Negative Space: Middle-Eastern
- The Art of Syrian Cookery
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Lots of eggplant, sweets, and mahleb. This is a very good cookbook.
- Eggplant hummus
- The smooth, smoky flavor of roasted eggplant mixed with the nutty flavor of chickpeas, it combines baba ghanouj with hummus.
- In a Persian Kitchen
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This is probably the best Iranian/Persian cookbook I have; it is definitely the one I use most often.
- Lebanese Cuisine
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Garlic, eggplant, and chickpeas. You can’t hardly go wrong with Lebanese food, and this book is great.
- Persian eggplant stew
- This recipe convinced me not to skin eggplants. I almost never take the skin off of eggplants now; it adds a tangy flavor to the eggplant that it otherwise loses.
- Persian-style tofu and rice
- This recipe is up by request after last year’s Christmas party. The spices in the “meatballs” really have their own flavor, and tofu’s amazing ability to absorb flavors makes this a worthwhile dish.
- Rose-water kodafa with pistachio
- Rose-water, saffron, and honey give this oddly light dessert its main flavoring, and the whole thing can be whipped up in under an hour. The use of couscous for the cake portion makes this a surprisingly light dessert.
More Information
- The Book of Yogurt
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“Ever since I can remember I have had a culinary affair with yogurt. Thanks to my Lebanese-Armenian heritage, it has been a mainstay of my diet all my life. There seems to be no end to dishes made with yogurt in the Middle Eastern cookery, where it is used in the preparation of a wondrous array of edibles, from hors d’oeuvre and soups to desserts and beverages.”
