this as a side to the baked fish- Samak}

Samke Harrah Al –Sahara / Baked Fish with Hot Chilli Sauce.

1 snapper or whole baking fish, about 2kg { I substituted filets }
Salt- for sprinkiling
100 ml – olive oil
Chilli sauce
4-6 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
3 tblsp- finely chopped coriander leaves
1 cup tahini
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground hot chili pepper
garnish
1 tablespoon pine nuts
lemon wedges
fresh coriander

Method:
1. Clean and scale the fish, wipe dry with paper towels. Leave head on and remove eyes. Slash body in 2 places on each side. Sprinkle inside and out with salt. Cover and refridgerate for 1-2 hours. Pat dry before cooking. { I substituted this with fish filets, which was not the same experience of course but a practical substitute. }
2. Pre heat oven to 350 F
3. Heat all but 1 tablespoon oil in a large frying pan and fry fish over high heat for a few minutes each side. Do not cook through. Lift out of pan and place in a baking dish.
4. To make chilli sauce, pound garlic with salt, and mix in the coriander. Tip most of the oil from the frying pan, leaving about 2 tablespoons, heat the oil and add the garlic mixture and ground chili; Fry quickly until crisp but not burnt. Let Cool.
4. Place tahini in a bowl, beat well, then gradually add 1/2 cup water, beating constantly. Mixture will thicken; then beat in the lemon juice gradually and then stir in the garlic mixture and chili pepper to taste. Add more salt if necessary.
5. Pour sauce over the fish to cover completely. Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes, or until fish is cooked through and sauce is bubbling.
6. While fish cooks, heat reserved oil in a clean pan and fry the pine nuts until golden brown.
7. Lift cooked fish out onto a plate, pour the sauce over and garnish with the pine nuts, lemon wedges and coriander.