Tahini

Falafel, usually tucked into pita bread with lettuce, tomato, and tahini sauce, is one of the best-known Middle Eastern street foods. At home, falafels make a rustic hot hors d’oeuvre, with a bowl of creamy tahini sauce for dipping. These fry up just right: crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the middle. The baking powder gives the falafels a little lift so they don’t sit in your stomach like belly bombs! All the fresh herbs make for a vibrant flavor and super green color. The chickpeas need to soak for a bit, so plan accordingly. The falafels are amazing with Quick Pickled Vegetables (page 235).

When I lived in Israel I became a huge fan of falafel—a warm pita filled with hot, crispy balls of golden chickpeas, rich sesame dressing, and cool tomatoes. It has so many great flavors—and a lot of fat. This version calls for the falafel to be baked rather than fried—and served as a salad rather than a sandwich.

This is very popular in Syria and Lebanon and can be served cold with salads such as tabbouleh (page 76) or hot with rice.

A ubiquitous sauce in Syria and Lebanon, served with fried and grilled fish as well as with cold fish.

This salad puree is the most widely known and appreciated of all outside the Middle East (abroad it is known simply as hummus). It is the constant companion of shish kebab and ta’amia in Oriental restaurants and is also good with fish or eggplants.

A specialty of Jehan, in southern Turkey, this is served as a dip with fried mussels or baked fish, or as an accompaniment to salads and boiled vegetables, such as runner beans or cauliflower.

This version has a delicate flavor and is rather creamier than most. My mother discovered it in the Sudan, and has made it ever since. It can be a dip or a sauce.

Serve as an appetizer with pita bread, or as a sauce to accompany various dishes such as fried fish, boiled vegetables, and falafel.

This dish is complex and requires time, but it has dramatic appeal and it is quite delicious with layers of different textures and flavors. I like to add two ingredients that are optional: pomegranate molasses (see page 7), which gives a brown color and sweet-and-sour flavor to the tomato sauce, and tahini (see page 7), which gives a nutty flavor to the yogurt. Look for small eggplants, 4 to 4 1/4 inches long, which can usually be found in Middle Eastern and Asian stores.

The most popular item on the menu in the fish restaurants along the long Lebanese coast are the deep-fried red mullet that come accompanied by a tahini sauce and very thin crisp deep-fried bread. They are fried whole, coated with flour, but at home I find it easier to pan-fry red mullet fillets.

The dressing of pomegranate molasses and vinegar gives the eggplant slices a sweet-and-sour flavor. Serve them hot or cold, with the yogurt and tahini topping at room temperature.

This version of the famous dip—an unusual one with added yogurt—is particularly delicious and creamy. Serve with pita or Lebanese bread.

Hummus is popular in America now. It is the kind of thing you make to taste, adding a little more garlic, salt, or tahini as you go along. Serve it with warmed pita bread.

Use this as a dip for vegetables or small crackers or as a dressing for salads or pita sandwiches.

A classic Middle Eastern dip for scooping onto wedges of pita bread.

Like the previous recipe, this classic dip is delicious scooped up on wedges of pita bread.

The great thing about making chef Chang's fiery cuisine at home is that you control the heat with the chili oil and Sichuan peppercorns. They give this dish its distinctive color, flavor, and heat.