Middle East
Spiced meats, flatbreads and meze — the rich culinary heritage of the Levant.
About Middle Eastern cuisine
The food of the Arabian Gulf is built around generosity — meals that arrive in abundance, shared without ceremony. Spending time across Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s and 1980s, before the region was transformed by development, meant encountering a food culture that was quieter and more local than it is today. The Asian influence ran deep — curries, rice dishes and spiced seafood sitting comfortably alongside Arabic traditions. Gulf prawns were extraordinary, the kind of size that stops a conversation. The biryanis were fragrant and serious. And the hospitality was absolute — food was never just food, it was the whole point of being together.
Middle Eastern cooking at home is more achievable than most people think. The flavours are bold but the techniques are simple — slow cooking, layering spice, and leaving things alone long enough to work. A few core ingredients — tahini, warm spices, good olive oil, fresh herbs, pomegranate molasses — open up a whole cuisine.
My Middle East years began in Bahrain, where I lived from 1980 to 1984 — running with the Hash House Harriers in forty-degree heat, then piling into a curry house afterwards to recover. My friend Maurice made a ritual of demanding the hottest curry on the menu, then calling the kitchen back to spice it up further. I took the opposite lesson from those evenings: spice is there to be balanced and enjoyed, not endured — and that idea has shaped every spiced dish I have cooked since. I am still chasing the samosas from the Manama souk, the best I have ever eaten. Forty years on, I have never quite recreated them.
Key ingredients
Stock these and you can cook Middle Eastern almost any night of the week.
Fresh herbsParsley, mint and coriander used by the bunch, not the sprig.
Warm spicesCumin, coriander, allspice and cinnamon — toasted and ground.
Lemon & sumacJuice in dressings, sumac scattered over salads and grilled meats.
TahiniWhisked with lemon and garlic for dressings, stirred into stews.
Pomegranate molassesSweet, sour and dark — a few drops transform a dressing or stew.
LambSlow-cooked until tender, grilled in pieces, or minced into kofte.
Recipes from my kitchen
A handful of Middle Eastern recipes I cook on rotation. All tested in a real kitchen.
Spiced Lamb Skewers
For something spicy that has plenty of flavour try these spicy Indian lamb skewers.
Spicy Lamb Meatballs
Spicy lamb meatballs make a change from the usual beef that is a little more common.
Lamb with Courgette, Figs, Beetroot, Tomatoes and Tahini Dressing
This unique dish combines flavours of Middle Eastern cuisine to create a decadent treat. It is sure to please any palate.
