I am not sure if you are familiar with my background, but I am actually from the Middle East – I am Armenian, and I grew up eating Middle Eastern food in my parents’ household, and I wanted to give a small collection of recommended and trending Middle Eastern recipes for you to try at home.

A lot of the times, a foreign cuisine may seem and sound intimidating to us if we are not familiar with the flavors or techniques. I think that Middle Eastern cooking is one of the healthiest, and easiest cuisines to learn. It uses simple, fresh, and few ingredients – a little of spice goes a long way – and you can make your food taste like something made in a passionate Middle Eastern country.

Here is a collection of 20 recipes that will give you a small taste of all the deliciousness that the Middle East is known for in such varied and colorful dishes that represent the beauty of its food.

	Zhoug – Yemeni Green Chilli Paste Middle Eastern Pesto Lovely green color of this dish is perfect to add to your table – the flavors sound enchanting! Read more…
	Farmer\’s market favorite! Romano Beans w/ Tomatoes, Middle Eastern style � This dish looks like a fusion of American ingredients and Middle Eastern traditional cooking – try it out! Read more…
	Light and Creamy Middle Eastern Lemon & Almond Basbousa Cake I could eat almond cakes for every dessert – something about sugar combined with almonds, and you get an incredible flavor combination! Read more…
	Limonana (Middle Eastern Frozen Mint Lemonade). So … – Mint was such a common ingredient where I grew up, and nor surprising the number of dishes and drinks in the Middle Eastern traditional cuisine that use this particular ingredient. Read more…
	Middle Eastern Sunday Roast Chicken Platter. Deliciously different :� This dish looks almost like it is an American dish – hummus, roast chicken, and couscous are now easy to find in any supermarket, I hope you have tried these dishes! Read more…
	Balela Salad | This quick Middle Eastern-style bean … – Did you know that hummus is made out of chickpeas? I think salads with chickpeas are incredible, and very filling – they give you proteins and vitamins in one bowl. Read more…
	Spice Up Your Sad Desk Lunch With This Middle Eastern Quinoa Salad Quinoa, like many other grains, is a clean slate that you add to in order to put together a salad dish, but it adds a lot of heartiness to your meal. You will be full from eating a bowl of this salad. Read more…
	7 Middle Eastern Dips to Make Beyond Hummus – One great way to have your chips is using one of the great dips – and hummus is just the start! Try one of these 7 choices! Read more…
	Middle Eastern Mezze (February Daring Cooks):… Mezze are small plates, and these are so common in the Middle East. Most of our celebrations would always have a traditional great number of small plates before the main course. Read more…
	This Middle Eastern Edamame Bean Salad is so easy to prepare and so delicious This is definitely a fusion salad – I don\’t think edamame are typical for Middle Eastern cuisine, but I am sure that this combination will work very well – basically you switch up edamame with other beans that are regularly used in this salad, and you are all set! Read more…
	Create succulent Middle Eastern Seafood Kebabs using a Combi-Steam Oven Having kabobs are a must, if you want to enjoy a real Middle Eastern treat! Kabobs have always been the most important dish at many of our traditional family gatherings. Read more…
	: Baba Ganoush is a popular Middle Eastern eggplant dip. Enjoy it wit… I love our homemade version of an eggplant dip – a version of this popular dip called Baba Ganoush. You have to try it, if you have never made it before! Read more…
	Of The Day: Middle Eastern Turkey-Stuffed Apples With Pomegranate Sauce � Stuffed apples is one of my most favorite homemade dinners! The flavors are to die for! Try this recipe – I guarantee you will not be disappointed! Read more…
	Quick and healthy : One Pot Middle Eastern Chicken with @fosterfarms –> As you can see, it is very easy to stock up for a traditional Middle Eastern feast using very traditional American ingredients – and chicken is very commonly used in the Middle East – such an easy to find, common, healthy and delicious ingredient! Read more…
	Tomatoes, cukes, plenty of mint, and toasted pita go into Middle Eastern fattoush. I think at one point I have actually discovered this salad on my own, not knowingly. In my childhood it was more common to make a salad with simple tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, but adding some crackers you have on hand, or any type of toasted type bread, croutons can elevate the salad to the new heights – your dried toasts with soak up all of the juices, and the salad will have an unbelievable flavor – I hope you try it! Read more…
	Bulgur & Tomato Middle Eastern Recipe – Bhurgul This recipe sounds exciting to make – if you want to spruce up your side dishes for dinner – I highly recommend trying out this recipe! Read more…
	Eastern Chicken & Chickpea Stew – 9 The Best for Your Cast Iron Here is another combination of chickpeas and chicken. I recommend using a few recipes from this collection, and they all definitely complement each other. Buy a large can of chickpeas, a large pack of chicken thighs, and you got yourself several different lunches and dinners, all in Middle Eastern styles and flavors! Read more…
	: More Than Just Hummus: 15 Meatless Middle Eastern Recipes You Have to Try I bet these recipes have eggplant in them! I find eggplant is such a great and meaty vegetable – it can easily substitute meat for you! Read more…
	Mushroom-Spinach Soup With Middle Eastern Spices Now if you are not ready to go all the way Middle Eastern, you can start with adding a few spices to your dishes – here is a great recipe with mushrooms – enjoy! Read more…
	Apricot Lamb Tagine (Mishmishiya) – very tasty Middle Eastern dish! I think lamb is one of the main proteins that makes Middle Eastern cuisine what it is – the flavors of lamb are the main flavors that are so memorable and quintessential for this cooking. Read more…

Today I am reviewing a new book of Easy Persian cooking by Shadi HasanzadeNemati “The Enchantingly Easy Persian Cookbook”. You will be surprised to know this, but while in the Middle East, all pots and pans look very similar to all of the others in the rest of the world, there is a certain difference in the kitchen accessories used, and I am impressed that this book gives a good introduction about that. Looking through the chapter of appetizers, I see a lot of familiar traditional ideas, yet adding certain spices makes these recipes quite original for me. I was surprised to learn that my favorite Olivier Salad is actually also a favorite in Iran – who would have known? If you don’t know how to make it, this book will teach you!

I love to see lots of recipes with tomatoes, potatoes and eggplant in this book! This is exactly what I love to eat, and what I know this cuisine is known for – these are recipes that I can eat any day. This book seems very applied, and gives actual recipes of what people cook, not just high level restaurant quality dishes that nobody actually makes or eats. This book is made to be used for a regular family – cooking and making traditional tasty dishes that you could live on all year long simply alternating them. Winter lamb and potatoes with quince recipe immediately brought me to my childhood – familiar scents and flavors filled up my mind, and reminded me of my grandmother, cleaning up quinces, and then slow-cooking a one-dish stew dinner – nothing in life can be worth those memories, and eating these flavors is like a time machine experience – quinces are available only a short period of the year, and for those two weeks when they are sold, all you do is clean them, and can them for jams to eat all year long.

There are a lot of recipes in the book that I may have tried before, am familiar with, but my family hasn’t necessarily cooked. I love how this book incorporates a lot of different ideas, and even though I am familiar with the cuisine – there is still so much I can learn. One complaint about this book – not enough pictures! I love when books are filled with food photographs, and I would have loved to see more stunning pictures! I wish I could work with a food writer some day and take photos of food for them – it is sometimes just such a shame when you have an incredible book, and the majority of dishes have no photos.

I am actually offering this book for a giveaway – please, enter below! If you can’t wait to get this book, you can also find it online on Amazon.

One winner of this giveaway will receive a copy of “The Enchantingly Easy Persian Cookbook”. This is a US only giveaway. The value of the prize is $17.99. When the giveaway is over, one winner will be picked by the giveaway widget, and will be contacted by Box Roundup, and asked to provide a valid US residential address and phone number to receive the prize. Once the prize is mailed out, there will be no substitutions, returns or refunds.

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