Arab Food Diary

I'm calling this a diary but it's actually more like a food log. Instead of daily entries in a diary, I'm giving you an overall log of all the wonderful Arab foods I tried on my trip to Saudi Arabia.

As I child I wasn't exposed to all these wonderful treats except for maybe some baklava and Turkish delight. It also turns out that the Eastern province seems to have less diverse and interesting food (to me, anyway) than the Hijaz (western) region where I was on this trip.

FYI, often used below is...
Kashta - clotted cream flavored with rose water

Sweets

Mammoul - cookies with date filling

Logaymat - donut hole-like pastries served sweet or savory depending on the toppings chosen

Mann al-Sama (manna from heaven) - candy nougat of nuts

Barazek - eggless sesame seed cookie

Basbousa - semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup

Esh al Saray - AKA Rich Man's Bread- toasted bread in rose water sugar syrup with kashta

Halawat al-Jubn - semolina-cheese dough rolled and filled w/ kashta

Madlouka - orange blossom syrup soaked semolina cake topped with kashta and nuts

Mafroukeh-syrup soaked semolina-pistachio cake with kashta and pistachios

Nammora - phyllo dough with kashta

Booza - ice cream, sometimes referring to...

Turkish ice cream - stretchy ice cream 

 Om Ali - (mother of Ali) a pudding using leftover bread shreds

Kunefe - made with either cheese or clotted cream in the center of shredded pastry, grilled, then pour over sugar syrup

 Kunefe being grilled in special plates

 Arika - torn up bread and dates soaked in honey, topped with cream, cereal, and cheese

Sahlep - warm, creamy milk drink that is thickened w/ sahlep (orchid root), with mastic, rose water, pistachios

Qatayaf - dumpling filled with cheese

Qara’ ‘Asali - middle eastern pumpkin pie w/o a crust

Savory

 Maklobat eggplant - Rice with eggplants and meat, served with yogurt

 Shoshkash kebab - Grilled seasoned fine minced lamb served with pepper paste, peppered parsley, tomato & pomegranate molasses

Fatet makdous - crispy roasted flat bread pieces topped with layers of eggplant and saucy minced meat with a yogurt, garlic sauce

Shish barak - Syrian style raviolis in a yogurt sauce

 Buraik - filled with ground meat and chopped hard boiled egg

Lamb madini -lamb and rice

 Chicken Saleeg - rice is risotto-like

 Meat mulgalgal - a meat stew of meat, fresh tomatoes, onions and green pepper fried with spices

Chicken bukhari - chicken and rice

Fatteh - Pita chip pieces, chick peas, tahini, sumac, parsley, Olive oil, walnuts.