Cuisine Description - Cuisine of the United Arab Emirates is a blend of many Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines.
The modern diet of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is cosmopolitan, featuring dishes from around the world. A lot of people confuse Levantine food as being Emirati, but shawarma, hummous, tabbouleh, and mixed grill are all recent additions and do not do justice to the "soul food" that makes up the Emirati menu.
Due to harsh desert conditions, the traditional food of the United Arab Emirates uses a lot of meat, cereals and dairy. Vegetables are difficult to grow and are not strongly featured in the diet. Traditional dishes include Ma'louba, Margooga, Harees, Machbous, Arsee'ah, Fireed, Jisheid and Mishwy. Meats traditionally used were chicken or small fowl, such as Houbara bustards, and goats. As camels are highly prized for their milk and transporting ability, the eating of camel meat is normally reserved for special occasions.
The dishes are usually like stews, as everything is cooked in a single pot. Saffron, cardamom, turmeric and thyme are the core flavors used in Emirati cookery. The introduction of rice to the diet came when the traders moved to the region. Leaves from indigenous tress, such as the Ghaff were also used to stuff small birds, releasing their flavor during the cooking process.
Breakfast in the UAE usually features breads like ragag, khameer and chebab, served with cheese, date syrup, or eggs. These were made over a curved hot plate, resembling a stone, which would have been used by the Bedouins. Balaleat is another dish, but its advent again with the traders, who introduced pasta.
Sweet options include luqeymat, a deep fried ball of pancake batter that is rolled in sesame seed and then drizzled with date syrup. Other desserts include khabeesa, which is flour bread crumbs blended with sugar, cardamom and saffron or bethitha, a semolina blended with crushed dates, cardamom and clarified butter.
At the close of the meal it is usual to be served with a red tea infused with mint, which aids the digestion. Other traditions to the meal include a welcome with dates and ghawah (Arabic coffee), which are offered on arrival and are kept available through the guests visit. Copyright Wikipedia
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