7 traditional Muslim dishes

Shish kebabs - Türkiye

According to Nevin Halici's Turkish Cookbook, kebabs first appeared in Turkish dictionaries in the 11th century. It can be assumed that the Ottoman Empire (the former name of Türkiye) popularized kebabs throughout the Middle East and, to this day, in many countries around the world, including Vietnam.

Grilled meat is a signature dish of Turkish cuisine. Some of the world's best grilled meat dishes come from the southern provinces of the country.

Khobz - Lebanon

Bread holds a sacred place in Islamic culture and it would be considered sinful to waste it. Wheat has been cultivated for approximately 12,000 years in the Fertile Crescent (a region stretching from present-day Iraq to the Sinai Peninsula).

The first breads in Lebanon were called saj (bread baked on a hot metal plate) and tannur (bread baked on the wall of a traditional oven). Pita bread came later with the development of front ovens.

B'stilla - Morocco

The caliphs of the Abbasid Caliphate (the third Islamic dynasty of the Arabs) loved the recipes of Persian chefs. With those recipes, they created a delicate combination of sweet and savory flavors. B'stilla, the Moroccan pigeon pie, is the ultimate example of that combination.

B'stilla is a pastry made of ultra-thin layers of pastry encasing stewed pigeon, scrambled eggs, and toasted almonds. It is garnished with cinnamon and powdered sugar and served at religious and secular celebrations.

Mansaf - Jordan

Popular with Jordanians and Palestinians, mansaf is a dish that combines two staple foods of the Islamic world - rice and bread. It consists of lamb cooked in a fermented, dry yogurt sauce derived from jameed and served with rice or bulgur.

Traditionally, diners eat mansaf from a large plate. Mansaf is the national dish of Jordan and can also be found in Palestine, Iraq, Southern Syria, and Saudi Arabia.

Tharid - Bahrain

A favorite dish of the Prophet Mohammad, tharid is made of a thick, crispy dry bread filled with stewed meat and vegetables. During Ramadan, families gather at sunset for a meal called iftar in Arabic.

Each Middle Eastern country has its own typical Ramadan dishes. Tharid is the food for iftar in Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Sudan - Iran

The Persians are famous for making the world's first ice cream by pouring grape juice or syrup over ice that they kept in underground chambers. Bastani is an ice cream made from milk, eggs, sugar, rose water, saffron, vanilla, and pistachios.

Sometimes, bastani also contains salep (orchid powder), the most expensive spice in the world. Bastani also contains chunks of frozen cream.

Kabab karaz

Kabab Karaz is featured in the first Arabic cookbook, Kitab al-Tabik, written in the 10th century by Abu Muhammad ibn Sayyar for the prince of Aleppo (a city considered the culinary capital of the Middle East). This meatball dish with cherry tomato sauce is a quintessential Aleppo dish. The flavor is enhanced by fresh cherries harvested during the short season, in early June.

Thu Trang