Olive Oil Shines in Middle Eastern Cuisine
Souk to Table book cover
Toronto-based author, Amina Al-Saigh’s first cookbook, Souk to Table: Vibrant Middle Eastern Dishes for Everyday Meals, was released in October 2024 – which undoubtedly delighted 325,000 monthly readers of her blog, Hungry Paprikas. The very first ingredient listed in the section titled My Middle Eastern Pantry is extra virgin olive oil. Al- Saigh says this is almost exclusively the oil she uses, and it plays a starring role in many of the book’s recipes. The book features Arab dishes from Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Libya, and Yemen, as well as Türkiye and Iran. Al-Saigh crafts each authentic Middle Eastern recipe ‘her way.’
After experiencing homemade Middle Eastern dishes while growing up in Mosul, Iraq, Benghazi, Libya, and finally, Canada, Al-Saigh and her husband, Omar, moved to London. Following her long hours as an engineer, motherhood and kitchen creativity took center stage, and Hungry Paprikas emerged during her first parental leave. Their daughter arrived after they returned to Canada.
Olive Oil in Middle Eastern Cuisine
Author Amina Al-Saigh © 2024 by Amina Al-Saigh
In Al-Saigh’s Canadian kitchen use of good olive oil is “…an integral part of middle eastern cooking, used for thousands of years due to its rich flavor, versatility, health benefits and its abundance in the region. Many traditional dishes rely on the flavor from extra virgin olive oil. It is also used for its medicinal properties.”
Use of good olive oil reflects Arab hospitality, too. “Arab hospitality is all about showcasing the best you have for your guests, as a way of honoring them,” Al-Saigh says. “Using the highest quality olive oil – and being generous with it – is one way of showing hospitality to guests.”
Terra Delyssa Tunisian olive oil Mina Moroccan olive oil, Rumi Olive Oil from Canaan Palestine, Alard Palestinian olive oil
Favorite Olive Oils
She has several favorite oils, depending on what dish she is crafting. “I typically prefer using a smooth, and mild flavored olive oil (always single source and cold pressed) in cooked food, to complement all the varied flavors,” Al-Saigh says. “For salads, dips, and finishing, I like to use fruitier olive oil with more peppery notes.
“I use Terra Delyssa Tunisian olive oil as well as Mina Moroccan olive oil for everyday cooking. For finishing, I love Rumi Olive Oil from Canaan Palestine as well as Alard Palestinian olive oil.”
Cooking with Olive Oil
Sheet-Pan Palestinian Musakhan © 2024 by Amina Al-Saigh
Dishes cooked in olive oil include Palestinian Musakhan – a traditional dish involving large pieces of taboon or lavash bread drenched in onions and cooked down in a large quantity of olive oil. It’s topped with roasted sumac-flavored chicken and pine nuts.
Olive oil braised green beans © 2024 by Amina Al-Saigh
Loubia Bil Zeit features green beans braised in olive oil, along with onions, garlic, and ripe tomatoes. The combination is usually served with bread. Al-Saigh’s Kousa Bi Laban recipe is, “A deconstructed version of what is typically a dish involving cored grey squash stuffed with ground beef and cooked in a tangy yogurt sauce, then finished with pine nuts, olive oil, garlic and dried mint,” she says.
Syrian Kousa Bi Laban © 2024 by Amina Al-Saigh
Dishes finished with a generous drizzle of high quality olive oil include Middle Eastern mezze dips such as hummus, labneh, and baba ghanoush. In this context the olive oil flavor is meant to be savored along with the dips.
“There are also dishes such as fatteh that are always finished with a “tasha” which is typically garlic and mint or cilantro cooked in hot olive oil and then poured over the final dish for extra flavor,” Al-Saigh says. “Fatteh is a dish of layered crispy pita bread, chickpeas (or eggplant or ground beef), and a tangy yoghurt tahini sauce topped with pine nuts.”
In her book, Al-Saigh notes only one special technique when using olive oil. “The classic “Tasha” is often used in Middle Eastern cuisine. This involves heating olive oil (not to smoking hot – just hot enough to sizzle garlic) with garlic and herbs and using this hot oil to pour over dishes to finish them. This can even be done to bulgur pilafs, or lentil soup.”
The author says her engineering background has enhanced her kitchen expertise – and creation of this cookbook. “As an engineer of 10 years who mostly operated in strategy and project management roles, so many of my skills were easily transferrable.
“I applied project management techniques that I used to run multi-million dollar engineering projects to writing and photographing this cookbook. Creating a multi-year plan, using spreadsheets and project trackers, and analyzing risks along the process helped keep me on track.”
Souk to Table: Vibrant Middle Eastern Dishes for Everyday Meals includes weeknight dinners that can be made in under an hour to more complex traditional dishes for weekend cooking and entertaining. Recipe categories include dips, condiments, salads, sides, mains, soups, stews, desserts, and drinks – which incorporate plenty of olive oil.