Lugma – A Feast of Arabic Bites – Lugma in Arabic means a bite. For Noor Murad, as a chef and co-author of two Ottolenghi Test Kitchen cookbooks, her career has been centred around taking bites of food and analysing them to create the perfect dish. Raised in Bahrain and now based in London, Noor takes us on a culinary journey to celebrate her own food culture. Her recipes are inspired by the foods of her upbringing: the elaborate rice dishes and black limes of the Gulf, an abundance of herbs and sour flavours from Iran, liberal spice and chilli heat from India and the vibrant foods of the Levant – to create a unique collection of traditional and re-imagined dishes from the Middle East. In this fabulous, recently published cookbook, Noor offers over 100 recipes as an ode to the food she grew up eating – traditional flavours and modern recipes from Bahrain, the surrounding Middle East and beyond. From Springtime Fattoush and Stuffed Baby Aubergines to Slow-cooked Fenugreek Lamb with Pickled Chillies and Pistachio Cake with Labneh, these beautiful and inspirational recipes are full of love and warmth to be recreated in our own kitchens. Lugma is a triumphant debut solo cookbook. Lugma by Noor Murad (Quadrille, £28), Photography © Matt Russell
Here are a couple of recipes to tempt you to invest in a copy of this lovely book.
‘Cheese and Olives’: Halloumi with Spicy Olives and Walnuts Serves 4
“This works really well for brunch, alongside soft-boiled eggs, but can just as easily be eaten as a light lunch or dinner. Feel free to make this vegan, by swapping out the halloumi for fried and salted tofu.”
For the salsa
4 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp coriander seeds, roughly crushed using a pestle and mortar
1 tsp Aleppo chilli flakes
70g (21⁄2oz) jarred red (bell) peppers, very finely chopped
1 tbsp rose harissa
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp maple syrup
50g (13⁄4oz) walnuts, well toasted and roughly chopped into 1cm (1⁄2in) pieces
70g (21⁄2oz) pitted Nocellara olives, roughly chopped
5g (1⁄8oz) mint leaves, roughly chopped
10g (1⁄4oz) parsley leaves, roughly chopped
2 tsp pomegranate molasses
For the halloumi
2 x 225g (8oz) blocks of halloumi, drained
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup
Make the salsa by adding the oil and garlic to a small frying pan (skillet) and placing it over a medium heat. Cook until beginning to bubble and smell fragrant, about 11⁄2 minutes, then add the coriander seeds and chilli and cook for about 30 seconds more. Stir in the peppers, harissa, vinegar and maple syrup and cook for 5 minutes. Set aside to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a large bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix to combine.
Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6.
Halve each of the halloumi blocks lengthways (so they are the same shape, but thinner now) to give you four rectangular pieces. Pat them well dry. Use a small sharp knife to make a criss-cross pattern across one side of each piece, with incisions about 1.5cm (5⁄8in) deep.
Heat the oil in a medium frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the halloumi pieces and fry until nicely golden on both sides, about 4–5 minutes in total. Transfer to a small tray, criss-cross side up, and pour over the excess oil left in the pan, followed by the maple syrup. Bake for 7 minutes, or until really nicely softened through the centre.
Transfer to a plate, pouring over any juices left in the tray, then spoon over the salsa. Serve right away, while the halloumi is still warm.
Coffee, Cardamom and Chipotle-rubbed Lamb Chops Serves 4
Marinating time: 1–3 hours
Coffee isn’t the first thing you think of when marinating meats, but the combination of fragrant cardamom, bitter coffee and smoky chipotle chillies complement each other really nicely, and the coffee itself acts as a tenderiser, as well as a flavour enhancer.
This recipe is easy to double or triple up on amounts if needed. If serving it Bahraini style, then the lamb with some sort of flatbread (like tanour) is dinner, but I prefer to serve this with something fresh and crunchy like Springtime Fattoush (page 71).
8 lamb cutlets
3 tbsp olive oil
½ lemon
4 spring onions (scallions), trimmed and sliced lengthways in half (60g/2¼oz)
1 green chilli, left whole
fine sea salt
For the rub
1 tbsp finely ground coffee beans
seeds from 15 cardamom pods, finely crushed
1 tsp cumin seeds, finely crushed using a pestle and mortar
5g (1/8oz) dried chipotle, stem and seeds removed, finely crushed, or 1¼ tsp chipotle chilli flakes
¾ tsp paprika
1 tsp soft light brown sugar
For the sumac onions
½ red onion (75g/2½oz), finely sliced
2 tsp sumac
1½ tbsp lemon juice
Combine all the ingredients for the rub in a medium bowl. Pat the lamb well dry on paper towels and season all over with ¾ teaspoon salt. Coat well with the rub, then leave to marinate at room temperature for 1 hour, or refrigerated for up to 3 hours (but not much longer).
Make the onions by placing all the ingredients in a bowl with a pinch of salt and using your fingers to massage everything together. Set aside to pickle gently while the lamb is marinating (you can do this hours ahead).
If you’ve refrigerated the lamb, be sure to bring it back up to room temperature before cooking. When ready, place a large cast-iron sauté pan over a medium-high heat. Toss the lamb with the oil. Once the pan is hot, cook the cutlets for 2–3 minutes on each side, for medium-rare. Adjust the cook time if you prefer your cutlets more or less well done (or if they’re smaller or larger in size).
Arrange them on a serving plate and pour over all but a couple teaspoons of the fat left in the pan, then squeeze over the ½ lemon.
Return the pan to a medium-high heat with the spring onions, chilli and a tiny pinch of salt and cook for about 3 minutes, flipping over as necessary, until softened and lightly browned.
Pile the spring onions onto one side of the serving plate with the whole green chilli alongside. Top the cutlets with the sumac onions and serve right away.
The Seasoned Gastronome