Middle Eastern Food

Middle Eastern food is so delicious. Pomegranates, watermelon and other strange melons, cinnamon and ginger in meat dishes, lamb, rice pudding, things made with chickpeas, parsley and cilantro in everything, mint and cucumbers in yogurt, really fresh cheese... these are a few of my favorite things.

The best hummus I have ever had was at the Nouroz restaurant on 3rd circle in Amman, Jordan. Not only was it great hummus, but it was drizzled with olive oil, fabulous ground lamb, and toasted pine nuts. I can't even remember what we ordered after that. Equally as memorable, though not as impressive, was the on-street falafel served with tabasco sauce on a hot dog bun- also in Amman.

Ankara, Turkey, has fantastic food as well as a few strange things- well, strange to my American tastes. I remember a sandwich on a huge hoagie roll stuffed with fries, peas, chicken, and ketchup. Hmmm. However, nothing will ever compare to Kebap 49's Iskender kebap: thin slices of lamb over pide bread topped with a tomato sauce and browned butter, with a thick yogurt on the side. Not exactly low in cholesterol, but incredibly delicious. The best Turkish breakfast was at the Paper Moon hotel in Kalkan. The cucumbers were freshly picked from the garden, as were the tomatoes, and the eggs and cheese were so good. Kalkan also provided the special treat of gozleme (really flat bread, like a paper thin grilled tortilla) filled with chocolate and oranges.

I've never been to Morocco, but I love their food. I've tried many dishes from Kitty Morse's Cooking at the Kasbah, and every one has been amazing. My all-time favorite has to be the b'stila b'djej (chicken b'stila). What a combination! It's a big baked pastry layered with sweet cinnamon-chicken and almond fillings. None of this stuff can be made in today's 30-minutes-or-less fad; in fact, some of it takes all day. I love it.