Mideast traditions revisited

NEW YORK — The 30-plus years since Claudia Roden wrote her landmark "A Book of Middle Eastern Cooking" have been full of further discovery and change, she said.

So much so that she felt compelled to pass on her findings in "The New Book of Middle Eastern Food" (Knopf, 514 pages, $35).

Bulgar pilaf with tomatoes and eggplant canbe served hot as a sidedish or cold as an appetizer.
AP photo

At a recent interview in Manhattan, she explained how this book is an improvement over the earlier work.

"What this book is all about," she said, "is that during the years I've gone on following up, finding out more and better ways people can do these dishes.

"The best of it is, when you've written a book, people come and tell you about the things they think you forgot to put in — or they'll comment on something you say and tell you, 'We do that a different way.'

"So, really, many of the old recipes have some kind of improvement, many of them have variations and other versions in the new book."

Despite modern adaptations, Roden's overview of Middle Eastern cooking is deeply rooted in tradition, and her writing is seasoned with colorful interjections of history, quotes, anecdotes and social commentary.

She draws on all four of the region's major cooking styles. Many Americans will recognize borrowings from those traditions that are increasingly popular in the United States:

The haute cuisine of Iran, based on refined rice dishes.

Arab cooking from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, with vegetable and bulgur wheat dishes.

The rich evocative style of Turkish cooking — including kebabs and yogurt salads and syrupy pastries.

And the newly influential North African cooking, especially its couscous and spirited seasonings.

"There isn't any one definition of the Middle East, but Egypt — at the time I grew up there — was very cosmopolitan," she said. She pointed out that since their earliest history the Mediterranean regions, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, have been rich in exchanges, migrations and the sharing of ideas, customs and traditions.

Roden's life reflects this. She was born in Cairo into a Jewish family; her grandparents came from Syria and Turkey.

In 1956, at the time of the Suez crisis, her family left Egypt. She continued her education in Paris and London, where she now lives when she is not traveling as a food writer.

Her "The Book of Jewish Food" (Knopf, 670 pages, $28) won the James Beard Foundation's 1997 cookbook-of-the-year award, and she has done a BBC television series on Mediterranean food. She was Britain's food writer of the year in 1992, and she has won similar honors in France, Italy and the Netherlands.

"I am sometimes asked how a Jewish woman can be fascinated with Arab food and Islamic civilization," she wrote in the book's introduction, "and I reply that it was also ours -- with some differences -- and we were part of it."

She said she has found traveling and food research a two-way learning process. One project, she said with amusement, involved her being asked to go back to Egypt to do a chefs seminar, "to tell them what they should be cooking."

Eating out in restaurants was not traditional in Egypt, Roden explained, but now the tourist business has made restaurants very important. "Restaurant chefs in Egypt tend to be Swiss or Austrian; Egyptian cooks are people who eat what their mothers cooked for them, and they think this is not good enough for tourists," she explained.

She found Egyptian chefs reluctant to lay claim to a grand heritage of sophisticated Egyptian food because they considered it Ottoman cooking, which only the aristocracy ate. " 'But,' I said, 'the Ottomans were here for 500 years, so you are entitled to say it's yours!' "

Roden said she made sure her new book is user-friendly for American home cooks.

"I measured all the ingredients in cups, I went through and made all the recipes. I retested all the old recipes, too, and I did this with Americans in mind," she said.

"The whole book is meant for them. I had to find out what size cans come in, and what package and carton sizes are these days. The whole book is written on the basis of what people can find in the stores, and what form they can buy it in."

Most of the ingredients are items everyone has within reach today, she said.

It doesn't take much to make a difference, she pointed out. "Cumin is the spice for appetizers -- take your eggplant or zucchini, season it with a little cumin and some yogurt, and you have the easiest and most delicious appetizers."

Roden said she has noticed that in the Middle East, people are beginning to adapt their eating and cooking habits, noting health advice and making other changes in tastes. Interest in the Mediterranean diet and its use of olive oil has become widespread.

"Some of their cookbooks tell you to use alternatives. x But I don't want to tell you, for example, to use olive oil all the time. Sometimes butter is better, as in some rice preparations." Her recipes leave the cook some flexibility.

She suggested that home cooks may enjoy trying her recipe for Addas Polow, an elegant Persian rice dish that uses meat or chicken, lentils and dates.

"It's not too difficult to make and it feeds a lot of people -- at least six, but more likely around eight. It was also in the early book, but I improved on it."

You come away with the impression that Roden is always open to try another idea for improvement, to pick up another food development.

"You can never say any work is complete," she said. There was always a new detail to note, to include in this book.

"For example, I discovered a dish from ancient Baghdad being served in Tunisia today -- now, something like that has to be in the book."

RICE WITH LENTILS AND DATES (ADDAS POLOW)
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

2 cups basmati (long grain) rice
1/2 cup butter or vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 pound lamb or beef, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (see note)
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup brown or green lentils, rinsed
1/2 teaspoon good-quality powdered saffron or crushed saffron threads diluted in 1/4-cup hot water
1/2 cup black or golden raisins
1 cup pitted dates, split in half or coarsely chopped
1/3 cup blanched almonds (optional)

Wash and drain the rice.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter or oil in a skillet, and fry the onion until golden. Add the meat and saute, stirring and turning the pieces, until browned all over. Cover with water, add salt and pepper to taste, cinnamon and allspice, and simmer for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender and the liquid is absorbed.

Boil the lentils in water for about 20 minutes, until done, adding salt when they begin to soften. Then drain.

Now boil the rice in a heavy-bottomed, preferably nonstick pan for 10 minutes, until not quite tender and still a little underdone. Drain the rice. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter or oil in the bottom of the pan, then stir in 2 tablespoons of the saffron water and about a third of the rice.

Spread half the meat on top, then sprinkle on half the lentils, raisins, dates, and almonds, if using. Cover with a layer of another third of the rice and the remaining meat, lentils, raisins and dates, and finish with the rice that is left. Melt the remaining butter, stir in the remaining saffron water, and pour all over. Cook, uncovered, on very low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.

Note: This dish can also be made with chicken.

SPICY EGGPLANT SALAD (ZAALOUK)
MAKES 6 SERVINGS

1 1/2 pounds eggplants, peeled and cubed
5 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt
3 large beefsteak tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and chopped
4 tablespoons argan oil (from Morocco) or hazelnut, sesame, walnut or mild extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon harissa (see below) or a mixture of 1/2 teaspoon paprika and a good pinch of ground chili pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Boil the eggplants with the garlic in plenty of salted water, in a pan covered with a lid, for about 30 minutes, or until they are very soft. Drain and chop the eggplants and garlic in a colander, then mash them with a fork, pressing all the water out.

Put the tomatoes in the emptied pan and cook over low heat for about 20 minutes, or until reduced to a thick sauce, stirring occasionally. Mix with the mashed eggplants and the rest of the ingredients and add salt.

The eggplants in this spicy Moroccan salad are boiled, not fried, so it is not oily. It is best made several hours in advance so that the flavors have time to penetrate.

Note: Harissa is a very hot chili-pepper paste flavored with garlic and spices, much used in North Africa, especially Tunisia. It is available store-bought, or you can make your own:

HARISSA (CHILI PASTE)
MAKES 3/4 TO 1 CUP

2 ounces dried hot red chili peppers (stems and seeds removed)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon ground caraway
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
Extra-virgin olive oil

Soak the chili peppers in water for 30 minutes, until soft. Drain and pound with the garlic, spices and a little salt, with a pestle and mortar, or blend in a food processor, adding just enough oil, by the tablespoon, to make a soft paste.

Press into a jar and cover with oil; this harissa will keep well, covered in oil, for weeks in the refrigerator.

BULGUR PILAF WITH TOMATOES (BURGHUL BI BANADOURA)
MAKES 6 TO 8 SERVINGS

1 large onion, chopped
5 tablespoons vegetable or extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups coarse-ground bulgur, washed in cold water and drained
1 pound tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon allspice
1 1/2 cups water

Fry the onion in 2 tablespoons of the oil till golden. Add the bulgur and stir well.

Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, salt, pepper, allspice and water. Stir and cook, covered, over very low heat for 15 minutes, adding a little water if too dry, or letting it evaporate uncovered if too wet. Leave to rest, covered, for 10 minutes, or until the grain is plump and tender, then stir in the remaining oil.

The tomatoes give this pilaf a wonderful fresh flavor, Roden says. It can be eaten hot as a side dish or cold as an appetizer. "If it is to be eaten cold, you might like to use a mild-tasting olive oil."

Variation: Fry 2 medium eggplants, cut into 1-inch cubes, in shallow oil until lightly browned all over and soft inside. Drain on paper towels and fold gently into the bulgur.