Arabian Delights
Recipes and Princely Entertaining Ideas from the Arabian Peninsula
by Amy Riolo
Capital Books, 2008
213 pages
What we know in America of Arabian food and life is colored by politics, by the local felafel truck, and maybe by ignorance. But with her book on the meals and traditions of Arabian entertaining, Amy Riolo seeks to illuminate a culture and move cooks beyond pita chips and hummus.
Riolo has not only gathered recipes, but put them in the context of Arabian life, whether it's an elaborate Royal Wedding Feast or a monthly ladies tea called an istakbal where friends and family can visit and catch up with each other.
As she points out, the cuisine of the Arabian peninsula has been shaped shaped by ancient agriculture; generations of trade with India, Africa, and the Levant; and a gradual evolution from nomadic Bedouin simplicity to a courtly complexity meant to please and impress. The influence of Islam is evident in halal meat, the prescription against alcohol, and the importance of dates, a favorite food of the prophet and considered to be healthful. Dates appear in every course of an Oasis Date Harvest meal, from basmati rice with dates and apricots and Cornish Hens Glazed with Date Molasses to Date and Walnut Cookies for dessert.
Riolo begins by parsing local menu differences among the countries of Oman, Yemen, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Yemen's port city of Mocha is the source of Arabian coffee culture, in the world city of Dubai, visitors can enjoy international cuisine, and Kuwaiti dishes have been influenced by the Indian subcontinent, with a pilaf-style rice dish of machbous very similar to an Indian biryani. To lend dsitinctive local flavor, Riolo includes recipes for Saudi , Omani, and Yemeni spice mixes.
Riolo has immersed herself in Arab culture, and her recipes, gathered from home cooks and local restaurants, have a taste of authenticity. And like home cooks around the world, Arabian housewives are not averse to a cooking shortcut, for example, using refrigerated bread dough to make Khubz bi Lahma, a bread topped with spiced ground beef and pine nuts.
Riolo takes care to place the recipes in the context of holidays and events, thereby showing the extreme care taken in Arabian hospitality. Parties are planned well in advance, with multi-course menus, coordinated linens, complementary incense, and guests sent home with favors of spice sachets or bunches of fresh dates
Somewhat in opposition to western attitudes of hospitality, honored visitors to an Arabian home will be treated like family, invited for example, into the intimacy of eating on a cloth spread on the floor.
But that's not to say that preparations won't be elaborate. Meals include salad, soups, stuffed breads, stews, and kabobs, accompanied by spiced teas and blended fruit juices, finished with honeyed desserts and date-sweet cookies.
With her similar attention to detail, Riolo opens a window onto a culture that is much with us, but very little understood. And what better place for understanding than over a shared meal.
© 2007 Claudia Kousoulas
