In Souk to Table, popular food blogger Amina Al-Saigh (@hungrypaprikas) is here to help you figure out dinner for your family with her easy, quick, and accessible Middle Eastern recipes, inspired by her heritage and using flavours she knows and love. She understands how busy life can get and how sometimes cooking Middle Eastern dishes can be overwhelming, but with the right know-how and the right recipes, you can serve up delicious and bold flavours and not spend all day in the kitchen!​

This homestyle cookbook gathers the best of the region—dips, condiments, salads, sides, mains, soups, stews, desserts, and drinks—using easy-to-find, fresh ingredients and delicious Arabic spices.​​ In Souk to Table, you’ll find:

• 100 easy-to-make and delicious recipes from Amina’s homeland of Iraq, as well as Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Morocco, and beyond​
• Dinners that can be made in under an hour for easy weeknight cooking, as well as traditional dishes “worth the effort” for weekend cooking​ and hosting
• A simpler approach to Middle Eastern cooking without sacrificing any of the authentic flavours​
• A stunning photo accompanying every recipe​
• How to stock your Middle Eastern kitchen

Adventure across the Middle East every night of the week through accessible recipes with Souk to Table as your guide.

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Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip

Muhammara is an iconic Syrian mezze dip made primarily from roasted red peppers and walnuts. I find that it’s lesser known in the Western world but quite possibly one of the most delicious dips you’ll try. It is rich, sweet, tart, and slightly smoky, with a thick, spreadable consistency. It’s known for its vibrant red colour, which is why it is called muhammara, meaning “reddened” in Arabic. Many versions will use bread crumbs to thicken the dip, as well as tomato paste for redness.

I love to add a non-traditional ingredient to my recipe: sun-dried tomatoes. I find they add a concentrated and robust flavour, amping up the umami and sweetness. Make this dip ahead of time and store it in the fridge up to a week.

YIELD: 2¼ cups (520 g); 6 servings

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

COOK TIME: 35 minutes

3 large red bell peppers, cut in half and seeds and stems removed (or use 10½ ounces, or 300 g, jarred roasted red peppers; see Note)

½ cup (50 g) bread crumbs

½ cup (50 g) unsalted whole raw walnuts

2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses

¼ cup (60 ml) olive oil

1 large clove garlic

1 teaspoon ground Aleppo pepper (or substitute with ½ teaspoon chili flakes)

½ teaspoon kosher salt

4 small sun-dried tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

FOR GARNISHING AND SERVING

Pomegranate molasses

Unsalted chopped raw walnuts

Finely chopped fresh parsley

Pita bread

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).
2. Place the peppers, skin sides down, in a large cast-iron pan over medium-high heat and char for 5 to 6 minutes, until the skins are blistered.
3. Cover the pan with aluminium foil and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, until the peppers are soft. Remove from the oven and let rest, still covered, for 10 minutes; this helps them to soften and makes removing the skins easier.
4. Carefully peel the peppers with tongs or your hands and discard the skins.
5. Lightly toast the bread crumbs in a medium, dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until they are slightly darker in colour, stirring continuously, then remove from the pan.
6. Lightly toast the walnuts in the same skillet over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes, until slightly darker and fragrant, stirring continuously, then remove from the pan.
7. Add the roasted peppers, toasted bread crumbs, toasted walnuts, pomegranate molasses, oil, garlic, Aleppo pepper, salt, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, and lemon juice to a food processor. Process until a paste forms, stopping to scrape down the sides of the food processor as necessary. The final dip should be a bit lumpy.
8. Spread the muhammara onto a dish and garnish with pomegranate molasses, walnuts, and parsley. Serve with pita bread.

Note: If you are using jarred roasted red peppers, they are already roasted, so you can skip to step 5.

Recipe published with permission from Quarto Publishing Group USA, Inc.