Lentil Soup Low Fat
Lentil Soup Low Fat
Iraqi cuisine or Mesopotamian cuisine has a long history going back some 10,000 years - to the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians and Assyrians. Tablets found in ancient ruins in Iraq show recipes prepared in the temples during religious festivals - the first cookbooks in the world. Ancient Iraq, or Mesopotamia , was home to many sophisticated and highly advanced civilizations, in all fields of knowledge - including the culinary arts. However, it was in the medieval era when Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate that the Iraqi kitchen reached its zenith. Today, the cuisine of Iraq reflects this rich inheritance as well as strong influences from the culinary traditions of neighbouring Turkey, Iran and the Greater Syria area.
Meals begin with appetizers and salads - known as Mezze . Some popular dishes include Kebab (often marinated with garlic, lemon and spices, then grilled), Shawarma (grilled meat sandwich wrap, similar to Döner kebab ), Bamia (lamb, okra and tomato stew), Quzi (lamb with rice, almonds, raisins and spices), Falafel (fried chickpea patties served with amba and salad in pita ), Kibbeh (minced meat ground with bulghur or rice and spices), Masgouf (grilled fish with pepper and tamarind), and Maqluba (a rice, lamb, tomato and aubergine dish). Stuffed vegetable dishes such as Dolma and Mahshi are also popular.
Iraqi cuisine
Ingredients
Some characteristic ingredients of Iraqi cuisine include:
- Vegetables such as aubergine, tomato, okra, onion, potato, courgette, garlic, peppers and chilli.
- Cereals such as rice, bulghur wheat and barley.
- Pulses and legumes such as lentils, chickpeas and cannellini.
- Fruits such as dates, raisins, apricots, figs, grapes, melon, pomegranate and citrus fruits, especially lemon and lime.
- Cheeses such as baladi, feta and halloumi.
- Herbs and spices such as cinnamon, cardamom, fenugreek, cumin, oregano, saffron, baharat, sumac and za'atar.
Other Iraqi culinary essentials include butter, olive oil, olives, tamarind, vermicelli, tahini, pistachios, almonds, honey, date syrup, yogurt and rose water. Similarly with other countries of Western Asia, chicken and especially lamb are the favourite meats. Most dishes are served with rice - usually Basmati, grown in the marshes of Southern Iraq. Bulghur wheat is used in many dishes - having been a staple in the country since the days of the Ancient Assyrians.
Mezze
Mezze is a selection of appetizers or small dishes often served with beverage, like anise-flavored liqueurs such as arak, ouzo, raki or different wines, similar to the tapas of Spain or finger food.
- Fried aubergine , a dish often served cold, consisting of fried aubergine with tahini sauce, lettuce, parsley and tomatoes, garnished with sumac and served on pita bread or sliced bread, often grilled or toasted. Variations include bell peppers, or a garlic lemon vinaigrette.
- Fattoush , a salad made from several garden vegetables and toasted or fried pieces of pita bread.
- Tabbouleh , a salad dish, often used as part of a mezze. Its primary ingredients are finely chopped parsley, bulgur, mint, tomato, scallion, and other herbs with lemon juice, olive oil and various seasonings, generally including black pepper and sometimes cinnamon and allspice.
- Turshi , pickled vegetables in the cuisine of many Balkan and Middle East countries. It is a traditional appetizer, meze for rakı, ouzo, tsipouro and rakia.
Dips
- Baba ghanoush , a dish of baked aubergine mashed and mixed with various seasonings.
- Hummus , a dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic.
- Muhammara , a hot pepper dip originally from Aleppo, Syria.
- Tzatziki , an appetizer of Greek origin, also used as a sauce for souvlaki and gyros. Tzatziki is made of strained yoghurt (usually sheep's-milk or goat's-milk in Greece and Turkey) with cucumbers, garlic, salt, usually olive oil, pepper, dill, sometimes lemon juice and parsley, or mint added. The cucumbers are either pureed and strained, or seeded and finely diced. Olive oil, olives, and herbs are often used as garnishes.
Porridge, soups and stews
- Fasoulia , a soup of dry white beans, olive oil, and vegetables. It is similar to tomato soup.
- Harissa , a dish similar to kashkeg that is a kind of homogeneous porridge made of previously stewed and boned chicken and coarsely ground soaked wheat.
- Lentil soup
- Margat bamya or bamia , a stew made with okra and lamb or beef cubes and in a tomato sauce.
- Pomegranate soup , called Shorbat Rumman in Iraq. It is made from pomegranate juice and seeds, yellow split peas, ground beef, mint leaves, spices, and other ingredients.
- Kebabs , a dish consisting of grilled or broiled meats on a skewer or stick. The most common kebabs include lamb and beef, although others use goat, chicken, fish, or shellfish.
- Maqluba , an upside-down rice and eggplant casserole, hence the name which is literally translated as "upside-down". It is sometimes made with fried cauliflower instead of eggplant and usually includes meat - often braised lamb.
- Masgouf , a traditional Iraqi dish made with fish from the Tigris. It is an open cut fish grilled and spiced with salt, pepper and tamarind. While keeping the skin on, it is then brushed with olive oil. Traditional garnishes for masgouf include chopped onions and tomatoes, as well as the clay-oven flatbreads common to Iraq and much of the Middle East.
- Moussaka , an eggplant (aubergine)-based dish of the Balkans and the Middle East. All versions are based primarily on sautéed eggplant and tomato, usually with minced meat.
- Quzi , stuffed roasted lamb.
- Sfiha , a pizza-like dish traditionally made with ground mutton rather than the more modern addition of lamb, or beef in Brazil. They are "open faced" meat pies with no top dough. Sfiha were much like dolma; simply ground lamb, lightly spiced, wrapped in brined grape leaves.
- Tepsi Baytinijan , a very popular Iraqi casserole. The main ingredient of the dish is eggplant (baytinijan), which are sliced and fried before placing in a baking dish, accompanied with meatballs, tomatoes, onions and garlic. On top of the eggplant, Potato slices are placed on top of the mixture, and the dish is baked. Like many other Iraqi dishes it is usually served with rice, along with salad and pickles.
Dumplings and meatballs
- Dolma , a family of stuffed vegetable dishes. The grape-leaf dolma is common. Zucchini, eggplant, tomato and pepper are commonly used as fillings. The stuffing may or may not include meat.
- Falafel , a fried ball or patty made from spiced chickpeas and/or fava beans. Originally from Egypt, falafel is a popular form of fast food in the Middle East, where it is also served as a mezze.
- Kibbeh , a dishes made of burghul, chopped meat, and spices. The best-known variety is a torpedo-shaped burghul shell stuffed with chopped meat and fried. Other varieties are baked, poached, or even served raw as famously done by the Lebanese. They may be shaped into balls, patties, or flat.
- Kofta , a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Balkan cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced or ground meat — usually beef or lamb — mixed with spices and/or onions. The vegetarian varieties like lauki kofta, shahi aloo kofta, and malai kofta are popular in India, as is kofta made of minced goat meat.
- Sarma
- Sambusak , a small fried or baked pasty, which may be either half-moon shaped or triangular. Sambusac is popular throughout Southwest Asia, the Horn of Africa, and North Africa.
Processed meat
- Pastırma , a highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef in the cuisines of the former Ottoman countries.
- Sujuk , a dry, spicy sausage eaten from the Balkans to the Middle East and Central Asia.
Rice dishes
Rice, especially long-grain rice ( timn ) is staple in Iraqi cookery.
-
Biryani
, a set of rice-based foods made with spices, rice
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