The Arabian Nights Cookbook: From Lamb Kebabs to Baba Ghanouj, Delicious Homestyle Middle Eastern Cooking Paperback – February 9, 2016

My wife and I have been serious ethnic cooking hobbyists for decades. We've even planned some of our world travel itineraries around the cuisines of the countries we've visited, such as Spain and India. With a cookbook library of more than 400 volumes covering cuisines from all around the world, we have literally thousands of recipes to choose from when we undertake our weekend cooking marathons. We mark each recipe that we make with a little orange Avery stick-on dot so we won't inadvertently repeat them. With few exceptions, everything we cook is new to us. Having so much experience with the unique herbs, spices and preparation techniques of international ethnic foods, we've also become pretty good judges of whether a recipe is good just by reading the list of ingredients. And the 100+ recipes in Habeeb Salloum's "The Arabian Nights Cookbook" are excellent indeed.It's a really neat book. It starts out with a fascinating four-page introduction to the diversity of Arabian cooking and the countries from which it comes (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates). Mr. Salloum next presents a four-page section covering useful tools and techniques, most of which should be familiar to the Western cook. The next 10-page section describes in detail essential Arabian cooking ingredients--spices, herbs, peppers, nuts, beans, oils, rice, etc. Most of these ingredients should be available in larger grocery stores. Some, such as baharat spice mix or loomi (dried lime), you may have to make yourself, but Mr. Salloum tells you how to do it. The wonderful recipes are next. To make menu planning a snap, they're conveniently organized into Appetizers and Snacks, Salads, Soups, Chicken Dishes, Meat Dishes, Seafood and Fish Dishes, Vegetarian Dishes, Side Dishes, Desserts and Drinks. Finally, a useful four-page regional resource guide has names, addresses, telephone numbers, websites, hours of operation and brief but informative descriptions of businesses that stock and ship Arabian ingredients. With its detailed index of recipes and ingredients, "The Arabian Nights Cookbook" is a one-volume stand-alone primer to the joys of Arabian cooking that both novices and experienced cooks should enjoy.I have to say a few words about the book's visual layout. In short, it is stunning. Printed in vivid color on sturdy, glossy paper, its ratio of photos to text is perfect. I'm not a big fan of cookbooks with no pictures at all, or of those in which the recipes take a back seat to the food fotos. "The Arabian Nights Cookbook" gets it exactly right. I can drive myself crazy just flipping through it and drooling over the fantastic-looking dishes and the lists of ingredients. Also, in a nice touch, tinted and boxed-in sidebars provide useful tips, notes or additional details about many recipes. In all, this is an absolutely superb cookbook that I'd rate one of the best in our collection. It's going to be filled with orange Avery dots in no time...

I happened to be in a bookstore after a dr.apt and of course had to check out the cookbook section. I picked this book up and glanced through it...and KNEW that I had to have it!!! The title is kind of silly...but the contents of the book are EXCELLENT!! I have been to many different restaurants throughout my dance career..thus eating quite a sampling of Middle Eastern cooking. This book is REALLY the authentic recipes of a home cook in the Arabic region. I couldn't get home fast enough to order it! I am about half way through it...and am dying to try some of the recipes!! There is no shortage of Middle Eastern cookbooks out there(I know...I think that I have most of them!)...but this book is happily a change from the sometimes "Americanized" recipes. It is hardcore... for sure!! So..I shall be off next week to pick up supplies from my Arabic store and will be testing recipes for the grand opening of my dance studio!! I make a MEAN baklava, but would like my friends to try some more diverse Middle Eastern food!! I used to cater at lots of dance events...so I know my way around some of the more challenging recipes. But this book is VERY easy to follow!! So ....buy this book! What more can I say..I LOVE it!!!! You won't be disappointed!!!

I had my first taste of the dishes from this cookbook when I ate dinner at a friend's house. She had received the cookbook as a gift and made a complete meal. She always follows the cookbook directions for each dish exactly. I loved her cooking and the dishes she made. I ordered the cookbook.I usually don't follow the directions in a cookbook exactly, varying either the amount of ingredients or the actual ingredients according to my tastes. Because of that, my versions of the same dishes didn't turn out as good. So even though the recipes are somewhat intricate and require making most components from scratch, I think the problems I had with the dishes were because of my own whims.

Was the first Arabic cookbook mywife and I had. Now that I'm single, I got one for myself. Almost all the recipes have beautiful photos. Makes it easy to select one. Has good photos at the beginning of specialty utencils and spices needed. Each recipe has a little back story.

Nice pictures and interesting commentary, but the dishes are lacking a bit in the flavor department. The only reason I gave it 3 stars instead of 2 is because of the nice variety of recipes (from appetizers, to soups, to entrees, to desserts), and I truly believe the author put a lot of effort and love into this book. The first dish I made from the book is the one on the cover and it was very bland...what a shame. There are many recipes that are kind of repetitive, like the salads for example, and not a wide variety of ingredients are used (especially seasonings). However, this could just be the cuisine itself (Arab), and not necessarily the fault of the author/chef.

Many recipes that most families will actually use. A lot of thought went into each recipe including detailed steps and measurements, as well as pictures.

Nice book with some good authentic recipes. I plan on giving to my daughter who currently lives in an Arab nation. There are some great photographs, and much other detailed information about origin in addition to the actual recipes. I looked at a number of other books, but this one has the most straightforward, traditional recipes.

This is an excellent cookbook. The recipes are easily followed using easily obtained ingredients. The product of each recipe has the wonderful flavor expected of middle east cooking, a great blend of flavors without an overpowering pepper taste. The number of recipes and their diversity is also good. There are several in each category so it is possible to provide several excellent menus.