{"id":429,"date":"2010-04-26T16:57:18","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T16:57:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/?p=429"},"modified":"2014-06-26T18:11:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-26T18:11:52","slug":"iraqi-cuisine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/iraqi-cuisine\/","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi Cuisine"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a recent visit to my brother in Windsor, Ontario, we decided to have lunch at an Iraqi restaurant (\u0645\u0637\u0639\u0645 \u0639\u0631\u0627\u0642\u064a). Windsor has a very large and diverse Arab population, and one can find many Arabic restaurants (\u0645\u0637\u0627\u0639\u0645), stores, and other businesses whose owners are mostly from Lebanon (\u0644\u0628\u0646\u0627\u0646), Syria (\u0633\u0648\u0631\u064a\u0627), Iraq (\u0627\u0644\u0639\u0631\u0627\u0642), Palestine (\u0641\u0644\u0633\u0637\u064a\u0646) and Jordan (\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0631\u062f\u0646). Our lunch (\u063a\u062f\u0627\u0621) at the Windsor Palace restaurant (\u0645\u0637\u0639\u0645 \u0642\u0635\u0631 \u0648\u0646\u062f\u0633\u0648\u0631) was my first experience with Iraqi food (\u0637\u0639\u0627\u0645), and I found it rich in flavors (\u0627\u0644\u0646\u0643\u0647\u0627\u062a) and absolutely delicious (\u0644\u0630\u064a\u0630). I tend to think that the core of levantine food as being different variations of what is essentially the same food, and to some extent I found this true during my lunch. However, while the core ideas and ingredients (\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0643\u0648\u0646\u0627\u062a) may be the same, the preparation (\u062a\u062d\u0636\u064a\u0631), flavor, and presentation (\u062a\u0642\u062f\u064a\u0645) where vastly different.<\/p>\n

\"Windsor
\nWindsor Palace Restaurant – \u0645\u0637\u0639\u0645 \u0642\u0635\u0631 \u0648\u0646\u062f\u0633\u0648\u0631 <\/em><\/p>\n

We started our lunch with cardamon (\u0627\u0644\u0647\u064a\u0644) flavored tea (\u0634\u0627\u064a). My personal experience with cardamon was its use in food and dessert, and perhaps more commonly in Turkish coffee (Turkish coffee is the name we give to the coffee we drink in the Arab world, which is very similar to espresso). Usually, cardamon seeds are roasted and finely ground with the coffee beans. It seems only natural to use with tea, so I’m a little surprised that this was my first taste of cardamon flavored tea.<\/p>\n

\"Cardamon
\nCardamon flavored tea – \u0634\u0627\u064a \u0628\u0646\u0643\u0647\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0647\u064a\u0644<\/em><\/p>\n

Our appetizers were a dish called Tarshe and a traditional Iraqi salad (\u0633\u0644\u0627\u0637\u0629 \u0639\u0631\u0627\u0642\u064a\u0629). Tarshe is pickled cabbage (\u0645\u0644\u0641\u0648\u0641) leaves and sliced carrots slightly flavored with cumin (\u0643\u0645\u0648\u0646) and curry (\u0643\u0627\u0631\u064a) powder. It’s not unusual to use curry powder in Arabic cuisine, but I have never seen it used with pickled dishes. Pickled (\u0645\u062e\u0644\u0644) appetizers (\u0645\u0642\u0628\u0644\u0627\u062a) are very common in Arabic food and they’re especially served with mezze dishes, or appetizer dishes, including humous (\u062d\u0645\u0635), baba ghanoug, kebbe (\u0643\u0628\u0629), and many more. After Tarshe we moved on to a traditional Iraqi salad which had chopped purple and romaine lettuce (\u062e\u0633), sliced tomatoes (\u0637\u0645\u0627\u0637\u0645) and cucumbers (\u062e\u064a\u0627\u0631), finely chopped parsley (\u0628\u0642\u062f\u0648\u0646\u0633), black olives (\u0632\u064a\u062a\u0648\u0646 \u0623\u0633\u0648\u062f), and boiled chick peas (\u062d\u0645\u0635), all marinated in olive oil (\u0632\u064a\u062a \u0627\u0644\u0632\u064a\u062a\u0648\u0646), lemon juice (\u0639\u0635\u064a\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0644\u064a\u0645\u0648\u0646), salt (\u0645\u0644\u062d) and crushed garlic (\u062b\u0648\u0645).<\/p>\n

\"Iraqi
\nIraqi Salad – \u0633\u0644\u0627\u0637\u0629 \u0639\u0631\u0627\u0642\u064a\u0629<\/em><\/p>\n

Our main course was two plates called Dolma and Qoozi. Dolma is a plate of hollowed oinions (\u0628\u0635\u0644), courgettes (\u0627\u0644\u0643\u0648\u0633\u0629), and grape leaves (\u0648\u0631\u0642 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0646\u0628), stuffed with rice (\u0627\u0644\u0623\u0631\u0632), ground beef (\u0644\u062d\u0645 \u0628\u0642\u0631), and spices (\u062a\u0648\u0627\u0628\u0644), slow cooked in a tomato garlic sauce with herbs and spices. It’s a flavor rich and smooth dish, and naturally heavy. Qoozi is a grilled (\u0645\u0634\u0648\u064a), whole lamb (\u062e\u0631\u0648\u0641) leg served with a bed of rice with thin noodles (\u0634\u0639\u064a\u0631\u064a\u0629). To compliment that we had a stew of Fasoolia (\u0641\u0627\u0635\u0648\u0644\u064a\u0627), which is white kidney beans stewed in an aromatic, thick tomato sauce (\u0635\u0644\u0635\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0637\u0645\u0627\u0637\u0645) with herbs and spices.<\/p>\n

\"Dolma\"
\nDolma, stuffed onions, grape leaves, and courgettes, cooked in tomato sauce – \u062f\u0648\u0644\u0645\u0627: \u0648\u0631\u0642 \u0627\u0644\u0639\u0646\u0628 \u060c \u0627\u0644\u0643\u0648\u0633\u0629 \u060c \u0648\u0627\u0644\u0628\u0635\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0637\u0628\u0648\u062e \u0641\u064a \u0635\u0644\u0635\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0637\u0645\u0627\u0637\u0645<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Qoozi\"
\nQoozi, lamb thigh with rice – \u0642\u0648\u0632\u064a, \u0641\u062e\u0630 \u0627\u0644\u062e\u0631\u0648\u0641 \u0645\u0639 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0631\u0632<\/em><\/p>\n

\"White
\nWhite kidney beans cooked in tomato sauce – \u0641\u0627\u0635\u0648\u0644\u064a\u0627 \u0645\u0637\u0628\u0648\u062e\u0629 \u0641\u064a \u0635\u0644\u0635\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0637\u0645\u0627\u0637\u0645<\/em><\/p>\n

After enjoying all this delightful food we, unfortunately, had no room for dessert. But we did get a cinnamon and a strawberry flavored Chiclets to enjoy.
\n\"Cinnamon
\nCinnamon flavored chewing gum – \u0639\u0644\u0643\u0629 \u0628\u0646\u0643\u0647\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0642\u0631\u0641\u0629<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Strawberry
\nStrawberry flavored gum – \u0639\u0644\u0643\u0629 \u0628\u0646\u0643\u0647\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0641\u0631\u0627\u0648\u0644\u0629<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"Windsor

A brief description of my first experience with Iraqi food.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8477,7973,8476],"class_list":["post-429","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","tag-arabic-cuisine","tag-arabic-food","tag-iraqi-food"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9290,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions\/9290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}