Original Arabic Food

I greatly respect the author's willingness to share these recipes with English speaking people. Unfortunately, the book is almost unusable, because the poor quality of the translation leaves questions that are never answered. Also, the amounts for ingredients are given in grams, kilograms, or liters, without the corresponding measurements more commonly used in countries where English is spoken. The author seems unaware of how meat is obtained in western countries, or of the availability of meats that are already ground, or meats already certified as halal, or kosher. The meats are referred to incorrectly, for example, "cow meat," i.e., "250g minced cow meat," rather than "ground beef." Every recipe for meat asks that the blood be removed, as in, "Clean the meat from blood and put it to a pan." For ingredient preparations requiring a period of refrigeration, the author says to put it in a cool place, possibly indicating that there is no refrigeration available in the place where the author lives. The country of origin is not indicated. I was hoping for more vegetarian recipes, but there were very few in the book. Several of the ingredients listed were unknown to me. I found one of those ingredients in a specialty spice market in Seattle, WA, and I have ordered it. But there are a couple of others that I haven't yet found. Spellings for some spices are inconsistent, from page to page. The type of curry is not indicated. If only the author had received assistance from a native English speaker, this cookbook might have been so much better. There are so few cookbooks available for Arabic style cooking.

The best Arabic cookery book which I have so far been found! The cooking has been surprisingly easy and the result is superb. My own husband is from Iraq and he says that these foods remind him homeland and his mother:)