Arabic 101

As salaam a lai kum!

For those of you who aren't fluent in Arabic (like me), that means "May peace be upon you" and is a formal greeting used in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic speaking countries.  Let's learn some other Arabic words and phrases- they are written in English because the Arabic alphabet is a bit hard for the novice (like me) to learn but it is beautiful to look at.

Hi- Salaam or Marhaba    Goodbye- ma'a salama  
Thank you- shukram     Yes - na'am    No - la'a
Beautiful- jameel     Sorry- aasif      I Love You- ana behibak(male)
                                                                            ana behibek(female)

1- wahed     2- ethnan    3- thalathah   4- arba'eh    5- khamsah
6- setah      7- sab'ah    8- thamaneyah  9- tes'ah    10- 'asharah

black- aswad   white- abyad     blue- azraq    green- akhdar
red- ahmar     yellow- asfar

I hope you learned a little about Saudi Arabia!  I had planned a post about the Holy sites of Mecca and Medina but to be honest with you, I'm afraid of offending anyone accidentally!!  It's an interesting country with a culture that I didn't know much about, I would love to learn more but I will probably not do it on the internet. 

Ma'a Salama from Saudi Arabia

My 3 Wishes...

Rub Here.

Did your genie come out?  Nope, ours didn't either.  Bummer.  Anyway, since we had all planned out what we were going to wish for, I turned that into our art project.  Granted it wasn't the most artistic art project but we did it together as a family and talked a lot about what we really wanted versus what we needed to be happy.  The inspiration for the project came when we watched Aladdin.  I'd forgotten what fun that movie was!  Robin Williams is so great as the Genie.  So while we were watching we got to thinking about what we would wish for.....

 My daughter wished for a pink slide that goes into her new swimming pool, a puppy (!), and lots of money.  Her dollar signs are a little hard to see.  I hope her Pink Princess Genie comes through!!




My son obviously didn't want to color in his picture but his wishes were for a big house with a swimming pool, his own toy store and a long and happy life.  I gave him that last idea because he just wasn't in the mood.


My wishes were for a house on a lake with a dock and a boat.  Doesn't that sound relaxing? A happy and healthy family and enough money so that we never have to worry about money again.  I already have the second wish but understand how easily it could change!

My husband used his 3 wishes to have a happy and healthy family, a house for all our days, and happiness for all around us.  Whatta nice guy!  He should have been more specific about the house though - it needs 4 bedrooms and a pool or lake!!!


So those were our wishes and I hope one day they can come true, but until then, we have a wonderful family and a great house and all the friends we need.  Money? Well, we could always use more money but it's not as important as love and family.

 

On the Menu: Saudi Arabian Food

A Taste of the Exotic.

My kitchen smells so good :)  I'm not sure exactly which spice I like the smell of the most- the allspice, the cardamom, the cloves or the cinnamon- they all smell so good!  They tasted pretty good too.The people of Saudi Arabia are descended from tribes of nomadic sheep and goat herders and many of their traditional foods still reflect this- flat breads (fatir) and dates are some of the easily transportable foods that are still common today. These days most Saudis live in cities but they still enjoy the traditional foods.  The staples of their diet have stayed pretty constant over the years- fava beans, wheat, rice, yogurt, dates, chicken and spices.  The spices of Saudi Arabian food are abundant.  It's a little intimidating at first but the combination of all the exotic spices is what make the flavor of the food so interesting and, well, Middle Eastern. 

When eating food in Saudi Arabia, there are a few things you will NEVER see on the menu - pork and alcohol.  No ribs and beer, no bloody mary with your bacon for breakfast, both these items are against the laws of Islam and therefore forbidden.  Bummer for them but I imagine they have their own good reasons.  So we will follow the rules and make a traditional dish- Al Kabsa.  A combination of rice, raisins, spices, nuts and meat, which is the most common dish you will see in Saudi Arabia.  Everybody has their own recipe and combination of spices that go into it.  We found a few different ones at Food.com and kinda mushed them all together to make our own version.  I hope you like it.

Al Kabsa (a la Jenny)
For the recipe you will need:

• 1 1/2 lbs chicken pieces or breasts
• 1/2 onion - chopped finely
• 4 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp butter (or olive oil)
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 can diced tomatoes with juice
• 2 carrots - finely chopped or grated
• chicken bouillon cube or packet
• 1 heaping cup basmati rice
• handful of raisins
• slivered almonds
• 1 whole clove
•  pinch of nutmeg
•  pinch of ground cumin
•  pinch of ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp of saffron
• 1/4 tsp of ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp of ground allspice
• salt and pepper

1. In large heavy pan, melt butter and add chicken, onion and garlic.  Let the onions become tender and then add tomato paste and let that all cook for a minute or two.
2.  Add tomatoes (undrained), carrots. clove and all the spices.  Cook for a couple of minutes until the spices become fragrant and then add 2 1/2 cups of hot water and the bouillon.
3.  Bring this all to a boil and cover and reduce the heat.  If you are using bone in pieces of chicken let it simmer over low heat for 30 mins.  I used cut up chicken breast and so I only cooked it 15 minutes.
4. After the chicken has simmered for desired time, you can remove it from pan and finish it in the oven, or keep it in the pan, add the rice and cook, covered, for another 35-40 minutes until the rice is tender. Add more water or chicken broth if needed.  Add raisins the last 10 minutes.
5.  Heap your delicious tender rice and chicken on a serving platter and sprinkle with the slivered almonds.

I really thought this smelled and tasted wonderful. The chicken wasn't as flavorful as I'd have liked.  I was a little skimpy with the spices but I added a little more to the recipe above so it will be even better. 

I know there are A LOT of spices but use what you have and ask your friends for a pinch of some you might be missing.  A great place to look for inexpensive spices is the International section at the store, or better yet, International markets if you have some around.  Cumin will be about $4 in the regular spice aisle but the little cellophane baggies of "cumino" in the Hispanic food aisle might be 99 cents.  The cardamom at Lucky's was $13 (!) but I checked at the Middle Eastern market and found it for $2.50!!  Plus the lady behind the counter told me all kinds of other uses for it!  I haven't tried it yet ,but she said it's good mixed with coffee- you just add some to your grounds and brew as normal. 

There are so many new tastes that we are experiencing all because of this adventure, so many new things we are learning and places we are discovering. I hope you are trying some of them along with us!  I'd love to hear about your adventures too!

Week 31: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia- Land of Sand and Oil

Woo hoo!  It's week 31 and we are off to the desert.  We picked Saudi Arabia because my daughter wanted to "learn about the country where Princess Jasmine was from".  Princess Jasmine, for those of you who don't watch many kid movies, is from the Disney movie Aladdin.  So here we are, on the Arabian Peninsula, in Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab country in the Middle East.  We will, of course, watch the movie and maybe ride a flying carpet or two.  We are going to make their most common dish- Al Kabsa and maybe something with dates, since there are over
18 million date palms in Saudi Arabia, producing over 600 million pounds of the sweet fruit per year!  We will learn a few words in Arabic and talk a little bit about the main attractions in Saudi Arabia - Mecca and Medina, both of which are very important holy places in the Islamic religion.  I try not to bring much religion into the blog so that it stays neutral, but most of Saudi Arabia is defined by it's ties to Islam. 

The way people dress, the women are almost completely covered when they leave the house, and the way they eat, pork and alcohol are not permitted, is defined by their religion and the absolute monarchy of the King Abdullah.  Rules are strict and are strictly enforced and there is no tolerance for jokes or impudence regarding the religion - so I'm going to step lightly. 

The capital, and also the largest city, is Riyadh, on the Eastern side of the country.  It's coordinates are 24.65°N/ 46.71°E.  It is a city with luxurious homes, pricey cars and high-end shopping!  Saudi Arabia is the leading petroleum exporter in the world and those exporters are very wealthy men.  Like solid gold toilet rich.  Life has changed in a country that was traditionally populated with tribes of nomadic sheep and goat herders or traders taking caravans of camels across the desert. 

 Many of the traditions are still there but the trapping of success and the comfort that comes with money makes living in one of the driest countries of the world a little more comfortable. 

I can't wait to see what we discover - maybe we'll even find a magic lamp!