Sunday, December 13, 2009

November 2009 - Kuwait

Kuwaiti food is largely representative of the surrounding food cultures such as Arabian, Indian and Western. There is also a large Bedouin influence. The most common spice mix in Kuwait is a fusion of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cumin, nutmeg, black pepper and paprika. We approached the preparation of the meal by creating an assortment of traditional salads, mezze, Kuwaiti spiced kebabs, rice and the Gers ogaily which is an oil less cake made with cardamom and saffron.

  • hummus and beetroot spreads
  • pita breads and fresh salad

  • Assorted kebabs and rice


Traditional cake

This was a very easy cuisine to prepare and pretty familiar too so I am not going to delve too much into the individual salads and dips. Most of the ingredients were readily available and it felt pretty healthy too. The large assortment of salads and the spicy kebabs and rice worked well together to create a healthy and light meal that is easy to replicate. The kebabs were done on the barbecue and the traditional spices with which they were seasoned made a tasty and aromatic main course. The only disappointment of the evening was the sponge cake which I am fairly sure is supposed to rise to more than half a centimetre in height :) but nevertheless we got the idea of the flavour and texture.

NEXT MONTH: UZBEKISTAN