Al-Baghdadi wrote his hit medieval cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Dishes) in 1226 CE at the height of Abbasid sophistication and power. It included this recipe for hais or date sweetmeats.

Forever Beirut—a collection of 100 traditional Lebanese dishes, each accompanied by a personal story—is her way of processing her own grief in the wake of the explosion while preserving cherished customs and recipes and helping in recovery efforts. 

Ma’aleh is usually deep-fried cauliflower, served in a sandwich with raw vegetables and tarator.

During the hot summer months, ice-cream shops, called shir yakh feroshees, would sell an assortment of ice creams and other cold desserts. My sister Fatema remembers going into beautiful little shops after school to buy shir yakh. They were colorful and decoratively tiled and had Bollywood music playing in the background. The shir yakh, with rose and pistachios, is a favorite at Parwana, one of her restaurants.

Stimulated most recently by nutrition studies and marketing, pistachios are more available worldwide than ever. But today’s efforts are possible only thanks to patient bioengineering some 3,000 years ago.

Asma Khan introduced her blend of South Asian food to England in 2017 when she founded the Darjeerling Express, a brick-and-mortar restaurant in London that started off as a supper club.

Like the iconic bun kabab of Karachi in Pakistan or Hyderabad in India, a spicy kabab inside a bun is a popular street food in certain regions of the Indian subcontinent.

This classic Middle Eastern salad is made distinctive—and more substantial—by the addition of torn-up bread.

This hearty beef stew, a type of yakhni, or popular stew, is served with rice in the Syrian style.