After a long work week, you probably want comfort in a bowl. This tangy yet creamy dal recipe will do well for dinner. A rich lentil stew, it combines black and green gram with green chillies, ginger and tomato puree to make a dish that uses enough dal to make it protein-packed and healthy, and enough butter to make it almost a cheat meal.
Crispy potatoes sautéed in onions and garlic, these spicy potatoes will hit just the right spot. A dish that’s very popular in the Middle East, these potatoes shine right through their flavourful covering of cayenne pepper and coriander. Combine it with bread or rice.
This step-by-step guide to making a potato-based gnocchi will ensure you impress guests for the Eid holiday. For this classic dish made across Italian households, all you need are flour, potato and eggs – and for vegetarians, you can even skip the egg, adding extra flour instead to bind the mixture. Just combine these melt-in-your-mouth dumplings with a tomato and basil sauce for the perfect Italian dinner.
Despite having originated in northern India, the butter chicken's spicy-sweet appeal doesn't end at India's borders, and finds popularity from Europe to the Middle East. Which makes it quite the perfect dish if you’re hosting expats of various nationalities for dinner. Tomato puree, fragrant spices and tender chicken – learn how to combine them all in our step-by-step guide to the perfect butter chicken.
This terrific lamb dish cooked in yoghurt and spices makes up just the perfect meal for your upcoming weekend. An hour of cooking in a marinade of yoghurt, paprika, cinnamon, cardamom and cloves leaves behind a thick sauce, after which you pan-fry the ribs in hot ghee to golden-brown perfection. Serve ribs separately or immerse in the sauce – either way, you know you’ve got a winner in your hands.
6. Luqaimat
It’s not really Eid without Luqaimat, is it? This traditional Emirati dessert is made of flour and yeast, soaked in date honey syrup and sprinkled with sesame seeds for softness and crunch all in the same mouthful. Serve these sweet dumplings while still warm.
After all the Eid excesses, you probably want a dish that feels like a mouthful of nutrition. Enter this okra dish, cooked in a tomato-pomegranate sauce and served with a garlic-coriander mixture that's used widely in Arabian cuisine to add flavour to some popular dishes. The traditional dish is made with meat, and this dish skips the meat for added goodness.
So were these ideas helpful? Well, we have hundreds more where these came from - just log into the Food section, save your recipes, email a grocery list using the link below the ingredient list, and you're on your way to culinary paradise. Do tell us how they turned out, or even better email us pictures of the dishes. We love to hear from our 'foodie' readers.
Tell us about your favourite dishes or recipes at food@gulfnews.com
