Your Food Mag September English Issue

ISSUE 02 SEPTEMBER

ANIMATED TREATS Cartoon characters play sous chefs A TASTE OF LIBYA Culinary tales from a Libyan kitchen DIVERSELY DELICIOUS Street food eats in Taiwan

SRCEHOROINL BGEINLLGS! A Lunch box recipes, get together ideas, must buy school essentials & more!

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SEPTEMBER 2015 YOUR GUIDE 2

Message from the CEO

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Editor’s note

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What’s on: Dining Diary What’s happening & where in the local culinary scene this month

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Produce Picks: Asparagus Rich in fibre, the charming javelin-shaped green spears

11 Best Buys: Ready, steady, go!

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Back-to-school must-haves

12 Tried-and-tested: Eat like a Greek Your Food Mag’s editorial rep & reader dine at & review Mythos Kouzina & Grill, JLT

YOUR KITCHEN 16 Recipes: Animated treats Let cartoon characters tell your children what to eat!

22 Recipes: Tiny delights Easy to cook meals for fussy eaters

26 Global Cuisine: A taste of Libya A Libyan cooking demonstration in the kitchenette of Dubai-based Inas Kushlaf

31 Quick Cooking: Your 5-minute-meal Dish up: Asian Seared Salmon

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YOUR WORLD 34 Global Event: Chasing cheese This month at Bra, Italy: Cheese: A Journey to Mountain Pastures

36 Interview: Kids in the kitchen Award winning author Barbara J Brandt on teaching kids to cook & bringing back home-cooked food to family tables

40 Theme Talk: School spirit Hosting a back-to-school get-together

42 Travel: Diversely delicious Culinary adventures in Taiwan

47 Quick Chat: #Baby’s day out

42 Yourfoodmag.com

Getting to know Matthew Chau, the Instagram star kid with 58K followers

48 My life on a plate: Portions, courses and helpings Your Food Mag editor Purva Grover shares her culinary dilemmas in this monthly column

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MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

I WIN WITH US!

’d like to take this opportunity

issues. The same can lead to gremlins

to take you behind-the-scenes

spoiling your food enjoyment but we

of Your Food Mag and introduce

want to request you to bear with us as

you to Phoenix Digital

we work on offering you a wonderful

Publishing, the first publishing

reading experience. The pain of being

house in the Middle East to produce

a leader and not a follower is that

a magazine in four languages.

whilst you create something unique,

The whole ethos of our company Want to walk away with free goodies and meal vouchers? Look out for competition posts on our Facebook page, facebook.com/yourfoodmag to enter & win. Or turn to our back cover.

Friday Brunch, Al Bahou, Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate, Dubai, worth Dh590

is to create a community and we do

you do get to bear the brunt of being the first-timer!

this by giving the same information

I’d like to thank each one of you

to everyone, irrespective of race,

for reading this magazine and I hope

religion or creed. Everyone who reads

you’ll love it as much as I do! We have

Your Food Mag is important and we

a lot of exciting things coming up in

want you to know that your opinion

the next few months both on the

matters to us, which is why we want

editorial and app development front,

to hear from you and make you a

so keep an eye on our Facebook page

significant part of the magazine.

for announcements.

We’re the first to dream of this and make it happen, which has required us to design and build the technology to support the concept. We’ve had our challenges, mostly technical

Enjoy,

Nick Lowe

Siesta Fiesta Friday Brunch, El Sur, The Westin Dubai, worth Dh580

A food box of your choice for four, DinnerTime, Dubai/Abu Dhabi, worth Dh550

ANIMATED TREATS A TASTE OF LIBYA Culinary tales from a Libyan kitchen DIVERSELY DELICIOUS Street food eats in Taiwan Cartoon characters play sous chefs

ISSUE 02 SEPTEMBER

ON THE COVER Why is my child a fussy eater? If that’s a question on your mind, then we’ve

The Multi Chef Rice Cooker, Breville, Dubai, worth Dh539

got your concerns covered.

LSG! BEL SCHOOL ARE RINGIN Lunch box recipes, get together ideas, must buy school essentials & more!

Brit-style curry dinner for two, at Brit Balti, Dubai, worth Dh150

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Bookmark our recipes for kids & watch mealtimes turn into happy occasions.

Cover Image Courtesy: Al Bahou, Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate, Dubai

Yourfoodmag.com

An extensive menu of authentic Thai dishes prepared by native chefs Striking atmosphere reminiscent of the hustle and bustle of downtown Bangkok Al Fresco seating with a stunning backdrop of The Creek

Enjoy a tantalizing brunch menu prepared in three open kitchens one each for wok, grill, and noodles every Friday at The Thai Kitchen.

AED375 per person including soft drinks and extensive house beverages AED299 per person including soft drinks and selected house beverages AED240 per person including soft drinks, juices and Thai tea Every Friday from 12:30 pm to 4:00 pm

For more information please call 04 317 2222 or visit restaurants.dubai.hyatt.com Park Hyatt Dubai, PO Box 2822, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

The trademark HYATT™, PARK HYATT™ and related marks are trademarks of Hyatt international Corporation. ©2015 Hyatt International Corporation. All rights reserved.

EDITOR'S NOTE

B YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

BUGS BUNNY’S FAVOURITE: CARROTS

A good source of thiamin, niacin, vitamins A, B6, C, K, folate, manganese and a very good source of dietary fibre and potassium.

Carrot and raisin muffins Makes 22 mini muffins or 10 large muffins ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

175g whole wheat flour 3 tsp baking powder ½ tsp ground cinnamon A pinch of salt 150ml oil 150g soft light brown sugar 3 medium eggs, beaten 1 tsp vanilla extract 50g raisins (you can replace raisins with any nuts of your choice) ∞ 225g carrots, peeled and grated

ANIMAT E D T REATS

1 Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly oil two 12 hole muffin trays.

2 Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. (Include any bran from the sieve).

3 Add the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, raisins and grated carrots.

4 Beat until smooth and spoon into the muffin trays.

5 Bake for about 20 minutes until risen and golden.

6 Cool on a wire rack.

Let caricatures tell your children what to eat: Here’s what Bugs Bunny, Popeye the Sailor Man, Winnie-the-Pooh, Jerry and Gummi Bears suggest should go in lunch boxes.

Muffins, topped with jams or loaded with cheese are Britain’s gift to the world.

A typical English muffin is a small, round, flat (or thin) type of yeast-leavened bread, commonly sliced horizontally, toasted, and buttered.

inja Turtles are obsessed with pizzas, Homer is a poster-boy for donuts, Peppa Pig gorges on chocolate cake and Oswald loves slurping ice creams. Cartoon characters have dangerous junk food addictions and encourage unhealthy eating habits in children.

Period. Hold on, there are a few good guys out there too. Yes, not all of your child’s favourite stars are villains. Earn brownie points from your kids by introducing them to a whole lot of healthy eating. Trust us, they’ll never refuse a meal that’s either their character’s favourite or the source of their magic and strength.

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Makes 10 doughnuts • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

TINY DELIGHTS

20g yeast 120g sugar 20g salt 25g honey 25g milk powder 6 eggs 600g flour 300g Kraftkorn Flour 100g Grainex 10g VX2T 3nos orange zest 350ml water 200g butter, melted Oil to fry

1 Mix yeast, sugar, salt, honey and milk powder with the eggs.

Battling finicky taste buds? Dish up these easy to cook, healthy, good looking and kid-friendly meals.

YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

2 Add the mixture to the flour, Kraftkorn flour, Grainex, VX2T, orange zest and water.

3 Prepare a smooth dough.

4 Add melted butter and mix until the dough is elastic. Rest the dough for 30 minutes at room temperature.

5 Sheet the dough on a dough sheet at 6mm thickness. Cut the desired size of doughnuts with appropriate cutter. Let the dough rest until double in volume.

6 Gently fry in oil until golden brown in colour. Once cool, serve.

To garnish, sheet readymade sugar fondant (500g) as thin as possible. Cut it with smiley cutter and paste on the doughnut.

Vegetable Burger Makes 10 patties & buns For vegetable patty • 10g potato • 10g green peas • 10g sweet corn • 10g beetroot For beetroot bun dough • 200g fresh beetroot • 2g yeast • 20g sugar • 20g salt • 100ml water • 30ml milk • 500g flour For garnishing • 5g black olive • 5g tomato • 5g red pepper • 1g mayonnaise For vegetable patty 1 Boil the potatoes, green peas, sweet corn and beetroot for 15 minutes.

Mash it all together and use your hands to make round patties.

2 Arrange in a bake pan and grill for 15 minutes at 170°C.

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For beetroot bun dough 1 Dice the beetroot into small pieces.

In a small pan, boil the diced beetroot.

2 When it’s fully cooked, drain and put in the blast chiller for 10-15 minutes.

3 In a blender, make a purée out of the drained beetroot. Set aside.

4 In a separate pan, mix yeast, sugar, salt, water and milk.

5 Put the mixture in the dough mixer and add the flour. Mix well.

6 Next, add the beetroot purée and mix for 10 minutes.

Yourfoodmag.com

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AROUND THE WORLD

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The best fare including delights like Panzerotti Pugliesi and Arancini from regions (Genoa, Marche, Puglia and Riccione, amongst others) of the host country will be offered at the street food stalls. You can also sample and take home yeast free cheese focaccias. Pizza lovers lean in closer when Italian pizza makers dole out their trade secrets at the Pizza Piazza. Families get a chance to work with fresh ingredients and learn how to make a perfect pizza dough.

Know more about the vegetables, fruits, legumes, herbs and honey from the mountains at the Biodiversity Piazza. Or engage in discussions at milk workshops as you learn about the livings of people who work in the mountainous terrains. Yes, the feast captures far more than the flavours of Italian Mozzarella, British Stilton and Swiss Emmentaler. A must-attend if you wish to learn while you taste.

FESTIVAL KNOW-HOW When: September 18-21, 2015 Where: Bra, Italy Entry fee: Free. Paid entry to workshops and participation in the conference.

To know more: cheese.slowfood.com

CHEESE KNOW-HOW • Made from the milk of cow, sheep, goat, water buffalo and even reindeer!

• Sold raw, processed, plain, flavoured and pickled.

• Taste ranges from mild, fresh, soft ones to highly pungent, dry in texture and hard varieties.

GET INVOLVED Love cheese? What’s your favourite cheese haunt in your city? Let us know on editorial@yourfoodmag.com.

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• India: Cottage cheese/ Paneer is made in almost every household, by separating whey and milk.

Its usage varies in different parts of the country. In East, a dessert Rasgulla is popular whilst in North it’s used to make kebabs.

• Nepal: Chhurpi made of yak’s milk is manufactured from the country’s Dairy Development Corporation.

It comes in two varieties, soft and hard. The former is eaten as a side dish with rice and the latter is chewed like betel nut.

• Bhutan: Cheese from yak/ mare milk is used to prepare Ema Datshi, the country’s national dish.

• China: Rushan, made of cow’s milk is a flat and leathery cheese type. It’s enjoyed fried or grilled (with sweet condiments). Rubing, another popular type, made of goat’s milk is served panfried with salt and chilli.

• USA: Surveys suggest USA to be the largest producer of cheese, accounting for about 26 per cent of the world production.

Americans love cheese, the cheeseburger (hamburger topped with cheese) being a case in point.

• France: Cheese and wine pairings dominate French cuisine with France being home to over 350 distinct varieties. Serving cheese along with fresh fruit too is a common practice.

• Mediterranean: Levant countries, Greece, Turkey, et al. eat fried or grilled Halloumi cheese, prepared with a mix of sheep and goat (sometimes, cow) milk. Mint leaves are used to garnish and preserve this variety.

Yourfoodmag.com

books have been

cook, yes you heard it right! Discover

covered. The alarm’s

why whipping, chopping, laughing

set to ON mode. Yes, the

and eating as a family is the key to

summer holidays are over.

happiness in our interview with her.

Whilst packing lunches is a

Also, remember, we’d said we’ll

tough part of the back-to-school

meet you in your kitchens, well we

routine, we know that the toughest

were serious about it. This month,

is waking up the kids, your heart

we spend a few lip-smacking

sinking a little each time their drowsy

moments in Inas Kushlaf ’s kitchen

eyes look at you from behind the

and learnt about the cuisine of her

sheets. We wish we could take

country, Libya, and took note of

care of that but alas, we can’t, but

a few traditional recipes too. We

we can promise you that we’ve

also stopped by on the streets of

got you help for packing healthy,

Taiwan and fell in love with the

delectable meals for your children.

vendor special eats, and more.

In this ‘School bells are ringing’

Our regulars will guide you to

edition we got Bugs Bunny, Popeye

lovely shopping, dining, travelling

the Sailor Man, Winnie-the-Pooh,

and cooking experiences.

We wish you a lipsmacking school term!

creating healthy dishes that they love, and have promised they will

Until we meet again,

be loved by their little fans too. We

Eat well, read more & share widely.

took the liberty to get the party

Purva

started with our back-to-school get-

IM AGE: SHUT TERS TOCK

Words AANANDIKA SOOD free event, Cheese: A Journey to Mountain Pastures, beckons not just cheese enthusiasts but also food lovers to visit and walk through the streets and squares of Bra, Italy, in a bid to discover everything cheese. It’s an invite to stop by at markets, attend conferences and tasting workshops, eat at the food stalls or go on dinner dates.

Organised by Slow Food, a non-profit, grass-root association, the biennial event brings together cheesemakers, herders, dairy farmers, chefs, affineurs, et al. on one platform as a display of their commitment towards the sustainability, quality and respect of the entire supply chain of cheese making.

Over the four days from September 18-21, Cheese 2015 will offer visitors a chance to savour 20 varieties of cheese from the event’s focus country, Spain, this year. Another 100+ types will include cheese from Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Belgium and Ireland, to name a few. Combine that with the fact that the sommeliers will be at hand to help one choose the best wines to go with your cheese platters.

A

the importance of teaching kids to

YOUR WORLD GLOBAL E VENT

If you thought only Italians love the cheese, here’s some global food for thought.

Surrender to cheesy delights at Cheese 2015, Bra, Italy

been bought and

chefs. They’ve been a big help in

To garnish Eyes: Cut the black olives into strips to create circles.

Nose: Cut the tomatoes into triangles.

Smile: Cut the red pepper into strips.

Stick all of these to the bun, using mayonnaise.

CHASING CHEESE

author Barbara J. Brandt and learnt

Jerry and Gummi Bears to play sous

7 Rest the dough for 30 minutes.

8 Make small buns from the dough. Put in a bake pan for 25 minutes at 170°C. Cut the buns into halves and tuck in the patties, along with salad greens.

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together décor ideas. We chatted to

uniforms have

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Multigrain Smiley Doughnut

igger shoes and

Administrator Maria Nunez Yourfoodmag.com

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Editor Purva Grover Meinong is a Hakka village located at the foothills of Taiwan's mountain range & is famous for its traditional, handmade oil paper umbrellas

YOUR WORLD TR AVEL

The untold charms of Taiwanese gastronomies lie in the eats at their street food markets with the bonus lying in the fact that the food vendors often engage in healthy competition to surpass the offerings. The island’s bounty of meats, fruits, vegetables and flowers, mashup of cultural cuisines and rich traditions come alive in meals cooked in every alley.

Editor-in-chief Mohammed Ahmed

Words JAN D’SA he yellow and red neon lights of the Ning Chia Road Night Market in Taipei City blink aggressively as night falls. The food vendors have already begun to set up their stands early in the evening. If you are uninitiated onto Taiwan’s exotic cuisine, brace yourself because as you draw near to any night market in Taiwan, unfamiliar whiffs of cooked foods suddenly hit you.

Meats, vegetables and pastries steam up the air in a merry dance as they are stewed, fried or barbequed throughout the night. Do not let the overwhelming smells deter you from lining up alongside hungry locals to indulge in Xiao Chi, or ‘small eats,’ because once you do, you will find yourself vendor hopping as each vendor presents a picturesque dreamland of excellent food craftsmanship. As your hunger pangs build up a storm, expect to eat often and on the go. This is the best way to enjoy Xiao Chi at any Taiwan night market.

One vendor gets cracking by splitting open several eggs over generous heaps of blistering oysters that are lathered with potato flour and hot oil in a huge blackened flat pan. The oyster omelettes are topped with sweet red chilli sauce for a spicy kick at your solar plexus.

Close by, what looks like a duck sculpture is actually a fully roasted duck, from head to claw. You soon come upon an army of grilled squids that are skewered onto sticks. They may never win a visual design award but are an instant hit with their crispy chewiness.

Suddenly, a caramelised aroma pinches at your nose and you find yourself at the Imagawayaki stand. This is where the palm-sized macaroon shaped Japanese pastries are prepared. The batter is loaded into muffin tins, before

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CEO Nick Lowe Managing Partner Fred Dubery Chief Financial Officer Kim Bacon

With thanks to Pauline Francis, Yousef Ara, Apoorva Agrawal, Megha Sharma, Ignacio Urrutia Published by Phoenix Digital Publishing Clover Bay Tower (2nd Floor), Business Bay

P.O. Box 123997, Dubai, United Arab Emirates yourfoodmag.com The publisher doesn’t accept any liability for errors or inaccuracies in this magazine. All content is updated to the best of our knowledge. All the information contained herein is general, and readers are advised to consult a specialist before acting on any advice provided here.

Registered with DED Trade License No: 736432

September 2015: A glance at what awaits inside.

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TO THE MOON AND BACK “May we live long and share the beauty of the moon together, even if we are hundreds of miles apart,” goes the romantic Chinese poem. Li Jiang Restaurant and Terrace, The Ritz-Carlton Abu Dhabi is celebrating the Chinese MidAutumn Festival by offering its guests a variety of mooncakes, handcrafted by the pastry team, they consist of thin, tender pastry skin, enveloping sweet and traditional flavours like white lotus, green tea and red bean. On offer between September 16 and 30.

Between Dh40++ for small mooncakes and Dh60 ++ for large moocncakes, call 02-8188282

YUM CHA FRIDAYS

MEAT Y MAT TERS

CULINARY JOURNEY

FRENCH INFLUENCE

Yum Cha is a Chinese style morning/ afternoon tea, which involves drinking Chinese tea and eating a selection of dim sum (steamed, fried or baked sweets). Chop Suey's Yum Cha is an invite to indulge in a variety of fried and steamed vegetable, seafood, chicken and meat dim sum, alongside desserts, soups, teas and soft drinks. Dh80 per person, every Friday (12 to 3pm), call 04-3442212

BUTCHA Steakhouse & Grill have launched a breakfast menu for those who wake up with a healthy appetite.

The champion steak breakfast includes a 110gm chargrilled New York strip loin, served with fried eggs and steak fries with unlimited filtered coffee. The menu also presents a variety of traditional Turkish dishes.

Dh79 per person, every Friday and Saturday (9am to 1pm), call 04-5530684

The Gastronomer’s Dinner at Jumeriah Emirates Towers offers the diners a chance to enjoy each course at a different venue (with grape pairings). It begins with an amuse-bouche, starters and a cocktail at Alta Badia, followed by a main course at The Rib Room and then desserts, a mixology class and a cocktail at The Ivy. Dh750 per person, daily (7.30pm onwards), call 043665866

A rich, slow cooked casserole known in France as cassolette is a term used to refer to both the dish as well as the vessel used to cook it in. To savour flavours of such meals drop by at Plantation, Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach. Their cassolette dining menu offers a wide variety of tastes with emphasis on Mediterranean and European flavours.

Dh250 for two, daily (open 24 hours), call 04-4484733

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YOUR GUIDE WHAT'S ON

WHAT A CATCH! In celebration of Japan’s Marine Day (Umi No Hi), Toko Dubai will be reeling in all seafood lovers with a handpicked selection of the restaurant’s most sought-after maritime dishes in an exclusive Umi No Hi set menu. Dive into 11 seafood specialties infusing true Japanese flavours with innovative cooking techniques. The restaurant aspires to blow even the most discerning diner’s expectations out of the water with the menu boasting the freshest, locally caught seafood served onto your plate within minutes.

What a catch! On offer until the end of September. For Dh395 per person, call 04-4428383.

TE X T: PURVA G ROVER; IM AGES: SUPPLIED

TASTE OF SUMMER Australian café chain The Coffee Club has added a range of thirst quenchers like shaken iced teas and sparkling frappes to their menu. Apple, mango, raspberry and passion fruit are just a few flavours on the iced tea menu. A marriage of sweet and tangy flavours is their Passionate sparkling frappe.

A must try is the Peanut Butter frappe, which brings together the crunch and salty textures of peanut butter against the rich caramel, and if the weighing scale doesn’t bother you much then you can try the Brownie frappe, think fudgy, nutty, chocolatey goodness. For Dh150 for two & Dh20-30 for the beverages. The Coffee Club has four outlets: Yas Mall in Abu Dhabi (02-5650865), Wasl Vita Mall (04-3443676) & DAFZA (04-2517209) in Dubai and at the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque (056-4041485).

Yourfoodmag.com

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Malecon presents Chef Aleixis straight out of Cuba.

Join us for a culinary trip around Latin America with a sizzling selection of authentic Cuban dishes and the best cocktails in town.

YOUR GUIDE PRODUCE PICKS

TE X T: PURVA G ROVER; IM AGE: SHUT TERS TOCK

ASP ARAGUS

K

itchen warriors, say hello to asparagus, the javelin-shaped green spears. Succulent and tender, asparagus is a good source of fibre. It also provides a huge variety of antioxidant nutrients like vitamins C and E, beta-carotene, zinc, manganese and selenium. It can be your shield to fight cancer (bone, breast, colon, larynx and lung in particular), heart-related diseases and high blood pressure. Low in calories (20 per five spears) and sodium, 100 grams of asparagus has only 0.1 gram of fat! With significant amount of glutathione content it is a wonderful anti-agent too. The most common variety of the vegetable is green (American and British) but you should be able to spot the purple (French) and white (Spanish and Dutch) types in local farmers’ markets.

Yourfoodmag.com

Blanched, sautĂŠed, grilled or stir-fried, asparagus besots one with its handsome and versatile charm.

A delicacy since ancient times, its grilled version is known to be the most addictive. Want to keep it still simpler? Steam the spears and enjoy with bread and a dash of lemon butter. Toss it in salads, add to Tabbouleh for crunchy bites. For instant spark, go in for a salad dressing made with blanched asparagus and canola oil. Asparagus with poached eggs or bacon is a healthy breakfast choice. Put it to good use in a creamy soup or enjoy its chilled lemony version. Mini cheese tarts, leek quiches and cocktail nibbles make for lovely appetisers.

For mains, cook it up with pastas, risottos, fajitas and pizzas. Take it up a notch by pairing it up with a dessert, think panna cotta or mousse. Go ahead give wings to your asparagus aspirations.

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Go Healthy with DinnerTime! www.dinnertime.me

+971 55 790 87 33

YOUR GUIDE BEST BUYS

1

TE X T: PURVA G ROVER; IM AGES: SUPPLIED

2

3

S

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READY, STEADY, GO

tationery, wardrobe essentials, school bags and more back-to-school must-haves. Get the kids kitted out for the start of school.

1. Super long lasting and easy to care for school wear for the new academic term. Think crease resistant, water repelling fabrics with elasticised cuffs and more.

Marks and Spencer (marksandspencer.com) 2. No more losing pens and pencils. Each writing instrument has its place in this Pencake Pencil

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Case. Perfect for little writers.

Dh150 at Little Things (Dubai Mall, 04-330 8717) 3. Make a practical, trendy and colourful statement with this lovely school bag and wallet. It will keep your books and lunch money safe.

Dh175 for bag, Dh85 for wallet, GAP (gap.com) 4. Everyday shoes for little people. Walk, jump, hop and run in these fantastic pairs.

Dh165, Adidas (adidas.com)

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EAT LIKE A GREEK In the spotlight: Mythos Kouzina & Grill, JLT. Takeaways: Simple décor, classic menu, authentic preparations and value for money.

Santorini has been on my travel wish list for a while and so has been the idea of smashing plates after a lovely Greek meal. So an invite for an evening meal at this recently opened Greek restaurant felt close to a getaway sans a passport; little did I know that we will truly be eating like the Greeks.

The (hidden, unless you follow Google Maps!) eatery’s furnishings in hues of pure white and sky blue mirror the postcard picture beauty of the Greek island, and the ceramic tiles with typical interlocking rectangular patterns that of traditional old-house rooms. As for the plate smashing, that is not part of the deal, for we learn that while the origin of the tradition dates back to decades ago, it has been reduced to a modern stereotype, courtesy the film,

Never on Sunday, and at Mythos we’re in for all things traditional. The rules are simple. One, bread is to be broken and shared. Two, salads are not to be eaten as main courses. Three, a block of feta cheese is a must on every table.

And more. But most importantly, evening meals are not just about healthy, delicious dishes but are seen as opportunities to talk with friends and family.

A basket of white and sour breads arrive, with olives. My dining partner and I break and share the fluffy goodness as we dip the bites into Tzatziki, which the chef tells us is best enjoyed with Pita bread. The thick tangy yogurt flavoured with pungent garlic and sweet cucumber definitely deserves more recognition than a mere dip. For starters, we let the words homemade influence us and order for Spinach Cheese Pie and Keftedakia. The chef insists we add Roasted Beetroot Salad to the first course for an authentic experience.

Spinach, cheese and herbs enfolded in crispy filo is a first bite winner. The bite-sized beef meat balls baked in tomato sauce simply melt in the mouth and re-establish their repute as comfort food. Not a huge fan of beetroot, I learn that the humble vegetable can indeed taste good when roasted and eaten with spring onions and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. For the mains, I go in for Gemista, a traditional staple. Colourful, healthy and bursting with flavour, the rice-stuffed capsicum and tomatoes came with chunks of feta and roasted potatoes. The fact that a mouthful left me stuffed is an understatement.

Also, I vouch for the dish to be eaten in its vegetarian form. My dining partner indulged in Mousaka and couldn’t get enough of the juicy minced beef and lamb cooked in a tomato-based sauce. But it’s the topping of the creamy béchamel sauce that transforms the dish into an occasional meal. With little room for dessert, we requested the chef for the classic Loukoumades, four dumplings instead of 12. The dessert is to be enjoyed in moderation, considering the deep fried balls of dough came with a trickle of honey, a handful of walnuts and a scoop of hazelnut ice cream. Satiated with generous portions of Greek goodness, we helped each other wipe the dish clean!

The restaurant’s menu is limited yet each dish is worth going back for, both for the taste and the prices. The casual ambience and the friendly staff will ensure that you eat and converse more, and stay back longer than you’d planned to.

Purva Grover, editor Your Food Mag.

Lovely, soothing interiors

Spinach Cheese Pie and Keftedakia, the starters

Gemista, a traditional staple

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YOUR GUIDE TRIED-AND-TESTED

You have to be lucky to stumble across this hidden gem and luckier to win an opportunity to dine and review the Greek restaurant for free!

We were shown to the table by the staff, who seemed to really enjoy their work. The greetings were genuine and enthusiastic.

As we took our place, the staff elaborated on the dishes in the menu, whilst aromas wafted from the kitchen. The airy, comfortable restaurant coupled with traditional background music gave us the feel of being really in Greece. We’d booked ourselves a table at seven on a Saturday evening and since the restaurant has recently opened we were expecting to see just a few diners. However, within half an hour of our arriving, the place was full!

The reasonably priced menu carried the usual Greek favourites, plus a few dishes that I heard about for the first time. Bread, olives and feta cheese were brought to the table. The breads were warm and full of flavour, and the olives and cheese were the best I’ve tasted outside Greece. We ordered Grilled Calamari, Taramosalata with Pita bread and a Greek salad. We enjoyed Taramosalata, the homemade fish roe dip with olive oil, which was a creamy white hue instead of a garish pink. Charcoal Grilled Lamb Chops and Chicken Souvlaki formed our main course, both were cooked to perfection and came with real potato chips. There really was no room for dessert but the waitress insisted that we try Galaktobureko, an absolutely divine milk pudding topped with the most delicious crispy sugar topping!

It was a perfect experience with the wow element from start to finish. I can't wait to go there again, perhaps in the winter months when I can eat my meal at their lovely courtyard.

Alison Jones, a Your Food Mag reader won our August Guest Reviewer contest.

Mousaka, an occasion dish

NEED TO KNOW Where: Mythos Kouzina & Grill, Jumeirah Lake Towers (JLT), Dubai, 04-3998166.

Ambience: Casual, simplistic charm Food: Delicious, generous portions Service: Friendly, knowledgeable staff Damage: Meal for two, Dh185.

Verdict: Must-go Visit: mythoskouzina.com

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IM AGES: SUPPLIED

Classic Loukoumades is best enjoyed with an ice-cream scoop

GET INVOLVED Would you like to be our next reader restaurant reviewer? Email us on editorial@yourfoodmag.com to tell us why you’d like to be considered, in 50 words or less.

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YOUR KITCHEN

Recipes you’ll love to cook up!

16 TE X T: NACHWAN KOUK ACH , E XECUTIVE SOUS CHEF ( AL BAHOU, MÖVENPICK HOTEL IBN BAT TUTA G ATE , DUBAI); IM AGES: SUPPLIED

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Recipes: Animated treats Let cartoon characters tell your children what to eat!

Recipes: Tiny delights Easy to cook meals for fussy eaters Global Cuisine: A taste of Libya A Libyan cooking demonstration in the kitchenette of Dubaibased Inas Kushlaf Quick Cooking: Your 5-minute-meal Dish up: Asian Seared Salmon

FRUIT SUSHI Makes 10 balls Ingredients: • 500g sushi rice • 300ml Japanese vinegar • 50g kiwi • 50g strawberry • 10g mango • 10pc blueberry Instructions: 1 Place the rice in a

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steamer and cook for 20 minutes at 100°C. 2 Add the Japanese vinegar and mix until the rice is sticky.

3 Make 10cm round sushi balls.

4 Cut the kiwi, strawberry and mango into thin slices.

5 Place on top of the rice, top it with a blueberry. Serve.

Ham and Cheese Tortilla Wrap More tiffin goodness, Page

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ANIMAT E D T REATS

Let caricatures tell your children what to eat: Here’s what Bugs Bunny, Popeye the Sailor Man, Winnie-the-Pooh, Jerry and Gummi Bears suggest should go in lunch boxes.

inja Turtles are obsessed with pizzas, Homer is a poster-boy for donuts, Peppa Pig gorges on chocolate cake and Oswald loves slurping ice creams. Cartoon characters have dangerous junk food addictions and encourage unhealthy eating habits in children.

Period. Hold on, there are a few good guys out there too. Yes, not all of your child’s favourite stars are villains. Earn brownie points from your kids by introducing them to a whole lot of healthy eating. Trust us, they’ll never refuse a meal that’s either their character’s favourite or the source of their magic and strength.

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YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

BUGS BUNNY’S FAVOURITE: CARROTS

A good source of thiamin, niacin, vitamins A, B6, C, K, folate, manganese and a very good source of dietary fibre and potassium.

Carrot and raisin muffins Makes 22 mini muffins or 10 large muffins ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

175g whole wheat flour 3 tsp baking powder ½ tsp ground cinnamon A pinch of salt 150ml oil 150g soft light brown sugar 3 medium eggs, beaten 1 tsp vanilla extract 50g raisins (you can replace raisins with any nuts of your choice) ∞ 225g carrots, peeled and grated 1 Preheat the oven to 180°C and lightly oil two 12 hole muffin trays.

2 Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. (Include any bran from the sieve).

3 Add the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, raisins and grated carrots.

4 Beat until smooth and spoon into the muffin trays.

5 Bake for about 20 minutes until risen and golden.

6 Cool on a wire rack.

Muffins, topped with jams or loaded with cheese are Britain’s gift to the world.

A typical English muffin is a small, round, flat (or thin) type of yeast-leavened bread, commonly sliced horizontally, toasted, and buttered.

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GUMMI BEARS’ FAVOURITE: BERRIES

Blueberries are a good source of dietary fibre, and a very good source of vitamins C, K and manganese.

Wholewheat blueberry pancakes Makes 8 pancakes • 200g self-raising wholewheat flour ∞ 1 tsp baking powder

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∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

½ tsp cinnamon (optional) 1 ½ cups of milk 1 large egg ½ tsp vanilla extract 2 tbsp oil 150g blueberries

1 Sift the flour into a large bowl.

To this, add the baking powder and cinnamon and stir well.

2 In another bowl beat the egg along with the vanilla and the milk.

3 Now add the liquid mix to the dry ingredients and beat the mixture until it reaches a smooth consistency.

4 Now mix in the blueberries.

5 Heat a non-stick pan to a medium heat, add some oil and take two-three tbsp of the pancake batter to it. Flip the pancake when bubbles start to appear on one side, cook until golden.

6 Serve with maple syrup on the side.

American pancakes are spongy and thick, and are often eaten with warm maple syrup and crisp fried bacon.

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YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

JERRY’S FAVOURITE: CHEESE

A good source of vitamins A, B12 and contains high amount of protein, calcium, phosphorous and zinc.

Cheese tikkis Makes 8 tikkis ∞ 4 cups boiled and mashed potatoes ∞ Salt to taste ∞ ½ tsp freshly ground

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black pepper powder ∞ 8 tsp grated mozzarella cheese ∞ 1 cup bread crumbs for rolling ∞ 4 tbsp of oil 1 Combine the potatoes, salt and pepper in a bowl.

2 Divide this mixture into 8 equal portions and shape each portion into a small round.

3 Press a little in the centre of each round to make a depression.

4 Place 1 tsp of the cheesy filling in the depression and again shape them into balls and flatten them into circular discs.

5 Now coat each of the discs

with bread crumbs.

6 Heat the oil in a shallow thick bottomed pan and shallow fry the tikkis until golden brown.

7 Drain on an absorbent paper and serve.

Tikkis (small cutlet/ croquette) are a favourite snack in India with the most popular version being the Aloo (potato) Tikki made of boiled potatoes, onions and various spices.

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A good source of vitamins B1, B2, C, B3, B5 and B6 and is composed of glucose, fructose and minerals like magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron and phosphate.

Honey granola bars Makes 8 bars ∞ 1 cup pitted dates

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∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

1 ½ cups rolled oats 1 cup almonds, loosely chopped ¼ cup honey ¼ cup almond butter ½ tsp vanilla extract

1 Blend the dates until they resemble a smooth paste and transfer to a large bowl.

2 To it add the oats, chopped almonds.

3 In a separate pan over lower flame, heat the honey and the almond.

4 Once melted add to the oatdate-almond bowl. Mix well until it all comes together.

5 Add vanilla extract and give another stir.

6 Now transfer this to a square or rectangular dish lined with butter paper.

7 Using a spatula flatten it and let set in fridge until it hardens a bit (15-20 minutes).

8 Now cut it into eight bars and refrigerate for some more time.

Dates truly are Middle East’s healthy offering to the world. The fruit has been supplementing the diet of local people for over 7,000 years and has been cultivated as a crop for over 5,000 years.

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TE X T: YOUR FOOD M AG TE A M; IM AGES: SHUT TERS TOCK

WINNIE-THE-POOH’S FAVOURITE: HONEY

YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

POPEYE THE SAILOR MAN’S FAVOURITE: SPINACH

A good source of niacin and zinc, and a very good source of dietary fibre, protein, vitamins A, C, E, K, B6, thiamin, riboflavin, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.

Spinach frittatas Makes 8 wedges

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∞ 8 medium eggs ∞ 1 cup fresh baby spinach, chopped ∞ 2 tbsp spring onion, finely chopped ∞ ¼ tsp table salt ∞ ¼ tsp black pepper ∞ 1 tsp olive oil ∞ ½ cup cheddar cheese grated 1 Preheat oven to 180°C. 2 In a large bowl, beat the eggs.

3 Next stir in the spinach, spring onions, salt and pepper.

4 Coat a large round baking

dish with olive oil.

5 Pour the egg mixture into the dish and sprinkle cheese over it.

6 Place the dish in the oven and cook until cheese melts and eggs firm up (About 8-10 minutes).

7 Remove the dish from the oven cut into 8 wedges.

Frittata is an Italianstyle open-faced omelette with ingredients, such as cheese or vegetables, mixed into the eggs rather than used as a filling.

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TINY DELIGHTS Battling finicky taste buds? Dish up these easy to cook, healthy, good looking and kid-friendly meals.

Vegetable Burger Makes 10 patties & buns For vegetable patty • 10g potato • 10g green peas • 10g sweet corn • 10g beetroot For beetroot bun dough • 200g fresh beetroot • 2g yeast • 20g sugar • 20g salt • 100ml water • 30ml milk • 500g flour For garnishing • 5g black olive • 5g tomato • 5g red pepper • 1g mayonnaise For vegetable patty 1 Boil the potatoes, green peas, sweet corn and beetroot for 15 minutes.

Mash it all together and use your hands to make round patties.

2 Arrange in a bake pan and grill for 15 minutes at 170°C.

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For beetroot bun dough 1 Dice the beetroot into small pieces.

In a small pan, boil the diced beetroot.

2 When it’s fully cooked, drain and put in the blast chiller for 10-15 minutes.

3 In a blender, make a purée out of the drained beetroot. Set aside.

4 In a separate pan, mix yeast, sugar, salt, water and milk.

5 Put the mixture in the dough mixer and add the flour. Mix well.

6 Next, add the beetroot purée and mix for 10 minutes.

7 Rest the dough for 30 minutes.

8 Make small buns from the dough. Put in a bake pan for 25 minutes at 170°C. Cut the buns into halves and tuck in the patties, along with salad greens.

To garnish Eyes: Cut the black olives into strips to create circles.

Nose: Cut the tomatoes into triangles.

Smile: Cut the red pepper into strips.

Stick all of these to the bun, using mayonnaise.

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YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

Multigrain Smiley Doughnut Makes 10 doughnuts • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

20g yeast 120g sugar 20g salt 25g honey 25g milk powder 6 eggs 600g flour 300g Kraftkorn Flour 100g Grainex 10g VX2T 3nos orange zest 350ml water 200g butter, melted Oil to fry

1 Mix yeast, sugar, salt, honey and milk powder with the eggs.

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2 Add the mixture to the flour, Kraftkorn flour, Grainex, VX2T, orange zest and water.

3 Prepare a smooth dough.

4 Add melted butter and mix until the dough is elastic. Rest the dough for 30 minutes at room temperature.

5 Sheet the dough on a dough sheet at 6mm thickness. Cut the desired size of doughnuts with appropriate cutter. Let the dough rest until double in volume.

6 Gently fry in oil until golden brown in colour. Once cool, serve.

To garnish, sheet readymade sugar fondant (500g) as thin as possible. Cut it with smiley cutter and paste on the doughnut.

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Tomato and Basil Soup Makes 10 servings • • • • •

100g tomato 20g fresh basil 5gm salt 2gm white pepper 30ml tomato juice

1 Dice the tomato.

2 Put the tomatoes in a pan and roast at 160 °C for 10 minutes.

3 Put the roasted tomatoes, fresh basil and fresh tomato juice in a pan and boil for 10 minutes.

4 Blend all together and serve.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Oat Meal Whoopie Makes 20-24 large pies • • • • • • • • •

170g unsalted butter 210g light brown sugar 1 egg, large 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 105g whole wheat flour ½ tsp baking soda ½ tsp salt ½ tsp ground cinnamon 110g pecans, toasted and chopped • 260g old-fashioned rolled oats • 50g dried cranberries 1 Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and smooth.

2 Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine.

3 In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

4 Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat until incorporated.

Stir in the pecans, oats, and dried cranberries (or chocolate chips).

5 Scoop dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets as (rounded) heaped teaspoons. Put in a bake pan for 12-15 minutes at 170°C.

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Ham and Cheese Tortilla Wrap Makes 10 wraps • 10g broccoli • 5g mayonnaise • 100g sundried tomato tortilla bread • 5g lettuce iceberg • 10g turkey ham • 10g cheddar cheese • 5g black olive • 5g tomato • 5g yellow pepper 1 Boil the broccoli.

2 Spread mayonnaise on the tortilla bread.

YOUR KITCHEN RECIPES

3 Place the lettuce on the bread.

4 Place turkey ham and cheese on the lettuce.

5 Place the broccoli on top and wrap the tortilla around the broccoli.

To garnish Eyes: Cut the black olives into strips to create circles.

Nose: Cut the tomatoes into triangles.

Smile: Cut the yellow pepper into strips. Stick all of these to the wrap, using mayonnaise.

IM AGES: SUPPLIED

Recipes Courtesy: Nachwan Koukach, Executive Sous Chef (Al Bahou, Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate, Dubai)

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A TASTE OF LIBYA One must eat well, goes the saying in Libya.

We get a hands-on experience on the country’s hospitality & a taste of their cuisine in Inas Kushlaf’s kitchen.

Words PURVA GROVER

live oil, a lot, a lot, a lot.

Onions, a lot, a lot, a lot.

Tomato purée, a lot, a lot, a lot. Spices, a pinch here and a sprinkle there. That’s Libyan food in a nutshell. “Alongside the main ingredient, extra quantities of patience,” laughs Inas Kushlaf. Inas hails from Tripoli, the Libyan capital and it’s her Libyan (read: lip-smacking, authentic Libyan dishes) roots that often brighten up her now home, Dubai. Her pantry shelves are lined with both special Libyan spices that she sourced on her trips back home and alternatives to the same, picked from supermarkets in Dubai. “Were it not for these spices, Libyan food would have been a regular fare.” There aren’t many Libyan restaurants in Dubai, I lament as I confess that the only Libyan dish I am familiar with is Bazeen, a starchy dish made using barley flour and served with tomato sauce, eggs, potatoes and mutton. I learn from her that it is a meal that is usually eaten on special occasions, but then every dish from the cuisine sounds like a special meal. No wonder the emphasis is on the patience of the cook! Keen to initiate one and all with the rich cuisine, Inas invited a group of her

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female friends from different countries of origin (India, China, Egypt and Japan) to a Libyan cook-off demonstration, followed by a rather large (read: regular) Libyan luncheon at her home. She extended the invite to Your Food Mag and as she cooked up the delicacies so I got a chance to quiz her on the flavours and aromas, cooking techniques, traditions and influences of Libyan cuisine.

Many influences, varied tales “It’s a complicated cuisine, heavily influenced by the traditions of Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe.”

Couscous is both the most popular Libyan dish and a staple food in North Africa. The Libyans prepare it with vegetables and of course meat. “We love meat dishes, especially those consisting of lamb. Interestingly, couscous is a Spanish food and the Jewish of Spain introduced the same to us.” Libyans love rice too, which they owe to the influence of people from Egypt and Sudan, who both grow and cook a lot of rice. “We either have boiled rice with sauce, like risotto, or steamed over a vegetable and meat sauce, just like couscous.”

The Turkish influence on the cuisine is

visible in the tradition of rolling dough to make sweet pastries. Fish is another staple, “In Libyan cuisine, we prepare it in more than 20 different ways unlike the Arabs who eat it mostly grilled.”

Libyan cuisine is also known as tent cookery, “The reference is to the times when humans harvested the produce and made use of the natural surrounding ingredients.” It is no wonder that grains, milk, olive oil and dates continue to be the backbone of their dishes. “In olden days, farmers ate simple sandwiches made using cheese and meat, two very popular ingredients that are still used today.”

Goat milk and dried dates formed a complete meal, “Milk was served as a side dish or beverage. It has now been replaced with Laban and coffee.”

Libyans take pride in their culture of tea drinking, “It’s an important social activity bringing friends and family together over a pot of brewing tea.” This type of tea is typically strong, thick, syrup-like black tea and often served after heavy meals, to aid digestion.

“Our meals are large and other than hot tea we love light mint tea too, it goes well with the hot weather.”

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YOUR KITCHEN GLOBAL CUISINE

FOUR ESSENTIALS

Get your hands on the four essentials & you are ready to cook up a Libyan meal: Olive oil, Libya is lush with olive trees making the country the 14th largest producer of olive oil in the world. Locals in particular use extra-virgin olive oil in making breads, pastas, couscous or as generous drizzle over a salad.

Dates are harvested, dried and stored; they can be eaten as they are, made into a syrup or slightly fried and eaten with Bsisa, or with milk.

Grains are roasted, ground and sieved for making bread, cakes, soups, Bazeen, and other doughbased dishes.

Garlic is added to most dishes that involve preparing tomato sauce or stew. It is also crushed and then either mixed with honey and eaten with bread, or mixed with olive oil and spread over food and salads.

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Larger portions, slow cooked meals As Inas serves me a portion of Couscous with Lamb and Onion Chickpea Sauce (recipe on facing page) I express my surprise at the rather large lamb pieces.

“Oh, usually they’re bigger than these!

We believe in hospitality and the portions reflect our generosity.” I am not complaining. “Now you know why a siesta is a must after a Libyan meal.”

So while plates are wiped clean within minutes of the meal being laid down, there are no shortcuts to cooking here.

No wonder, an old delicacy: Couscous with dried Lamb, is not prepared a lot these days. Its preparation time includes three days of drying the lamb in the sun!

“Most of the dishes cook slowly and often require three hours.” Other than that, a lot of traditional dishes also owe their special flavour to the method of cooking in sand ovens. “I was seven and we were at a farm at the outskirts of Tripoli when I noticed a gathering of women preparing dough for the bread. It left me intrigued for there was no oven in sight. Later, my grandmother showed me the hearth that lay hidden under the very hot sand. The ladies stuck the dough on the sides of the hearth and waited for it to bubble, taking it out before it folded.” The technique was also used to bake potatoes, meat and eggs.

“I often tell my boys that it is from Libya that the Italians learnt to make wood-fire pizzas in clay ovens.”

Typically healthy, traditional dishes Inas is mum to two lovely boys, Anas (12) and Sanad (9) and both of them refuse to eat any meals outside home. “They’re typical Libyan boys choosing Mahshi over McDonalds,” she says. Mahshi in Arabic means ‘stuffed’ and her boys love the version where capsicum is stuffed with rice, minced meat and vegetables.

Their other favourite being Shorba, a healthy soup made using tomatoes, onions, parsley and meat cubes (beef or lamb). Bsisa, another traditional and healthy favourite is made using more than 50 types of grains with fenugreek, aniseed, cumin and sugar. “Travellers and nomads used to take Bsisa with

them on their journeys because of its high nutritional value and also for it was easy to carry it in a ground powder form.” Four spoonfuls of Bsisa and I was full! “This was the last of my ingredients from Libya. Bsisa is one of the oldest dish in the world and to make it you’d have to travel to Libya and pack the goodness of the grains there.” Next, we learn how to toss a typical Libyan Summer Salad (recipe on facing page). “Chefs and home cooks both have great respect for Libyan traditions but at the same time they’ve been working on bringing new ideas to Libyan cuisine.” And that brings us to her kids’ favourite picnic dish, a modern version of the Mbekbka. “It is boiled macaroni thrown in with onions, tomato purée, chilli powder, turmeric, chickpeas and garlic. And it gets its name from the sound the pasta makes as it bubbles in the sauce.” Traditionally, it was made using pumpkin and Yukon gold potato.

“Western Libyan cuisine is particularly influenced by Italian cuisine and hence pasta is a common food type with us.”

Right proportions, special spices Unique flavours of Libyan cuisine lie in the all-spices: Bzaar and Hararat. The hurdle being that the local shops don’t sell it. “In earlier days, it was roasted, milled and combined at home but now one can buy it off the shelves in Libya.”

Bzaar is a mixture of ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg, turmeric, cloves, coriander, and caraway, and Hararat is combination of ginger, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, all-spice, nutmeg, and white pepper. “Both lend a strong flavour to the dishes but if one has none of these two then a mix of turmeric and cinnamon can be used to create a similar flavour.” Attention to detail plays an important role in the Libyan cuisine.

“It is important to use the right amount of spices, whether it is to enhance the taste of the dish or add colour to it.”

On that note, I take her leave, after obviously having gorged on an extensive Libyan fare. Any last words of wisdom? “Just remember that balance is the key, between colours and spices, proportions and flavours and even vegetables and meat.”

GET INVOLVED We’d love to know about the traditional dishes of your country! Email your contact details to us with a note on what makes your cuisine special to editorial@yourfoodmag. com and get a chance to be featured in the magazine!

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RECIPES FROM INAS KITCHEN

Summer Salad Serves 2 • 1 medium onion, finely chopped • 5 medium sized tomatoes, chopped into six segments each • ½ medium sized cucumber, chopped into small cubes • 1 green chilli, finely chopped • A pinch of salt • 3 tbsp olive oil • ½ cup water • 1 Lemon 1 In a mixing bowl, add the onion, tomatoes, cucumber and chilli.

2 To it, add a pinch of salt, olive oil and water.

3 Mix well to release all the flavours into the water.

4 Now squeeze the juice of the lemon and serve this fresh summer salad with some crispy bread.

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Serves 2-3 • 4 tbsp olive oil • ½ kg lamb meat on the bone, leg or shoulder (ask butcher to trim off the fat, for a healthier alternate) • 6 white onions, for divided use • 2 tsp tomatoes paste • 100gm chickpeas • 2 tsp paprika • 2 tsp ground turmeric • 2 tsp ground cinnamon and a pinch • 1 tsp chili powder • 1 tsp ground pepper • 2 tsp salt • 1 litre boiled water • 2 carrots, halved • 3 zucchini, whole • ½ kg couscous • Salt to taste

• ½ cup olive oil • ½ tsp baking powder • 1 cup olive oil and 1 cup butter, mixed together • 100g almond for garnishing

Ghraiba with almond Serves 6 • 7 cups plain flour • 1 cup icing sugar • 1 cup ghee

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1 Combine all the ingredients (except the mixture of butter and oil and the almonds) till it is resembles a crumbly dough. Leave it to rest for a minimum of four hours.

2 Next slowly add the oil and butter mixture to it until the dough softens and is firm enough to shape.

3 Shape the dough into little flat balls and press an almond in the centre of each ball.

4 Place them all on the baking sheet.

5 Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes.

YOUR KITCHEN GLOBAL CUISINE

Bureek Serves 4 For the pastry: • 1 ½ cups flour • 2 cups water • ½ tsp salt For the filling: • 2 tbsp vegetable oil • 250g veal mince meat • 1 onion, finely chopped • ¼ cup parsley, finely chopped • ½ tsp cinnamon • Salt and pepper to taste 1 To prepare the pastry dough: To the flour, add salt and water. Mix until it is a smooth dough paste.

2 Heat a non-stick pan and using a silicon ladle brush the pan with the batter (almost like you were painting) over low heat. Cook until dry and easy to pull apart.

Repeat until you have used up all the batter. Allow it to cool.

3 For the filling: Take a pan with a thick base, add oil. Once hot, add the mincemeat and cook on medium heat, stirring until brown. Next add the onion. Keep stirring until cooked well.

4 Add parsley and spices. Mix well.

Cook for about two minutes.

5 Now spread the cooked batter and cut into several circles, and divide each circle into halves.

6 Take one half and put 1tsp of the filling on it and then fold the dough above the filling to make it into a triangular pastry.

7 Do the same with all the circle halves.

8 Now arrange the pastries on a tray. Brush with oil and bake at 220 degrees Celsius until golden.

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IM AGES: SUPPLIED, SHUT TERS TOCK

Couscous with Lamb and Onion Chickpea Sauce

1 Heat the oil in a wide thick bottomed pan. Chop two tbsp of onions and add to the pan.

Add the tomato paste and cook.

2 Now add the meat and brown it. Next add chickpeas and stir in the spices along with the salt until they sizzle, followed by boiling water. Simmer on medium low heat with cover for 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Constantly check on the water level to make sure the meat is completely covered in liquid.

3 Take 2 ladles of the lamb stewing stock in a separate pot to cook the vegetables (add more water and salt if needed).

4 Add carrots and zucchini and cook.

5 Meanwhile slice the remaining onions into half circles. After 1 hour and 20 minutes, add the sliced onions to the stew and continue to cook (But this shouldn’t be for more than 20 minutes, this is to avoid the onions from breaking apart and dissolving). The stew is ready.

6 Drain some of the stew stock to prepare the couscous (Prepare according to the instructions on the packet).

7 After the couscous is done, sprinkle a pinch of ground cinnamon on the couscous and enjoy with the stew.

YOUR KITCHEN QUICK COOKING

If I had an extra minute I would shred a cucumber, with a rice vinegar, sugar, and soya sauce dressing.

TE X T: A S TOLD TO PURVA G ROVER, IM AGES: SUPPLIED, SHUT TERS TOCK

YOUR 5-MINUTE MEAL Leyla Lahsini is a happy mum to two boys, Taha, 4 and Selim, 1.5. A business school post-graduate, she was on lookout for a solution to keep her sons away from the iPad and in that she found a business idea too.

Today, she along with her co-founder, Shirin Benamadi, runs the KenziBox, a monthly craft box service for those keen to pique the creative interest of their children. A selflabelled non-crafty mum, when not making rainbow lanterns and hedging funds, she can be found in the kitchen cooking up culturally rich meals. “I am Turkish and French, married to a Moroccan! It’s a lovely culinary mix,” she says. Her fondest food memories revolve around the aromas and flavours of

her mum’s classic Spaghetti Bolognese.

And her kids are making their memories around her favourite go-to meal, “It can be eaten for dinner, or lunch on weekends.”

ASIAN SEARED SALMON • 1 lime juiced • 1 tbsp maple syrup • 1 tsp sesame seeds • 1tsp soya sauce • 1 fresh salmon steak 1 In a pan, pour the lime, maple syrup, soya sauce and sesame seeds onto the salmon.

2 Cook on high heat, for two minutes on each side. And it’s ready!

I have made it for It’s a dinner favourite in our household. I’ve even made it for my girlfriends. It’s a big hit because it is healthy, tasty and quick to prepare.

A drink that goes well with it A glass of white wine.

I’ll be teaching this special recipe to My boys!

In three words, the snack can be described as Tangy, sweet, healthy.

I’d sell it an eatery for Dh70!

GET INVOLVED A monthly section, where we share our readers’ favourite quick meals (under 5, 10 and 30 minutes). If you wish to get your dish featured here, drop us a line at editorial@yourfoodmag.com.

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Gaucho Anywhere!

Tailored to suit all taste buds, Gaucho’s take-away and delivery menu offers a true taste of Argentina to your door.

Gaucho delivers a variety of delectable starters, salads and their renowned steaks and sides.

Gaucho Dubai,Gate Village 05, DIFC, Dubai, P.O Box 482054 T + 971 4 422 7898 E dubai@gauchorestaurants.com W www.gauchorestaurants.ae @gauchodubai Gaucho Dubai @gauchodubai

YOUR WORLD

Culinary inspiration for the home and beyond

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HISTORICAL CHARM Malta, a silent, gorgeous island is a Southern European destination, which is quite unlike the others.

Home to lovely turquoise waters, Malta’s history goes back 7,000 years, transforming a visit to the place into a sneak peak into its rich history. Coupling the historical charm with its culinary offerings is Corinthia Palace Hotel & Spa Malta’s Gourmet Extravaganza package for GCC residents. The luxury hotel is situated opposite the President's Palace and adjacent to the San Anton Garden, an upscale area enveloped in history, prestige and tradition. The package (three nights’ accommodation for two) invites the guests to start their gourmet experience by discovering

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the flavours of Malta with a luxurious dinner at the 100-yearold, restored Villa Corinthia. The timeless restaurant offers guests a menu of authentic dishes, often created using sustainably sourced, fresh and local produce.

Take a chauffeur-driven car to the Meridiana Winery, where you will be guided through a tasting of awardwinning Maltese wines. End your gourmet experience with a contrast of flavours at the oriental Rickshaw Restaurant. The guests also get to enjoy a wide range of relaxing treatments at the spa or take a few hours to unwind at the indoor pool.

Know more: corinthia. com/hotels/malta/palacehotel-and-spa/offers

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Global Event: Chasing cheese This month at Bra, Italy: Cheese: A Journey to Mountain Pastures Interview: Kids in the kitchen Award winning author Barbara J Brandt on teaching kids to cook & bringing back home cooked food to family tables Theme Talk: School spirit Hosting a back-toschool get-together Travel: Diversely delicious Culinary adventures in Taiwan Quick Chat: #Baby’s day out Getting to know Matthew Chau, the Instagram star kid with 58K followers

Vendor hopping!

Food bytes from Taiwan’s street night food markets, Page

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AROUND THE WORLD

CHASING CHEESE Surrender to cheesy delights at Cheese 2015, Bra, Italy Words AANANDIKA SOOD free event, Cheese: A Journey to Mountain Pastures, beckons not just cheese enthusiasts but also food lovers to visit and walk through the streets and squares of Bra, Italy, in a bid to discover everything cheese. It’s an invite to stop by at markets, attend conferences and tasting workshops, eat at the food stalls or go on dinner dates.

Organised by Slow Food, a non-profit, grass-root association, the biennial event brings together cheesemakers, herders, dairy farmers, chefs, affineurs, et al. on one platform as a display of their commitment towards the sustainability, quality and respect of the entire supply chain of cheese making.

Over the four days from September 18-21, Cheese 2015 will offer visitors a chance to savour 20 varieties of cheese from the event’s focus country, Spain, this year. Another 100+ types will include cheese from Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, the UK, Belgium and Ireland, to name a few. Combine that with the fact that the sommeliers will be at hand to help one choose the best wines to go with your cheese platters.

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The best fare including delights like Panzerotti Pugliesi and Arancini from regions (Genoa, Marche, Puglia and Riccione, amongst others) of the host country will be offered at the street food stalls. You can also sample and take home yeast free cheese focaccias. Pizza lovers lean in closer when Italian pizza makers dole out their trade secrets at the Pizza Piazza. Families get a chance to work with fresh ingredients and learn how to make a perfect pizza dough.

Know more about the vegetables, fruits, legumes, herbs and honey from the mountains at the Biodiversity Piazza. Or engage in discussions at milk workshops as you learn about the livings of people who work in the mountainous terrains. Yes, the feast captures far more than the flavours of Italian Mozzarella, British Stilton and Swiss Emmentaler. A must-attend if you wish to learn while you taste.

FESTIVAL KNOW-HOW When: September 18-21, 2015 Where: Bra, Italy Entry fee: Free. Paid entry to workshops and participation in the conference.

To know more: cheese.slowfood.com

CHEESE KNOW-HOW • Made from the milk of cow, sheep, goat, water buffalo and even reindeer!

• Sold raw, processed, plain, flavoured and pickled.

• Taste ranges from mild, fresh, soft ones to highly pungent, dry in texture and hard varieties.

GET INVOLVED Love cheese? What’s your favourite cheese haunt in your city? Let us know on editorial@yourfoodmag.com.

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• India: Cottage cheese/ Paneer is made in almost every household, by separating whey and milk.

Its usage varies in different parts of the country. In East, a dessert Rasgulla is popular whilst in North it’s used to make kebabs.

• Nepal: Chhurpi made of yak’s milk is manufactured from the country’s Dairy Development Corporation.

It comes in two varieties, soft and hard. The former is eaten as a side dish with rice and the latter is chewed like betel nut.

• Bhutan: Cheese from yak/ mare milk is used to prepare Ema Datshi, the country’s national dish.

• China: Rushan, made of cow’s milk is a flat and leathery cheese type. It’s enjoyed fried or grilled (with sweet condiments). Rubing, another popular type, made of goat’s milk is served panfried with salt and chilli.

• USA: Surveys suggest USA to be the largest producer of cheese, accounting for about 26 per cent of the world production.

Americans love cheese, the cheeseburger (hamburger topped with cheese) being a case in point.

• France: Cheese and wine pairings dominate French cuisine with France being home to over 350 distinct varieties. Serving cheese along with fresh fruit too is a common practice.

• Mediterranean: Levant countries, Greece, Turkey, et al. eat fried or grilled Halloumi cheese, prepared with a mix of sheep and goat (sometimes, cow) milk. Mint leaves are used to garnish and preserve this variety.

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If you thought only Italians love the cheese, here’s some global food for thought.

YOUR WORLD GLOBAL E VENT

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KIDS IN THE KITCHEN Author Barbara J. Brandt is committed to teaching kids how to cook and thereby bring back the golden days of families gathering around the kitchen table to eat delicious, home cooked meals. Her hidden goal? To give mums & dads a chance to engage in a joyful activity with their children.

Words PURVA GROVER ittle ones have packed schedules, swamped with abacus lessons, ballet classes, painting workshops and loads of homework. In the midst of this, if we were to suggest you enroll your child for a cooking lesson you’d probably raise your brows, right? For one, knives and ovens are scary and kids are tiny and messy and two, you’d rather have them for yourself for a bit than pack them off to another class. So not surprisingly, whilst most of us are aware of the fact that children who are involved with food from an earlier stage eat healthier we fail to prioritise imparting culinary skills to them. It were these concerns that got US-based (Missoula, Montana) author

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Barbara J. Brandt thinking and coming up with a solution, which she calls: Your Kids: Cooking! A recipe for turning ordinary cooks into extraordinary cooks. An acclaimed author, educationist and mum to two (collegiates) Barbara talks to us on her mission to teach kids about healthy eating and cooking whilst ensuring they spend quality time with their parents.

During her growing up years Barbara loved to help her grandma in the kitchen. “She owned a restaurant in San Francisco in the 1930s and was a fabulous cook.” Her granny never used a recipe while she cooked and let Barbara do whatever she wanted to in the kitchen! “I learnt by doing things and whilst she never ‘taught’ me anything specific,

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my first food memories Barbara J. Brandt are from her kitchen.”

Not surprisingly, Barbara wanted to create similar mouth-watering memories with her children but when she got on to teaching her 11-year-old daughter, Marial, to cook she was taken aback by how little she know about how meals were prepared. “We tried to make cookies and I assumed she knew the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon when measuring salt. Or, she knew how to set the dial on ‘bake’, not ‘broil’ when turning on the oven.” The cookies ended up in trash but Barbara came out wiser from this mother-daughter moment. “I realised I had to come up with cooking lessons that were fun and engaging.” Backed up with three decades of experience in teaching, cooking and creating curriculum for top national educational publishers, she started attending local (USA) cooking classes for children to learn more, “I watched kids sitting at tables – with no utensils or ingredients – while a chef demonstrated a recipe to the class. A few lucky kids were invited up front to help out but for most part the kids looked bored—just like my daughter had been.”

So Barbara decided to play with the concept of role reversal and paired it with a multimedia approach. “I created a video with step-by-step demonstrations of how to make a recipe and combined it with easy written directions for the kids to follow. This way, the kids could be shown how to prepare every step of the recipe and still be able to do everything themselves. The role of the parent being that of a sous chef, helping out when needed, providing encouragement, and keeping things safe. My daughter taught herself to cook via

the programme (two years ago) and loved every minute of it, and I learned to let go and trust in her ability to do things on her own.” Most importantly, Barbara was happy to have had spent some much needed quality time with her daughter, “We had fun – learning, laughing, and growing closer.”

Marial, now 19, cooks for herself in her apartment at college, her favourite dish being lasagne.

For Barbara, eating is more than cooking and she misses the days when families ate together.

“Knowing how to cook is the first step towards eating healthier meals. Sharing wholesome and delicious home cooked meals around the kitchen table result in building happier, healthier, stronger families.” Can rise of nuclear families, busier lifestyles and virtual existences be blamed for the change? “Yes, I think it’s due to all those factors but I also think it’s largely due to the fact that so many parents never learned how to cook themselves so don’t know how to cook for their families. Consequently, they tend to think it is super time consuming, but I strongly disagree with that. Getting a home cooked meal on the table can take as little as 20 minutes. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just homemade.” An educator, she believes that everyone can benefit from education about cooking and eating healthy: kids, parents, grandparents and teachers.

She is currently working on her second book, which will cater to a younger audience and will be out next spring.

She confesses to be in favour of traditional cook books over e-books. “I’d never buy an e-cookbook. I like flipping through pages, making notes, and I have a beautiful cookbook stand that is part of my kitchen décor.” Do you follow any food

Teaching your kids to cook is not as easy as many people think it is. With this book and DVD, parents have a complete and structured cooking program that does all the teaching for them. Anyone can be successful with this program regardless of their skill levels in the kitchen.

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YOUR WORLD INTERVIEW

QUICK BITES

I knew I wanted to be a teacher since second grade. I started out as a high school Math teacher but found I enjoyed working with kids on a more individual basis so opened a learning centre, then a tutoring business, so I have always worked with kids in one or another. Teaching kids to cook allowed me to combine both my love of cooking and my love of teaching kids. It was a natural progression based on my passion and experience. blogs, the ones that critique meals and restaurants? “It’s no different than movie or book critics. I don’t tend to put much stock in someone else’s opinion of an art of any kind. Appreciating food too is reliant on individual tastes and preferences so I prefer to try things for myself and come to my own conclusions.” However, she does rely on technology to share recipes with friends and family, “I have a couple of apps on my smartphone that store and organise recipes and they work great for sharing.”

It’s sharing that makes Barbara the happiest! “Cooking, eating and sharing, they can’t really be separated in my mind.

Making good food and sharing it with others cheers me up.” As she goes around

training young chefs for a lifetime of wholesome cooking and eating we wonder if there’s a dish she wishes she knew how to prepare as a kid. “I loved my grandma’s homemade cannelloni and it so happened that we never made it together. I wish she had shown me her recipe! I do a pretty good job of imitating it these days, but it’s just not quite as good as hers was. I also order it every time it’s on a restaurant menu, hoping someday to find someone who makes it just like she did. I’ve been searching for 30 years and haven’t found it yet. But I’ll keep searching.” We wish her luck with that, and as for Barbara’s recipes, we know that it’s not just her own not grandkids who will inherit them!

Food destination on your wish list Brazil or Cuba.

A dish you can eat the rest of your life, everyday Chicken wings! I love so many different kinds of food it’s really hard to pick just one, but I always keep chicken wings in the freezer as my go to meal. Chicken wings and rice and a green veggie always sounds good to me.

A dish that is on your wish list I want to learn more about South American and Latin cooking.

What do you order or not order at a restaurant you have never been to?

I always order for things I don’t know how to make myself so I’d never ask for a lasagne or a steak. I can do that at home.

I like to try dishes that I’m not familiar with and that use ingredients I don’t typically use.

YKC is committed to building stronger and healthier families by teaching kids to cook.

Using recipes that appeal to kids and adults alike, budding chefs experience success and a sense of pride and accomplishment as they learn over 100 cooking skills, 20 recipes (and variations) in 10 easy lessons. A DVD with step-by-step recipe preparation demonstrations, a kid-friendly recipe format with pictures of every step, nutrition guidelines and streamlined lessons that fit effortlessly into normal meal preparation routine put the kid in complete charge of the cooking process. “The recipes in the book are based on the skills that the kids learn while they make the dish. They are recipes that I’ve been making for years and are a mix of reflection of my favourites and those that everyone is familiar with from different cuisines like Asian, Mexican and Italian.”

For eight-year olds & above. YKC was released June 20, 2015 & has earned recognition from USA Best Book Awards, Living Now Book Awards, Moonbeam Children's Book Award & Mom's Choice Award. It is priced at $24.95 (Dh92, approx).

To know more, yourkidscooking.net

GET INVOLVED Do your kids love to cook? Share their cooking adventures, recipes and images with us at editorial@yourfoodmag.com.

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WHAT IS YOUR KIDS COOKING (YKC)?

K O O B E C A F R U LIKE O T A E R G N I W O PAGE T ION PRIZES! T I T E P M CO

• Brighten up little corners of the room with jars holding colourful crayons, pencils, pens, markers or erasers.

SCHOOL SPIRIT Get-together inspiration: Classroom. Go-to theme: Back-to-School. Why? For, we all dread the start of school!

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t’s time to bring out the alarm clock from that hidden corner in your cupboard and place it back on the bed stand. Heading back to school can be scary for both parents and children.

Think routine: mums start packing lunches, dads attend to school drop off duties and kids get burdened with homework. How about turning the transition phase from summer to school into a celebration by hosting a back-to-school party? We can help you get started with the décor.

• At the entrance, place a blackboard (or white board) with the words ‘Welcome Back to School’ on it. Or write in the name of the school that your kids attend!

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YOUR WORLD THEME TALK

• Create a bouquet by filling up a large glass jar with pencil shavings and prop them on side tables. .

• Cut out alphabet cards from craft paper. Use twine to create a school-appropriate garland and strung it up on a wall.

• Placemats can be made using printouts of the school curriculum, geometric shapes or report cards.

• Ditch the plates for lunch boxes. Dress up the party food in colourful boxes and have a bell ring when it is time to eat!

• Send off the kids with party favours wrapped in brown paper with ribbons, buttons, laces and even notebook labels.

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• Use a stack of books with an apple or an alarm clock on the top as a centrepiece on the table.

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Meinong is a Hakka village located at the foothills of Taiwan's mountain range & is famous for its traditional, handmade oil paper umbrellas

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The untold charms of Taiwanese gastronomies lie in the eats at their street food markets with the bonus lying in the fact that the food vendors often engage in healthy competition to surpass the offerings. The island’s bounty of meats, fruits, vegetables and flowers, mashup of cultural cuisines and rich traditions come alive in meals cooked in every alley.

Words JAN D’SA he yellow and red neon lights of the Ning Chia Road Night Market in Taipei City blink aggressively as night falls. The food vendors have already begun to set up their stands early in the evening. If you are uninitiated onto Taiwan’s exotic cuisine, brace yourself because as you draw near to any night market in Taiwan, unfamiliar whiffs of cooked foods suddenly hit you.

Meats, vegetables and pastries steam up the air in a merry dance as they are stewed, fried or barbequed throughout the night. Do not let the overwhelming smells deter you from lining up alongside hungry locals to indulge in Xiao Chi, or ‘small eats,’ because once you do, you will find yourself vendor hopping as each vendor presents a picturesque dreamland of excellent food craftsmanship. As your hunger pangs build up a storm, expect to eat often and on the go. This is the best way to enjoy Xiao Chi at any Taiwan night market.

One vendor gets cracking by splitting open several eggs over generous heaps of blistering oysters that are lathered with potato flour and hot oil in a huge blackened flat pan. The oyster omelettes are topped with sweet red chilli sauce for a spicy kick at your solar plexus.

Close by, what looks like a duck sculpture is actually a fully roasted duck, from head to claw. You soon come upon an army of grilled squids that are skewered onto sticks. They may never win a visual design award but are an instant hit with their crispy chewiness.

Suddenly, a caramelised aroma pinches at your nose and you find yourself at the Imagawayaki stand. This is where the palm-sized macaroon shaped Japanese pastries are prepared. The batter is loaded into muffin tins, before

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Taiwan’s beef noodles stew brimming with vegetables is a meal on its own

being layered with either red bean or custard and sealed with more batter.

And when thirst sets in at some point, bubble tea comes to your rescue. This Taiwanese invented milk tea is also called boba milk tea or pearl milk tea. Dark blotches of tapioca pearls drown in the milk tea or fruit juice of choice. Suck those jelly-like pearls into your mouth through an extra thick straw, before sipping the drink and relaxing into a state of paradise.

If eating on the go is not your thing, then find yourself a seat in one of the many family owned eateries dotting the streets. I notice most people huddled together indulging in friendly conversations while jointly partaking

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Brace yourself because as you draw near to any street food night market in Taiwan, unfamiliar whiffs of cooked foods suddenly hit you

of Xiao Chi. Suddenly, I feel my back breaking into a sweat as if someone is eyeing me. I turn round to see a tank load of lobsters and crabs staring at me, claws stubbornly clamped together. The fresh fish clothed in pink scales, desperately try to hide in the ice tray in front of the tank. Turning away from them, my attention is now drawn to the soup dumplings, Xiao Long Bao. Nip the top of the dumplings with your front teeth carefully, to slowly slurp in the boiling hot soup swirling inside, otherwise you could do some serious damage to your tongue and buccal cavity.

Also, indulge in sushi and sashimi heaven, a beef and water spinach stir

fry, smouldering lamp chops with peppers, fried rice smothered with tiny, crunchy shrimps and of course other local delicacies that include snails, abalone and sea cucumber.

Alternatively, you can skip the Xiao Chi experience and settle for Taiwan’s beef noodles stew brimming with vegetables. Served in lavish amounts, it stands as a meal on its own. Choose your cut of beef, type of noodles and the base of the soup. My favourite happens to be the beef tendon whose soft flesh complements the texture of the glass noodles and the soya sauce tomato soup base. Others prefer to stick to a broth base with Japanese ramen noodles and tender beef cuts.

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Enjoy oyster omelette topped with sweet red chilli sauce

Imagawayaki are palm-sized macaroons filled with red bean or custard, they are Japan’s gift to Taiwan cuisine

Pounding tea in Kaoshiung The tea culture of Taiwan is virtually inescapable as it is an essential part of every sit-down meal. Common Taiwan teas are oolong tea, black tea and Assam tea. For a more historic tea making experience, head to the Hakka community in Meinong, Kaoshiung county, flex your muscles and pound Lei Cha, which literally means ‘pounded tea.’ To this day, the tea is made using a huge ceramic bowl and a heavy duty wooden pestle. Green tea leaves, peanuts, sesame seeds, grains such as millet are pounded repeatedly till a fragrant melodrama of the powdered mix tingles the senses. Served hot or cold, Lei Cha is

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a refreshing and wholesome drink.

Outside, in the courtyard, a young girl swings back and forth on a heavy duty wire skeleton of a toy horse. I have just finished painting a traditional Hakka oil umbrella before pounding Lei Cha. An elderly former school teacher dries the wet paint on my umbrella with a hairdryer and starts to sing ‘Yellow River.’ I heartily join in the singing, as it was a song I sung as a child at school assembly. For a moment, I could have easily been that Hakka girl riding her pony, staring happily into the courtyard fountain while the wind bells giggle playfully in the Meinong mountain breeze.

CULTURE MEDLEY Taiwan’s exquisite food culture is a miraculous amalgamation of cuisine derived over the centuries from its 16 recognised indigenous tribes, Fujianese and Hakka peoples from mainland China, the Europeans (the Portuguese, Dutch and the Spaniards) and finally the Japanese. In addition, both certified Halal restaurants and ‘Muslim-friendly’ restaurants are easily accessible across the country to serve Muslim tourists.

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Try your hand at making your own pineapple cake at Taipei’s Vigor Kobo

Sweet tooth beckoning's If desserts are more your cup of tea, then head to Taipei’s Vigor Kobo store that produces Taiwan’s finest pineapple cake or Fengli Su. The outside of the pastry is stiff but its candied pineapple insides melt in your mouth.

The other popular pastry is sun cake or Tai Yang Bing. The outside is flaky and covered with loose white flour that sticks to your upper lip and does make a mess, but it is worth every bite of the gooey mild honey core. Soon, outward appearances are forgotten

as you reach for another sun cake.

Finally, try your hand at making your own pineapple cake at Vigor Kobo. It is like sculpting with play dough. The buttery smell that the dough leaves on your palms will remind you of home.

You get to take the pineapple cakes you make with you. Once baked, they are sealed in sterilised plastic bags and finally placed in a fancy box which has your name written on it. The cakes don’t last long because by the time you reach the hotel, you would have consumed the work of your hands.

GET INVOLVED Have you been to Taiwan?

Share your holiday photos with us on facebook.com/ yourfoodmag or email us on editorial@yourfoodmag.com.

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Go: Emirates flies directly to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport from Dubai, which is a nine-hour journey.

Do: Agro-tourism activities are an absolute must, to explore Taiwan’s lush nature, fruits and enjoy the eco-diversity of the plant and animal kingdom of the island. Here’s a list of eco-friendly things to do: • Explore cycling paths and hiking trails in the Taroko National Park and Sun Moon Lake • Pick strawberries on the Shangri-La farm at the foot of the Da Yuan mountain • Pick organic tomatoes next to the flowering pumpkin patch in Meinong, Kaoshiung • Taste edible flower dishes (such as osmanthus jelly and begonia) and honey pollen drink on Tai-Yi eco leisure farm. Try delectable seafood hot pots alongside frozen wrapped edible flowers in nori sheets or giant prawns-on-therocks (that is, prawns steamed on a bed of rock salt). Note: Do not eat flowers growing on the farm; some of them are poisonous. Only eat the flowers served at your dinner table.

• Taste the best fruits in the form of fruit shaved ice dessert, at Lily’s Fruit store in Tainan.

Ask for condensed milk, red bean and fruit jelly toppings if you are feeling adventurous. The ice shavings saturated with fruit juice can cause a brain freeze and some gum numbing, but it’s a temporary suffering for a sweet worthy cause.

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JOURNEY PLANNER

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BABY 'S DAY OUT

YOUR WORLD QUICK CHAT

An Instagram star with 58K followers, Matthew Chau is New York’s tiniest food critic. We learn about the food fetishes of the two-year old in a chat with his dad.

Words PURVA GROVER rdinary food critics write pleasant recommendations or harsh remarks, Matthew Chau takes a nap when the dishes don’t match up to his expectations. Matthew is a tough critic to please. If he’s not happy with what you bring on the table then (other than dozing off) he is likely to walk away from his chair or even run around the restaurant! Yet, the chefs and restauranteurs in New York swallow their pride and work hard towards pleasing this two-year-old critic. Yes, Matthew (or Matt, as he is known to his family and friends) is only two and has been christened as the city’s hottest food critic, courtesy 58,000 plus (and counting) followers on his Instagram account, @ foodbabyny. We learn more about his whims and fancies from his father, Mike Chau.

Mike and his wife, Alex, have always loved to eat out, a favourite routine activity that they didn’t want to let go off when they became parents and that’s how Matthew got into the big, food picture. “We took him out to meals because we loved eating out and also we didn’t want to spend any time away from him. People always say that you don’t get to go out or have fun anymore when you have kids, so we wanted to show that it isn’t necessarily true.” Was it also because you wanted to introduce him to different food types? “It wasn’t necessarily about introducing him to different food types but we’re glad that it came as an added bonus.” So when was his very own Instagram account created? “I created the account a little before his first birthday. But I did add in a few images (to the account) of him when he was just a few days old so if you look back all the way you can see him growing up.” Mike too is on the photo and video sharing platform (@mikejchau) but his followers are a mere 6,000 plus. Is IM AGES: SUPPLIED

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this a proud parent moment? “Very proud.

I receive a lot of positive feedback from his followers. They all love Matt and think he’s adorable.”

As a family, how frequently do you eat out? “We go out on weekends, including Friday night. Occasionally, we try to go out on one other night during the week as well.”

And who is the bigger foodie between the three – mommy, daddy or baby? “Definitely, me. Alex likes to eat good food but is not particularly bothered about where we eat, she happily joins me when I pick up a place.”

And while Mike is a photographer and he gets Matt to pose with various foods it is Alex who makes Matt smile in the pictures.

“When Matt loves a dish he raises his hands in the air and does a ‘fake’ laugh.”

So does he really eat all the food that we see him with (in the pictures), especially the glazed donuts and extra-cheese pizzas? “No! He just poses, he’s not actually eating all of that food. Sure, he steals a bite of a donut or a pizza here and there, but he usually eats healthy food.” Whilst Mike is happy with the popularity of Matt’s Instagram account, he does plan to drive it towards a bigger goal. “I’d love to develop the account as a platform where people can drop by for food recommendations. Food is serious business, especially with rising health concerns.” A software developer, he is also eager to work on a ‘foodbaby’ app. “I’d like it to be easily available and discoverable.” And while all these plans are in the pipeline, currently the parents are busy prepping for Matt’s sister to arrive, due this November. “Soon, Matt is going to become aware of all the posing I get him to do and perhaps start getting annoyed with me too! But I am not going to give up, I’ll still be taking pictures of his future little siblings! We’d definitely want another baby in a few years.”

Instagrammed: ry fame Matthew Chau’s culina

MAT THEW LOVES...

Favourite food Pasta, corn, fruits and vegetables.

Food that he craves Ice cream. Just like his dad.

His first words were Apple! (We’re not surprised) Favourite restaurant Queens Comfort, NYC. He loves the fun ambience, lovely staff and toys from the 80’s, latter part of the restaurant’s décor.

GET INVOLVED Is your little one a foodie too? Email your child’s pictures alongside their food choices to editorial@yourfoodmag.com and get a chance to be featured on our portal!

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COLUMN MY LIFE ON A PL ATE

PORTIONS, COURSES AND HELPINGS In most Indian homes, mums are the selfdesignated feeders (read: an individual who is in-charge of ensuring that nobody’s plate ever goes empty). They make sure that everyone at the dinner table is fed well and to their content.

Regular meals consist of three courses (appetiser/ main course/dessert) with each course including as many dishes as the chef feels is right for the occasion. Portions and helpings are determined by the feeder or the chef or both. This tradition gets extended to restaurants serving Indian cuisine too, which I re-learnt when I dined at a restaurant serving contemporary Indian cuisine.

The dinner party included my husband along with an Italian couple who were keen to get a taste of Indian masalas (spices). We handed over the menus to the couple letting them place their order and we assisted them with detailed descriptions of the dishes. What followed suit was a dining experience that left me giggling and taking home the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Our guests, out of habit, culture and courtesy, ordered four portions each of the appetisers, mains and desserts. The table now resembled that of a wedding party in India but for only four diners! I began to nibble at both the Gosht Seekh Kebab and Tandoori Broccoli dishes that had been ordered for us whilst they munched on theirs, feeling it necessary to finish every morsel on the plate. The main course followed and the server (read: Indian ‘feeder’) began to serve the

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lentils, curries, flat breads and rice. Our guests were taken aback with this method of serving - two ladles of curry in each plate. That’s when we intervened and explained to them that in Indian cuisine the concept of ‘eating out of one pot’ ranks higher than one-pot meals. (Partly, we wanted to make them feel at ease as they stared at their individual meals of Butter Chicken with Hyderabadi Biryani and Malai Kofta with Tandoori Roti.) The hospitable server insisted on doing his job, heaping up our plates with generous portions saying “you should have another helping of this.” By now, of course, the topic of conversation had moved on to global food portion sizes and India (not America) was leading. We cancelled our order for the desserts and a single portion of Phirni (creamy rice pudding) with four spoons was brought in. The dinner party was now all smiles.

Having eaten to our stomachs’ content while our guests had had lessons on portions, courses and helpings in Indian cuisine, I felt that I had travelled back home. As we bid goodbye with our lunches in tow they thanked us for a truly Indian experience and meal. We were pleased that they had enjoyed their evening and offered them a spoonful of saunf (fennel seeds that aid digestions) to complete the experience.

(Your Food Mag’s editor Purva Grover shares her culinary dilemmas in this monthly column, My Life on a Plate.)

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Lessons on sharing, serving and eating Indian meals

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Want to walk away with free goodies and meal vouchers? Look out for competition posts on our Facebook page, facebook.com/yourfoodmag to enter & win.

Worth Dh590

Worth Dh580

Worth Dh550

Friday Brunch, Al Bahou, Mövenpick Hotel Ibn Battuta Gate, Dubai

Siesta Fiesta Friday Brunch, El Sur, The Westin Dubai

A food box of your choice for four, DinnerTime, Dubai/Abu Dhabi

Imagine yourself to be in an imposing Moroccan palace with 88 atmospheric lanterns! Enjoy Friday Brunch with a wide choice of exquisite dishes as you indulge in a range of live entertainment including face painters, a movie theatre, a bouncy castle, music and more.

Know more: moevenpick-hotels.com

Feast on six fresh and tasty tapas from a selection of 14 vibrant dishes every Friday from 12:30pm to 3:30pm at Siesta Fiesta, a lovely brunch choice for lazy weekends. Refresh with unlimited hops and free-flowing fruity white and full-bodied red sangria, including two delicious dessert options!

Know more: elsurdubai.com

Worth Dh539

The Multi Chef Rice Cooker, Breville, Dubai How can you make white rice, an authentic risotto or even a slow cooked meal in one appliance? Breville’s Multi Chef is an advanced multi-cooker that can make tender slow cooked meals, stir-free risotto, fluffy rice and quinoa all in the same cooking bowl. Also with a sauté/sear setting, it allows you to caramelise and brown all your lovely fresh ingredients.

Know more: breville.ae

A well-balanced menu for you and your family, each menu and recipe is test cooked by the chefs/ nutritionists and tasted by a test panel before approval. On a Sunday, receive a box with all the ingredients & instructions to cook up four meals, delivered to your doorstep.

Know more: dinnertime.me

Worth Dh150

Brit-style curry dinner for two, at Brit Balti, Dubai This casual restaurant offers British-style Indian cuisine at two locations in Dubai – Al Barsha, and International City. With a menu and vibe brought in straight from Birmingham, the restaurant has everything from tandoori and curries, to biryani, plus of course tikka masala items – Chicken Tikka Masala is, after all, Britain’s national dish.

Know more: britbalti.com