It surprises Taha Abosamra that I know kabsa and shawarma and mandi and omali and baklava. He’s just a couple of days old in the city, not yet familiar with Kerala’s involvement with Arabian food. The oriental chef with Intercontinental, Riyadh counts world leaders among those who have sampled his food. In town for an Arabian food promotion at Crowne Plaza, he talks about food and cooking.
The Arabian food promotion coincides with the Arab tourist season. The question is tempting – how do Arabs like their food? “They do eat out, and when they do they eat Italian or French and even Indian. But we also like our own food, the traditional fare – hummus, muttabel, tabouleh, kibbeh and such. It has to be ‘home-like,” he says. ‘Home-like’, like our ‘homely’, like when we travel we crave that ‘homely meal’.
There is a lot more to Arabian food than meets the palate, he says. “Like your country has so many states and different cuisines, Arabian food too is like that – we have food of the Emirates, there is food from Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, Oman….it is a mix.” He plans to showcase these different foods from different regions at the promotion.
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Kerala’s love of beef fascinates him. What beef is to Kerala, lamb is to the Arabs he says. As opposed to common perception, the food is not all meat all the time. Lentils too are a big part of the cuisine, not our green gram varietal, clarifies Kalesh, executive sous chef, Crowne Plaza. The use of spices is subtler, it is not our red chilli fiery, instead spices such as cinnamon, coriander, cardamom, cloves, pepper are used.
Taha’s father, an executive chef, inspired him to become chef and Arabian food was the food he was familiar with, hence chose to become a chef. “There was so much talk about food at home; especially with my father that I decided I too wanted to be a chef. I worked two jobs to learn more about Arabian food. Of course I know other cuisines too, but this is my specialty.” He is a member of the Saudi Arabian Chefs Table Circle, Syrian Culinary Guild and Emirates Culinary Guild; and a winner of several local culinary competitions. The Intercontinental and Crowne Plaza being sister concerns, he is here at the Kochi property.
“ When your Prime Minister came to Saudi, he stayed at Intercontinental. There was a specialty Indian food chef who cooked for him and he sampled a little bit of Arabian food, which came from my kitchen.” He has, however, cooked for King Abdullah of Jordan. The menu is standard - Jarish, gorsaan, markook, lamb kabsa, hummus, tabouleh, muttabel and fatoush, a combination of hot and cold foods. Baklava, omali and balasham are the desserts. Taha will be making these and the others such as ouzi, lamb/chicken tagine, fatoush at the promotion.
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What is an Arabian food promotion, when it comes to us Malayalis, without the ubiquitous shawarma? Of course there is shawarma, he assures. “International standards demand that the meat for shawarma be discarded within three hours; it is all about hygienic and safe practices. And I use eggless mayonnaise. When these are not adhered to is when it leads to food poisoning,” Taha says. Kalesh chips in, “Uncooked chicken and egg are perfect breeding ground for salmonella. That is where we have to be careful.”
Arabians and Indian food? “Indian food is popular in Dubai; in fact there are Indian restaurants where you have to book a week in advance. The spices are adjusted to suit the Arabian palate. And me? I have eaten lamb curry and chicken tadka.”
The promotion (buffet with the regular buffet) is on at Mosaic for dinner and concludes on August 7.