• Eat Your Books

  1996 International Association of Culinary Professionals Award Winner

  Read Chef Talk's review of this book and sample recipe for Moroccan anise bread.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Green bean salad with walnut vinaigrette (lobio)

  • Tommelise on September 20, 2011

    Nice combination of flavours

  • Snadra on March 11, 2012

    This really improved on sitting, and was a hit at an impromptu lunch with a few other salad dishes. Even without coriander. I used much less garlic than called for, but a bit more would not have hurt. Came together very quickly with a food processor to mix the dressing and goes with a wide range of other flavours. Dill, parsley or basil would make a great sub for the coriander if necessary.

  • CheriRD on October 11, 2011

    I thought this was too oily even though I used less dressing, and the ground walnuts in the dressing didn't seem to add much. Next time I would make the dressing without the ground walnuts and add more chopped walnuts at the end -- the crunch and flavor of those were great. I loved the cilantro!

• Oasis peppers

  • westminstr on November 19, 2013

    I liked this easy little stirfry, but I was the only one. T hated it.

• Five lentil stew (panch dal)

  • westminstr on November 19, 2013

    This is a lovely dal that I've made several times now and really enjoy. You can use any mix of lentils, and sub aleppo pepper for some of the cayenne to reduce the spice.

• Two reds salad

  • westminstr on June 02, 2014

    I really liked this salad and it was easy to prepare, but T said he did not like the tomato component, so I will not repeat.

• Pita (khubz, baladi)

  • mirage on June 26, 2010

    Use half whole wheat, half bread flour.

  • Bloominanglophile on June 13, 2013

    I usually make this pita when I make hummus. It is a bit tedious to bake all these off, but since it does make at least 16 pitas, I freeze what we don't eat. They thaw at room temp beautifully. I have made these with varying amounts of whole wheat flour--it's all good!This is also a fun recipe for kids to practice their skills with the rolling pin. Do keep the dough covered with a damp cloth--if a "crust" develops on the dough, then they don't fully puff up in the oven.

• Lentil and sultana salad

  • sgump on April 14, 2011

    Simple and incredibly delicious!

  • eliza on August 05, 2014

    This salad has become a family favourite. I make it as written, but reduce the salt a bit. You can replace the sultanas with other dried fruit such as cranberries.

• Aziz's apricot noodle soup (mo'otch)

  • mcvl on March 13, 2021

    Odd. I liked it well enough while I was eating it, but it didn't make me want to cook it again.

• Fresh corn and yogurt (raita)

  • mziech on December 12, 2011

    Love this recipe. Corn and yogurt is an excellent combination, best eaten in winter. Nice with millet breads.

• Thyme bread (khubs zatar)

  • Snadra on June 23, 2011

    We must have seasoned the bread heavily, because the zatar recipe was just enough for half a recipe. But they were delicious, and the method of the griddle then broiler really works.

• Chickpea flour country bread (besan roti)

  • eliza on February 12, 2017

    The amounts as stated make a dough that's far too wet to roll out, and I also like to make fewer breads. So typically I half everything except I use 3/4 cup of the atta flour and those ratios seem to work well. There's a bit of waiting around while the dough rests, but other than that they're very easy to make and taste really good. The cumin may not be for everyone, and that can be omitted. Makes a good accompaniment to a soup or daal.

• Chickpea salad with spearmint (salatit bi humus)

  • jessekl on June 22, 2014

    Much better after it sits and marinates overnight.

• Moroccan anise bread (ksra)

  • Bloominanglophile on February 03, 2014

    This bread is quite easy to make. I wish I liked whole wheat more than I do--I tend to go for multigrain breads. Therefore, this bread really didn't do it for me. I also wished the anise flavor was more prevalent--maybe increase the amount of anise (grinding some of it and incorporating it into the dry ingredients may help). It is a healthy bread, though! I served it with a Moroccan Lentil Soup from Leite's Culineria.

• Bulgur pilaf (plof)

  • Zosia on May 23, 2017

    This didn't turn out well at all, a shame because it tasted good. After the 15 minute cook time, the bulgur was done but the mixture was soupy. Draining and steaming it for a few minutes helped eliminate the excess liquid but by that time, the bulgur was overcooked.

• Bread salad

  • Zosia on July 08, 2020

    Simple and very tasty.

• Herbs and greens egg pie (koukou-ye sabzi)

  • Zosia on July 08, 2020

    Fresh tasting and delicious frittata with the unexpected crunch of walnuts. I don't know if the optional yogurt and baking soda I included lightened the texture as stated but it was pleasant, firm but moist and not rubbery. I sauteed the leeks as I prefer them to be very soft.

• Olive ladder bread (fougasse aux olives)

  • Zosia on September 25, 2014

    We didn't care for this version of fougasse. Despite including buckwheat and whole wheat flours (and olives!), it was surprisingly flavourless and also quite dry. But the texture may have been a problem with the recipe since the dough, which was supposed to be soft, was very stiff and required extra water.

• Orange and black olive salad

  • kitchen_chick on February 12, 2019

    The method described for cutting up the oranges seemed messy and complicated, so I opted to supreme the oranges and squeezed the left over membranes for juice. I also left out the garlic. I like garlic, but wasn't sure I really wanted that flavor in this salad. I used Aleppo pepper flakes as my chili flakes.

• Herb plate

  • mjes on April 27, 2018

    This Armenian herb plate reminds me of my introduction to herb plates through an Armenian roommate. Her choices were influenced by our nearness to the Japanese Cultural Center. This is probably closer to what she was used to from her refugee grandparents' garden. Here the herbs suggested are mint, coriander, tarragon, dill, basil, parsley and chives with scallions, radishes and watercress as supplements. My untraditional version includes lovage and shiso (perilla) as they are prominent in my herb garden.

• Sardinian parchment bread (Carasau)

  • mjes on April 23, 2018

    This is the first cracker I actually mastered. It is so foolproof that I used it with my grandnephew who is just beginning to cook. Once he had pizza mastered, we moved to socca and parchment bread. Everyone should have this or a similar recipe in their repertoire. So good and keeps well. If your semolina is coarse enough, you can simply roll this a thinly as possible. If your semolina is too fine for this trick to work mix a little cornmeal into the semolina. If you have trouble finding coarse semolina, check a South Asian/Indian grocer.

• Hamine eggs (beid hamine)

  • mjes on May 23, 2020

    I was a bit concerned about boiling dry overnight so I spent a day and made it for a bedtime snack. The very long cook does change the texture making this surprisingly different from a standard hard-boiled egg. This will be repeated -- or, more likely, variations on the basic recipe that add color or flavor. This is a great recipe to play with.

• Shrimp and tomato curry with coconut milk

  • Kinhawaii on March 24, 2021

    We have been enjoying this simple curry for years- substituting some curry powder for the curry leaves, adding more shrimp, often using more tomatoes. Delicious over rice too!

• Sichuan eggplant (yu xiang qiezi)

  • sscholl on September 14, 2019

    Good, but I used 3 times the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sugar to give it the punch I wanted.

• Afghan snowshoe nan

  • stepharama1 on January 30, 2022

    Excellent flavor and easy. Used white whole wheat flour for the whole wheat flour.

• Okra and chicken stew (bami shokeb)

  • FigsandOkra on July 31, 2022

    Easy, yum way to eat okra!