Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Eating with Kids
Eating out as a family is becoming an increasingly popular pastime in the Peninsula for
Arabs and expats: whole minibuses of relatives arrive to the outdoor, seaboard city venues,
particularly in the winter months when huddling round a mobile stove is part of the fun.
Equally, many parents join their children for a halal 'MacArabia' chicken roll-up or a beef
pepperoni pizza in the spreading rash of Western fast-food outlets.
Food Glossary
Note that because of the imprecise nature of transliterating Arabic into English, spellings will vary; for example, what we
give as
kibbeh
may appear variously as
kibba, kibby
or even
gibeh
.
MIDDLE EASTERN MEZZE
baba
ghanooj
smokey-flavoured dip of baked, mashed aubergine (eggplant), typically mixed with tomato and onion
and sometimes pomegranate
batata hara
hot, diced potatoes fried with coriander, garlic and capsicum
pastry pockets stuffed with salty white cheese or spicy minced meat with pine nuts; also known as sam-
bousek
börek
fatayer
small pastry triangles filled with spinach
fattoosha
fresh salad of onions, tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and shards of crispy, thin, deep-fried bread
fuul
paste made from beans, tomatoes, onions, and chilli; also spelt foul, fool
hummus
chickpeas ground into a paste and mixed with tahini, garlic and lemon
kibbeh
minced lamb, bulgur wheat and pine nuts shaped into a lemon-shaped patty and deep fried
kibbeh
nayye
minced lamb and cracked wheat served raw
kibda
liver, often chicken liver (
kibda firekh
or
kibda farouj
), usually sautéed in lemon or garlic
labneh
yoghurt paste, heavily flavoured with garlic or mint
lahma bi-
ajeen
small lamb pies
loubieh
French bean salad with tomatoes, onions and garlic
baked vegetables, such as courgettes (zucchini), vine leaves, capsicums, or aubergines, stuffed with
minced meat, rice, onions, parsley and herbs
mashi
mujadarreh
traditional 'poor person's' dish of lentils and rice garnished with caramelised onions
similar to
baba ghanooj
, but the blended aubergine is mixed with tahini, yoghurt and olive oil to
achieve a creamier consistency
muttabal
salad of small pieces of crumbled, tangy, eye-wateringly strong cheese mixed with chopped onion and
tomato
shanklish
