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Arab Food Ingredients

How to make Bint al-Sahn: A Romantic Yemeni Dish

Contributing Arab America writer and editor, Menal Elmaliki shows us how to make this popular Yemeni dish/ dessert. This romanticized dessert is called “Bint al-Sahn,” بنت الصحن, translated to ‘daughter of the plate,’ and is symbolic of Yemeni women. It is described as a layered bread dish or honey cake. It is a Yemeni sweet prepared with flour, eggs, yeast, samn (clarified butter), and habbat sowda or black cumin/ nigella seeds. It is the Yemeni version of a croissant, as each layer is covered with butter, and its outcome is a rich and flaky dessert. It is best eaten warm, with honey and served with tea.

How to Make Yemeni Ful–Mudammas

Ful is a traditional middle eastern food, its origin dating back centuries. In Yemen, ful is eaten for breakfast, or dinner, and is eaten with rooti–small loaf breads, gamati, or malawah–layered bread. Arab America contributing writer, Menal Elmaliki, explains how this Yemeni breakfast is often cooked in clay and stone pots, and is spicy. It is sometimes called a spicy bean stew, soup, or chili. It’s a common dish in Yemen because it is very affordable to make while also being nutritious. Here is a quick and easy recipe for making this nutritious dish.

Trader Joe’s and the Dirty Word: Arab

By: Menal Elmaliki / Arab America Contributing Writer In post 9/11 America, the word Arab carries a negative connotation. Over the course of two decades, the representation of Arabs has been and continues to be abhorrent. The public has been bombarded with images of war throughout the Middle East. The constant association of Arabs with … Continued

Cookbook of Baghdad: 10th century

By: Menal Elmaliki / Arab America Contributing Writer “The mere smell of cooking can evoke a whole civilization.” Fernand Braudel ‘Kitab al-Tabikh’ ‘Kitab al Tabikh’ is an old recipe book dating back to the early Middle Ages or dark ages. It was written in the 10th century on the “Cuisine of the Caliph of Baghdad,” and … Continued

Ka’ak Asfar- The Easter Bread of the Holy Land

By: Blanche Shaheen / Arab America Contributing Writer When Palestinians, Lebanese, Jordanians, and Syrians celebrate Easter, no bunnies or chocolate creme eggs enter into the equation. Instead, Easter is filled with the symbolism of Christ’s resurrection, with date cookies like mamoul, or breads like Ka’ak Asfar, or “Yellow Bread” in Arabic. There are so many … Continued

Authentic Arab Food Blogs

By: Anthony Bayyouk / Arab America contributing Writer If there’s one thing Arabs love to bond over it’s food. Every tradition and occasion involved food. Recipes have been passed down from generation to generation. Each Country in the Arab World has a national dish yet all countries collectively share multiple dishes. Grape leaves and falafel … Continued

Turkish Influence on Arab Food

By: Lindsey Penn/Arab America Contributing Writer Although Turkey is not a part of the Arab world, because of the Ottoman Empire, there is quite a bit of shared history and culture between the countries in the Arab world and Turkey. The Turkish (specifically the Ottomans) influenced Arab culture, and the same can be said for … Continued

Knafeh: The Iconic Dessert of the Arab World

By: Blanche Shaheen / Arab America Contributing Writer Ask any Arab from any continent, what their favorite dessert is, and they will most likely respond: Kanafeh. This iconic pastry, spelled a myriad of ways, from knafeh to knafuh to kanafeh, is undoubtedly the most popular dessert among Arabs the world over. This layered confection consists … Continued

Cuisine of Comoros

By: Claire Boyle / Arab America Contributing Writer Introduction: Comoros is a nation of islands, and it is also the only country in the Arab League that is in the Southern Hemisphere. Comoros has beautiful tourist sites, lots of interesting histories, and cultures behind it, but did you know because of its multicultural heritage, it … Continued

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