Delicious dishes over Gulf area

As salamu 3alaikom my dears, 

today i wanna share with u some of the famous dishes eaten on the Gulf region. We arabs are well known of food minded people, we love to eat good, savory,  healthy food and for this reason most of our mothers spent a lot of time in the kitchen doing all the hard work for making her family pleased . In some families even we have got the maid servant, sometimes our mothers loves to show their admiration for the family members, by cooking herself and feeding us with food made by her hand :) ...that's pretty cool and very intelligent way of showing appreciation for her husband and kids....

In some other families, the mothers will start preparing the daughters at a "fresh" age familiarizing them with kitchen work, teaching them recipes, some secrets of a perfect meal ... and all this for the purpose in being ready to face alone the kitchen work when time to get married . 

They like daughters to leave the paternal house with a good knowledge of house work and marriage issues , so that the new husband will have nothing wrong to say about their daughter ( this is very common mentality over old families ). 

Other type of arabic families are the opposite, they are very open mind so the mothers love to  their daughters while they are in the paternal house, leaving the teachings for later on , when they will get married and being at their own houses , the mother will give "training" to the daughter at that time. 

In short this is the cooking matters in arab world, and now i will let u taste from the most delicious food consumed all over the Gulf area.

Spices used in arabic kitchen

Ok dears, first i'm sorry i haven't update my blog as for i was not feeling well .. some complications came after my operation, bas now i can say i'm little better, thanks to my God !
Not long ago , one sister asked me regarding the spices we use in Arabic  kitchen. I thought in posting some of the spices ( out of hundreds ) along with the pictures for recognizing them easily when u go to supermarket and wanna have some.

The one i love so much called "CARDAMOM" used in arabic coffee, sweets and biryani rice.

Maggie , i think everyone knows it :)

We use a lot the spice named " BHARAT " - means allspice mixed and can be done at home as well. Is it a mixture of spices which varies from region to region.

Another one is the  " CLOVES " 

"YANSOON" my fabulous spice , i use it a lot coz i like the flavor . Usually is it used to calm down a pain stomach making a tea with it , but  i add this to some of my dishes as well ( it gives a special taste )

"REIHAN" - BASIL is it used fresh or dry to salads

"KARAWIA" 

"KHUZBARA" -"CORIANDER" used in salad and main courses.Very healthy !

"KAMOON" - i love it i use it in tea's , sweets , rice and some dishes.

"SAFFRON" - a blessed ingredient the most expansive , used with rice for flavor and color, for preparation the fish and chicken and not at last used in some sweets.

My self, I  enjoy the taste of "saffron " tea !

" KURKUM " or " TURMERIC "  in english 

The black pepper, cinnamon, garlic, mint , nutmeg , parsley , red pepper , sesame seeds , rose water , masticha , ginger, bay leaves, pistachio, nuts, dates, za'attar, maramyieh, mardakoosh, rashad, are also some of the ingredients which are used in arabic kitchen.

Now i wanna show u a quick recipe i did it last days while i was feeling so sick . 

My food for the last 1 week and a half must be only smashed , i'm not allowed and i can't eat the regular food, so u need a lot of imagination to survive with this kind of food and in the same time to be healthy and delicious.

Here's my personalized recipe:

I took 1 chicken breast , i boiled it, and then i put it in blender along with :

- 3 spoons of sour cream

- 3 spoons of tahina

- little turmeric

- little anise

- 1 pc.garlic

- little cinnamon

- salt to taste

- and very litlle water.

All those mix well into blender until u will get a creamy sauce. 

It was really delicious . This must be a great ideea to feed the small babies as well :)

And this is how it looks like

Our blessed dates palm

We all like to eat dates, we see it as an regular thing, but we might don't knw the importance they have in to our lives. I like so much dates, especially my favorite cake named "ma'3mool" it's a kind of biscuit filled with dates and some flavours.

In Ramadan we , muslims break our fast with dates and water , but also they are consummed in the regular days.

The history of dates in the lives of the Arabian Peninsula is very ancient. Dates are produced from the Palm tree which is a part of the Saudi emblem.The Kingdom is considered as one of the world's major producer of dates, with its annual production reaching 800,000 tons.

One ancient Muslim tale describes the date palm as the chief food created by God to nourish Adam in the guardian of Eden. The palm was also said to have been the building material for Mohammed's (saw) home. Dates were Mohammed's(saw) favorite fruit and there are some 26 references to them in the Qur'an.

Dates are rich in many different kinds of minerals and vitamins. They contain fat, sugar, proteins, calcium, sulphur, iron, potassium, copper, manganese and magnesium. Combining dates and milk results in a self-sufficient food.

In Ramadan, Muslims break their fasting with dates. Thus, they cannot eat much food directly after eating dates. This is because dates contain sugar in which its absence is the main reason of the hunger feeling. When the body absorbs the sugar of the dates, the feeling of hunger disappears. Eating dates before the main meal can help in avoiding excessive eating.

Recent experiments approves that dates contain some stimulants that strengthen the uterus muscles in the final months of pregnancy. This fact is already known by Muslims when they read Quran.

The Quran mentions the story of Mariam or Mary (The mother of Jesus) when she felt labor pains and she was told to eat dates.

Allah says: " And shake the trunk of the date-palm towards you, it will let fall fresh ripe-dates upon you. " (19:25)