Cooking from the Souq

When I was traveling around Morocco I lamented how I saw such amazing fresh spices at the market but had no access to a kitchen to cook them with.

(At a market in Marrakech)

Yet on my recent trip to the Middle East, I was lucky enough to be able to cook in my friend's home in Qatar, using the fresh spices from the souq (meaning market in Arabic, سوق, the traditional marketplace in a Muslim city.)

Example of souqs:

(In Cairo, Egypt)

I decided to make a vegetable curry using the fresh ingredients available to me. Perusing the exotic spices, lentils, nuts, dried fruits, and other Middle Eastern ingredients in the souq, I decided on a yellow curry. First for the spices:

I chose tumeric, cumin, coriander, ginger, mustard seeds, cinnamon and a hint of red pepper for the spice mixture. Then some yellow lentils to add protein and texture to the curry, and some dried apricots for sweetness and plump golden raisins to mix into the rice. Next over to the vegetable market, where I found onions, carrots, potato, and the regionally-appropriate cousa and turban squash.

Turban squash (winter gourd local to the Middle East)

For the dish: first I soaked the lentils in warm water. I began the dish by toasting the spices in a dry pan to release their flavor. Then I removed the toasted spice mixture and sauteed the sliced onion in olive oil, adding in the diced potato and then the carrots, seasoning with salt and black pepper as I went.

I baked the turban squash whole in the oven, to soften it before breaking it down to add to the curry. I then boiled the lentils and began the rice. Once the onions had began to soften, I added the spices back into the pan, with a dash of brown sugar to caramelize the vegetables and balance out the spices with sweetness. Then I added a can of coconut milk, the lentils, and a can of chickpeas to provide two different textures and kinds of protein to the vegetarian dish.

I took the roasted turban squash out of the oven and broke it down into chunks to add to the curry, the soft sweet roasted flesh a perfect contrast for the spicy curry. I added broth to the curry as it cooked to get the right consistency, and used the rest for the rice. After adding the sliced cousa squash and dried apricots and letting the curry simmer so that the flavors combined, I adjusted the seasoning, with another pinch each of cinnamon and salt; fluffing the rice and stirring in the golden raisins, to serve alongside the curry. Then for a lovely dinner party:

استمتع‎ (Enjoy!)

From the Middle East

Check out my friend Lissa's blog from her current residence in Doha, "An Oryx in Qatar": http://alittleoryx.blogspot.com. She chronicles her many new cultural (and food!) experiences, describing everything from the classic Arabic food with meats, pita and hummus, and traditional Kuwaiti desserts, to the cross-cultural fushion of different cuisines coming from around the world to the Middle East.

In Doha one finds that many of the international restaurants are located in the luxury hotels that stud the city, and the economic boom that follows the financial surge of the more well-known Dubai has spawned a thriving metropolis. In addition to the supurfluence of regional cuisines such as Lebanese, Iranian ("Persian") and Pakistani, it goes far beyond - American chains such as Applebees, even TexMex. One can find sushi in Qatar, if desired.

Yet as with every instance of cultural dissemination, and food is perhaps the best example of all, one sees how an interpretation of what a dish should be can result in something quite different - therein lies the fun. Ice cream with the consistency of gummy candy, hot chocolate that resembles pudding, tacos served in wanton wrappers ... seeming absurdities galore. For me this almost anthropological study of food is what I relish, the opportunity to discover how ordinary (to us) western foods are transformed into new hybrids in other places in the world. Hybrids you can eat.

So follow the Oryx in her travels and adventures with food throughout the Middle East ...