Syrian

Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip
Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip

Roasted Red Pepper & Walnut Dip excerpted from Souk to Table: Vibrant Middle Eastern Dishes for Everyday Meals by Amina Al-Saigh. Photography © 2024 by Amina Al-Saigh.

Souk to Table: Vibrant Middle Eastern Dishes for Everyday Meals by Amina Al-Saigh

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

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Stuffed courgette
Stuffed courgette

Stuffed courgette excerpted from Vegetarian Arab Cuisine by Ruth Salem Sader. Photography by João Farkas.

Vegetarian Arab Cuisine by Ruth Salem Sader

Vegetarian Arab Cuisine by Ruth Salem Sader is a culinary journey that brings the rich flavours of Middle Eastern cooking to the vegetarian table. As the granddaughter of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants, Sader was immersed in the aromatic world of Middle Eastern spices and dishes from a young age. Her personal transition to vegetarianism led her to explore and adapt traditional recipes, resulting in a collection that honours authentic flavours while catering to plant-based diets.

The cookbook offers a diverse array of recipes, encompassing pastes, yogurts, salads, stews, egg-based dishes, desserts, and beverages. Notable recipes include:​

  • Lebanese Tabbouleh​

  • Escarole in Olive Oil 

  • Stuffed courgettes

  • Rice with Lentils 

  • Fried Falafel Balls 

  • Dried Apricot Candies with Almonds​

  • Turkish Coffee with Cardamom

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Blender Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake
Blender Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake

Blender Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake excerpted from Yalla, Let’s Eat! by Maha Kailani. Page Street Publishing Co. 2023. Photography by Saleme Fayad.

Yalla, Let’s Eat! by Maha Kailani. Page Street Publishing Co. 2023. Photo credit: Saleme Fayad.

Making your favourite Arab dishes is easier than ever with this contemporary guide to effortless Middle Eastern cooking from Maha Kailani, creator of Make Delicious Happen. These showstopping recipes honour all the vibrant flavours of traditional Arab cuisine but use quick shortcuts and helpful appliances like the Instant Pot® and Air Fryer to cut down on prep and cook time. Breeze through incredible yet simplified recipes such as:

  • Flavour Bomb One-Pot Chicken Kabseh
  • Skillet Beef Shawarma
  • Dawood Basha (Syrian- Style Kofta Meatballs and Pomegranate Potato Casserole)
  • Quick Palestinian Msakhan Rolls
  • Traditional Tangy Tabbouleh
  • Classic Lebanese Fattoush
  • Cheat Baba Ghanouj
  • Deconstructed Makdoos on Flatbread
  • Labneh Toast with Za’atar, Mint and Honey
  • Blender Orange Olive Oil Bundt Cake
  • 30-Minute Knafeh Skillet (more…)

Stress-less Banana Pudding Trifle
Stress-less Banana Pudding Trifle

Stress-less Banana Pudding Trifle excerpted from Mind over Batter: 75 Recipes for Baking as Therapy by Jack Hazan. Photography by Lauren Volo.

Stress-less Banana Pudding Trifle excerpted from Mind over Batter: 75 Recipes for Baking as Therapy by Jack Hazan.

You may not realize it, but many essential therapeutic techniques can be accessed right in your own kitchen. In Mind over Batter, licensed psychotherapist and master baker Jack Hazan guides you through 75 simple, healing recipes that can help you tap into whatever you might be going through that day.

Inspired by the Syrian and Middle Eastern baked goods he grew up with, along with his take on classic American desserts, recipes are organized into themed chapters based on common life moments and needs.

  • In need of connection? Make some Pesto Pull-Apart Bread to share with your loved ones.
  • Looking for a way to release some anxiety? Knead away your stress with a Chocolate Babka Crunch.
  • Simply in need of some self-care? Whip up a single-serving indulgence like a Devil’s Food Mug Cake.

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Chicken Shish Kebabs
Chicken Shish Kebabs

Chicken Shish Kebabs, Sumac: Recipes and Stories from Syria by Anas Atassi. Photography by Jeroen van der Spek.

Sumac: Recipes and Stories from Syria

The Syrian kitchen, shaped by influences from neighbouring countries, has deep historical roots and evolved to perfection over thousands of years.

Sumac is filled with traditional and contemporary Syrian recipes that were inspired by personal stories. The gorgeous photography illustrates how beautiful this country was and still is, and family photographs add depth to the author’s history. Each chapter is filled with the author’s memories of family celebrations and the country that inspired the book. He tells stories of traditional weekend breakfasts in his grandmother’s garden and of the mezze his mother cooked for family gatherings. There are memories of the rich aromatic flavours of the Syrian kitchen where fragrant spices like the lemony and deep red sumac are prized ingredients.

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Chicken meatballs in Nepali-spiced cashew sauce
Chicken meatballs in Nepali-spiced cashew sauce

Chicken meatballs in Nepali-spiced cashew sauce, The Kitchen without Borders. Photography by Penny De Los Santos.

The Kitchen Without Borders

The Kitchen Without Borders is a special kind of cookbook. In it, chefs from around the world—all part of Eat Offbeat, a catering company staffed by immigrants and refugees who have found a new home and new hope through cooking—offer up to 70 authentic, surprising, nourishing recipes. The food has roots that run as deep as its flavours, celebrating the culinary traditions of Syria, Iran, Eritrea, Venezuela, and more.

Discover Iraqi Biryani, a rice dish combining vegetables and plump dried fruits with warming spices. Chari Bari, hand-formed meatballs simmered in Nepali-spiced tomato and cashew sauce. Iranian rice with garbanzos, Sri Lankan curry dhal, and Manchurian cauliflower straight from the Himalayas.

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Cookbook Review: Istanbul & Beyond

Istanbul & Beyond, Robyn Eckhardt

Standing at the crossroads between the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Asia, Turkey boasts astonishingly rich and diverse culinary traditions. Journalist Robyn Eckhardt and her husband, photographer David Hagerman, have spent almost twenty years discovering the country’s very best dishes. Now they take readers on an epicurean adventure, beginning in Istanbul, home to one of the world’s great fusion cuisines. From there, they journey to the lesser-known provinces, opening a vivid world of flavours influenced by neighbouring Syria, Iran, Iraq, Armenia, and Georgia.

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Book Review: Soup for Syria

Acclaimed chefs and cookbook authors the world over have come together to help food relief efforts to alleviate the suffering of Syrian refugees. Each has contributed a recipe to this beautifully illustrated cookbook of delicious soups from around the world. Contributors include: Yotam Ottolenghi, Sami Tamimi, Anthony Bourdain, Mark Bittman, Alice Waters, Paula Wolfert, Claudia Roden, Sally Butcher, Ana Sortun, Greg Malouf, Aglaia Kremenzi, Joe Barza, Carolyn Kumpe, Wendy Rahamut, and many others.

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