Product Description

Melbourne-based chef Greg Malouf grew up in a family whose longing for their homeland Lebanon was most often expressed through food. His childhood was filled with the noisy chatter of generations of women sitting around the kitchen table preparing Arabic dishes the way they've been prepared for centuries. "Saha" chronicles Greg's epic journey to the lands of his ancestors to explore its broad and influential cuisine and discover the roots of his culinary heritage. From desert kingdoms to sea castles, from citadels to souks, through olive groves and snow-capped mountain ranges, Greg, and his writing partner Lucy, unearth a dazzling array of traditional dishes as well as new culinary delights. The recipes in "Saha" are as rich and varied as the lands themselves. Enjoy traditional dishes such as Aleppo-Style Chicken Cooked on Coals, Armenian-inspired Slow Roasted Lamb with Red Pepper and Pomegranate Paste; a simple Bedouin Spinach, Lentil and Lemon Soup or the famous Mediterranean Red Mullet Cooked with Golden Spices. For dessert, try the legendary Rose of Damascus - crisp filo with Turkish delight ice-cream and toffee strawberries. Throughout their journey, Greg and Lucy were welcomed into the homes of fishermen, beekeepers, bakers, arak distillers, cooks and housewives and the book is filled with their heart-warming and evocative stories.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #257263 in Books
• Published on: 2006-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

About the Author
Greg Malouf was born in Melbourne, Australia, of Lebanese parents. He served his formal apprenticeship in several of Australia s finest restaurants, and has forged a unique style of cooking that combines Middle Eastern tradition with contemporary flair. He has worked extensively in Europe and Asia and is the executive chef at MoMo restaurant in Sydney. Under his leadership the restaurant has won numerous awards and high respect from local and international critics. Lucy Malouf is a Melbourne-based writer and editor. She has worked as a freelance editor and manuscript adviser for several leading Australian publishers, as well as contributing features and reviews to major Australian newspapers, restaurant guides and magazines. She is the author of The Food and Wine Lover s Guide to Melbourne s Bays and Peninsulas and The Seasons Plate Cookbook.

Customer Reviews

A beautiful book
A beautiful book as much at home on the coffee table as it is in the kitchen. I love the foods of this region, fresh vegetables, meats and daily bought bread with spices and citrus' in abundance.

The pictures of everyday life in a place unravaged by tourism, still wary of it's proximity to places of upheaval. You could almost feel safe going there it seems. A place where East starts to meet West culturally and palataciously :) The stunning scenery, warm people and delicious food beckon the unwary adventurer.

Cheers!
Now out in paperback version - see Saha: A Chef's Journey Through Lebanon and Syria. Saha ("Cheers!" - the name comes from the Arabic toast to good health; in these regions it seems that even Islamic prohibitions don't stop people from enjoying an alcoholic spirit called arak) is a book of the same format as the Malouf's Turquoise - part travelogue, part photo album, part recipe book.

As a result many of my criticisms of that other work also apply to this. However some of my peeves with that book are not so bad here. The dimensions of this book are considerably smaller so the bookself problem is not as great. The photography feels much more relevant - many of the photos are directly food related rather than just photos of old men sitting around smoking fags or kids in back streets, so although the photography still feels excessive in quantity it doesn't feel quite so totally irrelevant or obtrusive and can actually add to the food 'atmosphere'.

Some good recipes in here too. No middle eastern cookbook would be complete without muhammara, a red pepper, walnut and pomegranate dip which is the very ambrosia of the gods. There is also a version of this mixed with labneh (a thick yoghurt), but inexplicably doesn't describe a version mixed with tahini (which if I recall correctly from the excellent Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen is a speciality of Aleppo).

We also have hummus with spiced sliced lamb, which I've only seen previously in Feast Bazaar; sfiha - a kind of little pie with minced lamb served with pomegranate molasses and labneh; and slices of eggplant layered with halloumi and bastourma (a thinly sliced preserved beef - presumably similar to pastrami given the similarity of name) then coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

The zgorta style kibbeh (lamb and bulgur wheat shells with a filling) have been adapted here - the originals would have a filling of sheep's tail fat - to be filled with a pine nut and cinnamon butter.

Then how about quail stuffed with ma'ahani (a sausage meat) and baked in kataifi (a shredded pastry) with a feta and paprika sauce? Or musakhan spicy chicken baked wrapped in a parcel of flatbread with spinach, chickpeas and pine nuts?

Lamb shawarma sounds wonderful in its simplicity - leg of lamb barbecued in a spicy marinade then simply sliced and eaten wrapped up in warm flatbreads with herb salad, labneh or a yoghurt-tahini sauce. And slow roasted lamb with red pepper and pomegranate paste.

How about finishing off with 'Rose of Damascus', turkish delight ice cream with filo pastry flowers and toffeed strawberries?

Within my large collection of middle eastern cookbooks, there are several which I would value overall more highly than this work, but this is a good addition to my collection.