Work is going great. Lots of new responsibilities. So many things to learn. We have over 1700 employees in my business unit so tons of people to meet and to get to know. I’ve learned more Tagalog, Hindi, and Arabic this past month than my last 9 months put together.

And I’ve even learned some Chinese as well. What? Don’t I already know Chinese? Did you know that there are an estimated 8,000 dialects of Chinese. Only about 1000 have been officially recorded to date. So with that many dialects of Chinese going around, there had to be one unifying dialect - And that official dialect is Mandarin. Although my parents speak Mandarin, they only taught me Cantonese (something about the grandparents being from Canton). They also speak Vietnamese but neglected to teach me that too. Bummer.

At work, out of over hundreds of Chinese colleagues, I have found only one - ONE! - that speaks Cantonese like me. She also speaks Mandarin so is teaching me simple things like numbers, hello, good morning, etc. I find it quite difficult - like learning French because of the pronunciation - I tend to pronounce French words like English and I tend to pronounce Mandarin like Cantonese but they’re completely different. But I think I’m making some progress!

As for Tagalog - I can say Kumusta, Salamat, and Magandang Umagi. One day, after killing too many brain cells the night before, I walked into the office screaming, “Salamat!” with upraised arms thinking it was good morning but in reality it means, “Thank you,” so I got a couple confused stares a then bursts of laughter. Ah, the joy of languages.

Don’t test me on Arabic and Hindi just yet. I’m trying to progress beyond Salam Aleikum, Sabah al Khair and Namaste. Although Namaste is cheating because we all learn that in yoga class. So I guess that would mean that I have learned nothing new in Hindi. Drats.

Even though it is 40°C (104°F) outside every day, it is 22°C (71.5°F) in my apartment and we don’t even have the A/C on!

So I was looking forward to this La-Ham Murraq / Saloona or meat stew recipe:

Like chicken and fish saloona, this is very common throughout the UAE, indeed in some homes it is cooked twice a day. Because it can be accompanied by so many other things - rice, biryani or bread for example, it is a flexible dish.

A daily cooked Ramadan dish, it is popular for sending into the Mosques during the holy month as it is filling and nutritious. It is also one of the most famous Bedouin dishes.

Serve with dishes of sliced limes, dates, radishes, garlic chives, sliced white onion and buttermilk.

I had to half this recipe since I was only cooking for 2 people so I used 1 pound of lamb shoulder and cut it into small chunks:
 

 

The lamb was then simmered in a large pot of water for 30 minutes to tenderize the meat and to remove the foamy meat scum that boils out. This way, the final stew doesn’t get all gross with floaty gray bubble bits.

While the meat simmered, I chopped up the potatoes, carrots, onions, tomatoes, and smashed up a few garlic cloves:
 

 

When the lamb was done simmering, I drained it and discarded the water. Next I browned the onions in canola oil for a few minutes and then threw in the garlic, lamb, the spices (bezar, turmeric, cinnamon bark, salt, pepper, and whole loomi), and the chopped veggies. I simmered for stew for one hour:
 

 

The brown balls floating in the stew are whole loomi which is dried limes (see photo below). It is often sold and packaged as dried lemons for some reason. It has a smell and taste similar to preserved Chinese kumquats.
 

 

After one hour, we had this bowl of goodness to enjoy:
 

 

It came out more of a soup than a stew but I think that may be because I didn’t use a starchy enough potato. The lamb was very tender, the loomi gave the soup a slight tang, and the bezar gave it a bit of a spicy kick.

I liked it very much and it was even better for breakfast the next day!
 

Note: This post is part of my Cooking Local project.

Last Sunday: Chicken with rice in the bottom.

Up next Sunday: Lamb fried with spices (La-ham nashif)

“How much what?” I asked back, thinking he was inquiring about the cover charge for the club.

“How much?” he asked again and pointed at me.

It was at that point that it dawned on me what he was talking about. I think my face turned all red as I turned to my husband who was oblivious to the whole exchange so I said to him, “This guy just asked me how much.” DB looked at the guy and told him, “This is my wife.”

They guy just gave DB a dopey smile and walked away.

I couldn’t believe it. He must have been really drunk as he wasn’t being discrete at all. Each time he repeated “How much,” pretty much everyone on line in front of and behind us heard him. The nerve of some people.

But to get to really know Dubai, I think it’s also important to visit the more modest establishments and the stand alone restaurants.

A bunch of girls and I have been visiting a different restaurant every 2 weeks. We take turns organizing each dinner and the only criteria is that the meal has to be less than 100 Dirhams ($27) per person.

It’s a great way to explore different parts of Dubai, eat lots of delicious food, and best of all, meet new people and catch up on girl talk.

So far, we’ve been to the following restaurants:
 

1. Nanking (Chinese, Indonesian - Bur Dubai). The food was good and portions were huge. There was a lot of doggy-bagging that night.

2. Shahjahan (Indian - Metropolitan Hotel). Unfortunately, I missed out on this one .

3. Noodle Bowl (Chinese - Satwa). Good Cantonese food. We sat outdoors as the weather was still nice.

4. Thai Terrace (Thai - Bur Dubai). Mmm….great Thai food and the flavors were very authentic. So much better than Smiling BKK.

5. Curry On (Thai, Indian - Beach Road). This used to be the old Noshi Noshi. We visited on another beautiful day in May and were able to sit outside again. The food came in tastings of threes so it was quite fun!
 

 

6. Nando’s (South African - SZR). This is a South African chain that serves up some pretty good chicken with their Peri Peri sauce. The Chicken Espetada was my favorite. I love the way it was presented with the vegetables on the bottom and the meat skewer hanging above the platter:
 

 

7. Royal Orchid (Thai - Dubai Marina). Really great Thai food but pricier than the other places we’ve been too. Loved the fish cakes:
 

 

8. Ravi’s (Indian - Satwa). The food was pretty good and was the best deal yet at 25 Dirhams a head! They serve Lamb’s Brain so if you like odd food like me - give it a try.
 

And there is still many more to visit - we’ve got at least 20 more restaurants on the list so far!

This was my first attempt at an Arabic recipe. It is from Celia Ann Brock-Al Ansari’s “The Complete United Arab Emirates Cookbook.” I will not be re-printing the recipe here but you can access it via the above link.

About this dish, Celia writes:

“This must be prepared in a non-stick pot, for once it is cooked, the process of transferring it to a round rice platter can be tricky. Care must be taken to avoid breaking the crust which forms around the bottom of the rice pot.

A very attractive dish to present, it is usually served with plain yoghurt, sliced limes and raw sliced onion.

Considered to be a modern local dish, it can be also feature fish or meat instead of chicken.”

I’m going to say right off the bat that I’m not sure if this dish came out the way it was supposed to. I made so many changes to the recipe (some intentional, some not) that it could be considered a failed first attempt. But it did turn out very tasty!

The recipe calls for an Arabic spice mix called bezar or bizar. It is widely available in grocery stores, contains these ingredients and it cost me 11 dhs (US$3). Like Indian curry powder, you could make it yourself from grinding up whole spices but I bought mine pre-mixed:
 

 

To start, I cleaned and cut up a whole chicken (1 kg / 2.2 lbs), rubbed it with the bezar, salt, cardamon and turmeric and I let it sit for 15 minutes. I really wanted to pepper the chicken b/c I tend to salt and pepper everything. But the recipe didn’t call for pepper so I resisted the urge.

While the chicken was hanging out, I boiled 1 cup of basmati rice in salted water. The recipe called for 4 cups but I think that’s a lot of rice for 2 people. Even 1 cup of rice lasts us a few days - I can’t imagine 4 cups! That’s like dinner for 12!

After the chicken parts had been sitting in the dry rub for 15 minutes, I browned them in vegetable oil:
 

 

The browning of the chicken smelled so good - all the aromas of the spices (expecially the cardamom) wafted through the kitchen. After the chicken was browned, I took it out of the pan and set it aside.

Next, I browned up some onions and garlic in more vegetable oil. Added some ground loomi (dried limes), chickpeas (just a little as I hate chickpeas), and tomato paste with a little water. The recipe called for tomato puree but what I thought was puree in my pantry was actually diced tomatoes so I had to improvise with the paste and water:
 

 

Now it was time to assemble everything!

I put some oil in the bottom of a pot, added the rice, chicken, and the onion/chickpea mixture. I pressed everything down with a spoon and then poured in the saffron that had been soaking in hot water:
 

 

I was supposed to cover the pot with a wet cloth but I didn’t have one so I used a wet paper towel instead. I let the mixture simmer for 20 min and then took it off the heat and let is sit for 10 min:
 

 

At this point, I re-read the instructions and realized too late that I was supposed to use a nonstick pot. Oh well, I don’t have a nonstick pot anyway and I don’t think it would have made much of a difference to the final product considering the mess that I had already made of things.

This is what the dish looked like when I flipped the pot upside down onto a plate:
 

 

Well, it certainly is “rice with chicken in the bottom” but there was no “crust” formed at the bottom of my pot. Maybe I didn’t use enough oil or my rice was too wet. I was so upset with this dish that I didn’t even have the motivation to make it look nice or garnish.

Anyway, here’s what the dish looked like when plated:
 

 

The night I made this dish, I just wanted to cry at the way it turned out. But now, I just want to laugh - I mean - how ridiculous does that plate look? I should send myself to culinary school. You definitely won’t be seeing me on the next Top Chef or The Next Food Network Star anytime soon.

As per the instructions, I served it with yogurt, sliced onions (I’m assuming raw?) and sliced limes. It doesn’t look like much does it? Besides the fact that I need to work on my plating skills!

I was also worried that it wouldn’t taste like much but it was surprisingly quite good for a botched up attempt! DB, who had not been looking forward to this cooking project of mine, was also pleasantly surprised that he liked the dish and ate it with much gusto!

So there you have it: Arabic Cooking Part I. Hopefully, next week’s attempt will turn out better!

Up next Sunday is: Lamb Stew or La-ham murraq.

Now I have to deal with getting a workstation, email access, figuring out this new Office 2007 nonsense - I spent half my time today asking the “Question Mark” stupid things like, “How to open a file.” I think I got a migraine trying to figure out how all the menu functions were re-organized…ARG!

And the worst part is coming home all tired and drained without any motivation to move from the couch nor turn on my laptop to check emails, let alone blog. Now I know how my husband felt all these months!

Hopefully, I’ll adjust better next week, get back to the gym, and get back on a regular blogging schedule.

 

Previously, I had talked about wanting to learn how to cook up some Middle Eastern dishes due to the ease of obtaining the necessary ingredients here and also to learn more about the local culture.

After some Googling, I have found a collection of online recipes from Celia Ann Brock-Al Ansari. Her book, “The Complete United Arab Emirates Cookbook,” is unfortunately, no longer in print. I understand that she is an Amercan lady who married an Emirati and she produced the cookbook with the help of her husbands family and friends.

I don’t know if I will be able to make it through every single recipe, but I will certainly try and will post each attempt here on Sundays.
 

Besides Arabic cooking, I’d also like to make more of an effort to cook Indian dishes. Not just the stuff that’s in the restaurants (ie. Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb Vindaloo) but lesser known recipes.

On that note, a colleague of my husband’s lent me her copy of “Khazana of Indian Recipes” by Sanjeev Kapoor’s. I have skimmed through the list of recipes and almost all of them sound foreign to me (well, they are foreign) but I will give them a try - that is the whole point of this experiment - To try different things and learn about other cultures through cooking.

I will not be printing the recipes on here because they are copyrighted but will link to the relevant sites if possible and you can purchase Sanjeev Kapoor’s book via Amazon.

First up for next Sunday is an Arabic dish called Chicken with Rice in the Bottom or De-jaj ta-ha-tah.
 

And I’m recruiting volunteer eaters so if I know you, come over on Saturdays to be food guinea pigs .

And finally, if you have any great Arabic or Indian recipes to share, please send me an email - I’d love to hear from you!

 

A non-food related TT this week!

9 months after quitting my job in New York, getting married to the BF of 5 years, relocating to Dubai, and taking the time to explore a new country, I am just about to say goodbye to the life of leisure and embark on a new job, new career, and a whole new set of experiences.

Only 3 more days of leisure left!

13 Things I’ll Miss When Starting the New Job

 

13. Marathon sessions of Heroes, 24, Lost, etc.

12. Wearing pajamas all day and not even bothering to brush my teeth (at least until the hubby gets home).

11. Meeting up with other non-working friends for coffee, lunch, tanning, or mahjong.

10. Impromptu trips like the Seychelles.

9. Spending all morning at the gym - run 6 miles, yoga class, sit in sauna, then enjoy a leisurely beach-side lunch.

8. Prepping and cooking time-consuming recipes likes roasts or stews all day long.

7. Being able to jump in a car at anytime and explore Dubai on a whim.

6. Drinking until all hours of the morning on Sundays (due to hashing).

5. Shopping at the malls when it’s quiet b/c majority of the population is at work.

4. Rock climbing at Wafi on Sunday and Wednesday mornings when the rock wall is open to non-members and practically empty (evenings are packed and hectic).

3. Free time to work on my online blog and photo projects.

2. Sleeping in if I so choose to (although try as I might, I’m usually awake at 5:30am and out of bed by 7am).

1. And the #1 thing I’ll miss the most - Reading all my blogs!!!

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Only 4 days of unemployment left!

I decided to reward myself with a fancy dinner at Al Muntaha in the Burj in honor of having finally landed a job. DB and I went last night and this time we did indeed valet the car to avoid the horror of the last self-park episode.

Although we almost went into the parking garage again as DB did not want to pull up in our little Yaris hatchback that not only hadn’t been washed in over a week (so it is dusty and grimy as hell due to the sandy conditions here) but also emits a very high-pitched squeak from the engine. Boys and their complexes with cars - I just don’t get it.

So we valeted and made our way up to whatever floor the restaurant is at. It is a shame that there is not much of a view up there - we were seated by the window and I could barely even make out the lights from the Palm.

Unfortunately, I was able to make out the blinking LED wall lights and the psychedelic colors that is the interior of the restaurant. All that seemed to be missing was a few oversized disco balls:

The photo above is from the Burj website. Eschewing the usual protests and exasperating looks from DB, I did manage this time to take my own photos of our meal!

Our waiter started us off with an amuse bouche of lobster consommé (with lobster meat) for DB and a sweetcorn velouté with crab meat for me. Both were very very yummy. Note my sophisticated usage of food descriptors here - don’t you all wish you could come up with “very very yummy”? I’ll be the greatest food writer yet!

DB’s appetizer was an Oxtail salad with um…hm…I can’t remember but there was frisee, truffles and a quail egg. It was also very good!

My appetizer was a Ravioli of Canadian Lobster (in its own foam):

Looks like a big yellow foamy mushroom, huh? And here’s what it looked like when cut up:

DB chose the special of the night: Sirloin of Wagyu beef (medium rare). The 2 round patties on top are flavored butters but it didn’t need it. The Wagyu by itself was so freaking good I thought I was going to pass out:

I ordered the New Zealand Venison (medium rare) in Beet Jus. A bit skeptical at first of the beet sauce but I am a huge beet fan so I thought I’d give it a shot. It was absolutely divine. The venison was so tender and juicy and the sweetness of the beet sauce complimented the meat perfectly. The red clump on top is fried beet I think.

My dish also came with a side of Colcannon which I have had once before and hated it but this time around I loved it! The mashed potatoes were perfectly buttered, and I love veggies, so loved the cabbage which gave it a nice sweet crunch. Don’t think it needed the extra slab of meat that was on top but otherwise a perfect side dish to go with the venison:

The service was very friendly and attentive yet non-obtrusive. DB and I skipped dessert as we were both stuffed like happy pigs in a blanket!