Abu Dhabi's Gourmet Strip Offers the Best in Arabian Gulf Food
By: Habeeb Salloum/Arab American Contributor Writer
“When night falls, you should come here and sit in our Breakwater Local Café. It’s teeming with people. Everyone is in a good mood, sipping on their coffee, dining on the finest of Gulf foods, or just puffing on water pipes. It’s the city’s heart of traditional relaxation, enjoyed in 21st-century style.” The Manager of Breakwater Local Café, one of the eating-places offering Arabian Gulf foods atop a man-made breakwater edging the Corniche of Abu Dhabi, explained when I asked him, “How can restaurants survive side by side when they all serve virtually the same food?”
The Breakwater Local Cafe, only a few years old, it is a re-creation of Abu Dhabi structures before the discovery of oil. Favored by the nationals, it is a rambling series of reed and mud buildings, reflecting the architecture of the country’s past. Few a few dollars, one can snack on a series of appetizers or smoke a water-pipe, or for around US$15., dine on a fine meal which includes the epitome of Gulf foods.
The next-door Al Safina, the oldest and most famous restaurant in the group, was once the personal dhow of Sultan Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates. Like its sister dhows whose sails, in the past, filled the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, it had become obsolete.
However, unlike the majority of these historic ships, it continues to live on, offering the best in Arabian Gulf gourmet foods – catering to weddings, private parties, and company functions. Renovated a few years ago, it offers at an average cost of less than $15., Gulf foods amid the aura of the past.
We had chosen Al Safina to savor the pleasure of genuine United Arab Emirates’ cuisine in authentic surroundings – in an environment Sindbad the Sailor would have quickly recognized. After we sat down, the waiter told us we were lucky. Roast lamb cooked Arab style – only an occasional treat – was on the menu this day. I was surprised.
Roast lamb, which the Arabs call kharouf mihshee, quozi or zarb, is usually prepared on feast days, for some special occasion or to honor an important guest. Traditionally, the lamb was slowly cooked in an underground pit over red-hot coals. It is then served to pipe hot atop a mountain of rice – its enticing aroma making one anxious for the delights of the feast to come.
When the food came, it was tastier than any of the many roast lambs I have enjoyed both in the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and North America. Going back thousands of years, the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf countries’ links to the Indian sub-continent have imparted the spicy taste of India and Pakistan to these foods.
Exotic herbs and spices such as cinnamon, coriander, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom have created in the kitchen of the Arabian Gulf countries a world of gourmet delights. The spices of the East have become an integral part of all their dishes. Hence, they have added to roast lamb, the traditional symbol of Arab hospitality an exotic and mouth-watering touch.
That night as we dined in the converted dhow on the epitome of Arab foods, and enjoyed the stunning panoramic view of ultra-modern Abu Dhabi ablaze with lights, I took a nostalgic trip to the days of long ago.
The heritage and atmosphere, enhanced by the authentic spicy dishes of the Arabian Gulf, took me back to the era of the ‘Arabian Nights’ and Sinbad the Sailor in whose days dhows, like what was now the home of our restaurant, brought from distant lands riches, poetry, and romance. On such a ship, Sinbad could very well have sailed to bring back to the spices of the Arab land to enrich their cuisine.
I was no Sinbad, but the magic of the evening, after we had enjoyed roast lamb and sipped aromatic cardamom coffee aboard the moored dhow Al Safina, will linger for a long time to come.
Stuffed Lamb
Serves 20 to 25
Today in the towns and cities of the countries in the Arabian Peninsula, unlike in the past stuffed lambs are mostly cooked in ovens – any stove with a large oven will do. This recipe is my own version of that famous Arab dish.
20- to 25-pounds lamb, thoroughly washed
1/2 cup lemon juice
3 tablespoons salt
4 teaspoons black pepper
4 teaspoons allspice
1/2-pound butter
3 pounds beef or lamb, cut into very small pieces
4 medium onions, finely chopped
1 cup blanched almonds
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup pistachio nuts
5 cups rice, rinsed
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
8 cardamom seeds, crushed
6 cups of water
2 cups plain yogurt
1 cup honey
2 teaspoons powdered garlic
2 teaspoons ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon ginger
Thoroughly rub lamb both inside and out with a mixture of the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of the salt. Set aside and allow standing for an hour.
Combine 2 teaspoons pepper and 2 teaspoons allspice. Rub lamb inside and out with this mixture then set aside, ready for stuffing.
Melt butter in a large pot then sautés meat over medium heat for 15 minutes. Stir in onions, almonds, cashews, pine nuts, and pistachios. Sauté for a further 10 minutes or until nuts begin to brown. Stir in remaining salt, pepper and allspice, rice, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne, cardamom, and water. Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
Stuff lamb with the contents of the pot, then sew closed and place in a large baking pan.
Make basting by combining the remaining ingredients. Baste lamb and cover with aluminum foil. Bake in a 300° F preheated oven for 3 hours, then remove foil and baste. Bake for a further 1-hour, basting twice. Turn lamb over, baste, recover with foil, then cook for a further 1 1/2 hours or until the lamb meat is tender, basting every half hour. If baste finishes, baste with pan juices.
Place lamb on a large platter. Remove sewing thread and serve piping hot.
Fresh Coriander with Yogurt
Plain yogurt or this dish is usually served as a side dish with stuffed lamb. Double the recipe when served with a whole roast lamb.
2 quarts plain yogurt
1 bunch fresh coriander leaves (cilantro), thoroughly washed and finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons salt
Thoroughly combine all ingredients. Chill and serve.
Fish with Lentils and Rice – Makbous Samak
Serves about 8
Besides roast lamb, the Arabian Gulf countries are noted for their fish dishes. This tasty dish is an example of these mouth-watering delights.
6 tablespoons butter
2 cups rice, rinsed
1/2 cup lentils, soaked overnight in 5 1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
4-pounds fish fillet, cut into 2-inch cubes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup cooking oil
4 medium onions, finely chopped
Melt butter in a saucepan, then add rice and stir-fry for 3 minutes. Add lentils with their water, pepper, cumin, ginger, cayenne, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Bring to boil and cover. Cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes. Turn heat off, then allow to cook in your own steam for further 30 minutes.
In the meantime, sprinkle fish fillet with the remaining salt and garlic powder, then set aside.
Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil in a frying pan, then sauté onions over medium heat until they turn golden brown. Set aside but keep warm.
Heat remaining oil in a frying pan, then fry fish over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning over once. Do not overcook. Set aside.
Place rice and lentils on a platter, then spread onions evenly over top. Place fish fillet over onions then serve.
Nut Rolls – Nashab
1 1/4 cups raw cashew nuts
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup blanched almonds
1 teaspoon ground cardamom seeds
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup of water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-pound package filo dough
oil for frying
Place cashew, walnuts, almonds, cardamom, and 1 cup of the sugar in a food processor then process for a minute to make the filling. Set aside.
Place the remaining sugar and water in a pot and bring to boil. Simmer over low heat for 5 minutes then stir in lemon juice to make syrup. Leave on very low heat.
Cut filo dough into quarters then cover with a lightly damp cloth. Take one piece at a time and place 1 level tablespoon of filling along the middle of the bottom edge. Fold both sides overfilling. Wet with fingers top edge then roll from bottom up. Repeat until all filo dough pieces are finished.
Place oil 1 to 2 inches deep in a saucepan, then heat. Fry rolls over medium heat, turning them over until they are lightly evenly brown. Remove then place in warm syrup for a few moments. Remove from syrup and allow to cool.
Arabian Cardamon Coffee – Qahwah
3 tablespoons un-roasted coffee
4 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoon pulverized cardamom seeds
Place coffee in a heavy frying pan, then roast over high heat, stirring constantly until it just begins to brown. Remove and allow to cool, then coarsely grind.
Place water in a coffee pot then bring it to boil. Add coffee, then brew over medium heat for 10 minutes. Pour through a strainer into an ibrik (serving coffee pot) or another ordinary coffee pot. Add cardamom then bring to boil. Brew for 5 minutes then pour into tiny Arab coffee cups and serve.
