List of Middle Eastern dishes

List of Middle Eastern Dishes

The Middle East is a region that spans across Western Asia and Egypt, encompassing a rich diversity of cultures, languages, and traditions. This diversity is vividly reflected in its culinary practices, which offer a wide array of flavors, ingredients, and cooking techniques. Middle Eastern cuisine is known for its emphasis on fresh herbs, spices, and the use of specific staples such as rice, lentils, and meats like lamb and chicken. This article provides an overview of some of the most iconic and beloved dishes from the Middle East, each offering a glimpse into the region's vast culinary landscape.

Appetizers and Salads

• Hummus: A creamy spread made from mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and garlic. It is commonly served with pita bread.

• Tabbouleh: A salad primarily made of finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, bulgur (cracked wheat), and seasoned with olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

• Baba Ghanoush: A dish of cooked eggplant mixed with onions, tomatoes, olive oil, and various seasonings. Often eaten as a dip with bread.

• Falafel: Deep-fried balls or patties made from ground chickpeas or fava beans, mixed with herbs and spices. Served in a pita or wrapped in a flatbread.

Main Courses

• Kebab: Grilled meat dishes that can be found in various forms throughout the Middle East. Common variations include shish kebab (skewered meat) and doner kebab (meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie).

• Shawarma: A popular street food, consisting of meat cut into thin slices, stacked in a cone-like shape, and roasted on a slowly-turning vertical rotisserie or spit. Commonly served as a wrap in flatbread with vegetables and sauce.

• Kibbeh: A family of dishes based on spiced ground meat, onions, and grain, typically bulgur wheat. It can be served raw, baked, fried, or cooked in broth.

• Mansaf: A traditional Jordanian dish made of lamb cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt and served with rice or bulgur.

Desserts

• Baklava: A rich, sweet pastry made of layers of filo filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.

• Knafeh: A dessert made with thin noodle-like pastry, or semolina dough, soaked in sweet, sugar-based syrup, and typically layered with cheese, or with other ingredients such as clotted cream or nuts.

• Halva: A dense, sweet confection served across the Middle East, made from tahini (sesame paste) or other nut butters, and sugar or honey.

Beverages

• Turkish coffee: A method of coffee preparation that involves boiling finely ground coffee beans with water and usually sugar, and serving it in a cup where the grounds are allowed to settle.

• Mint tea: A popular beverage, especially in the Maghreb, made by brewing green tea with fresh mint leaves.

See Also

• Cuisine of the Middle East
• List of African dishes
• List of Asian dishes

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