The traditional cuisine of the UAE is as different from Arabic food as chicken tikka masala served in a British pub is from chicken tikka served on the streets of Mumbai. Lebanese, Turkish and even Iranian food is often mistaken for “local cuisine” by visitors to the country. Leading Emirati chefs agree that this misconception rises from a lack of original fare from the UAE.
Dominated by meat, fish, grain and dairy due to its infertile desert terrain, traditional dishes include maqlooba, harees, arseeya, machbous, and grilled camel, goat, chicken and other birds. The heart of the cuisine lies in the spices, says well-known Emirati chef Al Ebdowa of Mezlai restaurant in Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace. The Hatta native stepped into the kitchen because he missed his mother’s cooking. Once plating up became a passion, he brought a small roadside restaurant between Hatta and Dubai, which he eventually sold. After a brief stint in the army, he decided to train as a professional chef. “The awareness about Emirati food is still less than what it should be. Local cuisine or UAE cuisine is very rich, and this lack of awareness is because there was no local hand — or local chef, if you may — cooking,” says the chef, who has also worked at Dubai’s Jumeirah Emirates Towers and Burj Al Arab since 1992. “Arabic food and Emirati food is different because of its spices … the technique of cooking is different. This is what sets it apart from Middle Eastern food. Only food from UAE, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain is similar”.
Chef Ali (as he prefers to be known) says there is a need for more Emirati chefs to help re-create and evolve Emirati food so it can reach a wider audience. Chef Khulood, the first woman Emirati chef to become a household name, agrees, especially where women are concerned. Chef Khulood herself decided to become a chef some nine years ago because she felt a lack of direction in her life. She started as a culinary assistant with the Jumeirah hotel group before joining the Abu Dhabi Tourism Development and Investment Company (TCA) as a trainer and developer of chefs of Emirati cuisine.
“Being a chef itself is a hard [task] and it’s even more difficult for Arab women who wish to wear the abaya at all times. [And this is probably the reason why] very few people actually want to do it. In fact I’ve not met any Emirati woman who has come up to me and shown a desire to be a chef. However, 10 years ago you may have found it difficult even to find an Emirati restaurant. But now we have a few. You have restaurants that serve traditional food and you have those who serve fusion. But yes, it has evolved and most of the people who visited here and thought that kibbe or the hummus was Emirati food now know more. But now, [as per your] your taste, you can find both traditional and fusion Emirati food”.
Emirati food may not be similar to most Middle Eastern cuisines, but it does feature influences from the region that have been combined with Asian spices to create a distinct identity. This identity is being further enhanced by chefs such as Ali and Khulood, who are using modern cooking techniques to add international flair to presentation.
“Emirati cuisine has come up in a big way, and by God’s grace I can say that for the first time I will be cooking and serving Emirati food in India next week,” said Chef Khulood, who has taken the cuisine abroad before, including to the US. “My job is to train chefs in all the five- and four-star Abu Dhabi hotels every day, about the traditions behind it, its origin, the ingredients used, the spices … Emirati cuisine is not very old — just about a 100 years or so. But the festivals that I go to [in other countries], I use our food as a good way to talk about our country, our culture”.
Chef Ali says he cooks Emirati fusion food every year at Manchester City Club but he prefers to bring out the fusion mainly in the presentation, keeping flavours authentic.
“We take inspiration from international dishes or combine international ingredients with authentic Emirati flavours. For example, I would use risotto instead of rice [for a dish]. But cooking has to be [by] someone who knows the basics of Emirati food, else you cannot make the dish,” he said. “The fusion comes in the meat or the cut of meat, the cooking technique and presentation. Yes, you can add a lot of elements, like foam or a new cooking technique but the taste has to be the same”.
Chef Khulood is no stranger to modern cooking techniques either.
“My Emirati fusion style started some five years ago. They asked me if I could provide Emirati finger food. Now, Emirati food is never served this way because it’s always family style with large portions. Then I sat down and adapted seven recipes for small bites. Today I have over 300 recipes,” she said.
“As for fusion cooking we now do it a lot. For example we use the Indian-style samboosa sheet and stuff [it] with typical Emirati shark fish stuffing, or sliders and shawarma are made with camel meat and ice cream with camel milk. We use everything — sous vide, nitrogen, the smoke gun and other techniques — but only at food festivals for show or in hotels because most of these ingredients or styles of cooking are not really accessible to people cooking at home. But yes molecular gastronomy is definitely part of Emirati cuisine now. The taste is the same, yet at the same time, it has evolved”.
Other prominent Emirati chefs
While new restaurants serving authentic local food are cropping up in the UAE, these young people are taking Emirati food culture to a different level.
Shaikha M. Al Ali
The founder of the blog whenshaikhacooks.com, this young Emirati is deeply passionate not just about her food but filming and photography. Cooking from the age of 13, she has been writing about food, developing recipes and styling food for her videos and photos. She is also part of a quarterly Arabic and English food art magazine, called Thooq, in the Middle East. She turned blogger at 16 and now holds a strong position on Instagram, with more than 25,000 followers. She hopes to have her own restaurant in the future, write cookbooks and be a TV chef.
Bader Najeeb
At 20, Bader Najeeb is the youngest Emirati chef. Known as Chef.b on social media (he has more than 81,000 Instagram followers), like Al Ali he too started cooking at 13, and had two TV shows by the time he was 18. Even though desserts are his forte — he makes chocolate eclairs from scratch — he says he’s still a student, learning business studies along with culinary techniques. He cooked an adaptation of the traditional dessert luqaimaat on the American segment The Today Show. He has also held cooking classes in Milan and Saudi Arabia.
Amna Al Hashemi
Amna Al Hashemi is the first female Emirati chef to open her own restaurant in Dubai, Mitts & Trays at City Walk. She took on pastry cooking and baking at the International Centre for Culinary Arts in Dubai Knowledge Village and also studied nutrition, which has helped develop her menu at the restaurant. Soon after she set up her Instagram page — Mitts and Trays — after her cooking was appreciated by friends and family.
