As many people enjoy the luxury of a few days off work, thanks to the Eid holidays, it is the perfect time to spend a bit of extra time in the kitchen preparing a celebratory meal to share with friends and family.
But not everyone can eat just anything that is laid out for them, as food allergies and intolerances become increasingly common around the world.
Therefore, we have put together a spread that is sure to cater to everyone.
Nut- and seed-free meze
A meze-style platter is a fabulous way to begin a meal – it looks both abundant and appealing while feeling informal.
Inviting guests to help themselves to the food encourages conversation and interaction, and thanks to the array of little dishes, there should be something for everyone to enjoy.
Apart, that is, from those with a nut or seed allergy. After all, with toasted pine nuts in fattoush, tabbouleh dressed with pistachios, bowls filled with muhammara (red pepper and walnut dip) and dukkah-dusted labneh, nuts and seeds abound.
For anyone with a seed or nut allergy, store-bought or restaurant-prepared hummus is off the menu. This needn’t be the case for a home-made version though.
Tahini (ground sesame-seed paste) is a key ingredient in hummus, but it is entirely possible to produce a smooth, creamy, delicious variation without it. What becomes imperative is that the rest of the ingredients are top-notch, which means using good-quality olive oil, super-fresh lemons and, ideally, freshly cooked chickpeas.
Tahini gives hummus an earthy, slightly bitter flavour and adds to the creamy texture.To make up for its absence, add a little baking soda to the water you soak and cook the chickpeas in, as this helps them to soften and break down.
When you blend the mixture, add a couple of extra tablespoons of olive oil (for a silky-smooth end result, try coconut oil) and purée the mixture for a little longer than you think necessary.
Add variety to your nut- and seed- free meze offerings with a plate of smoky, grilled aubergine slices, bowls of homemade sumac-spiced crisps, and marinated olives and roasted red peppers blitzed with feta and olive oil to make a creamy dip.
A gluten-free take on chicken with freekeh
There are plenty of great things about the firm, chewy wheat grain known as freekeh: it is high in protein and fibre, inexpensive, easy to use and versatile. Freekeh with chicken, a popular Middle Eastern dish, is a great main course – it is tasty, feels celebratory and can be prepared in advance.
But what if you or one of your guests is on a gluten-free diet? Before you discard the idea of serving juicy, poached-then-roasted poultry on a spiced wholegrain base, consider following your usual recipe (checking the ingredients for gluten of course), but swap the freekeh for a gluten-free alternative. Quinoa, nutty red rice or a mixture of the two work brilliantly.
For this variation, treat the replacements the same as you would freekeh: sautéed in butter or oil with spices and chopped onion, then simmered in stock until tender. The water the chicken was poached in is often used. If you opt for ready-made stock, check if it is gluten-free.
Dessert options
For a gluten-free dessert with plenty of Middle Eastern flair, consider using polenta. Although most commonly used to make a creamy, buttery, herb-flecked accompaniment to savoury dishes, finely ground polenta has a crumbly, slightly grainy texture akin to semolina and is gluten-free.
It cooks in a similar way to semolina, making it an good substitute. So take a favourite basboosa recipe, substitute finely ground polenta, and the syrup-drenched cake will taste just as good. While most basboosa recipes don’t call for flour or baking powder, if yours does, use gluten-free versions.
For those who must avoid dairy, dessert is perhaps the hardest course to navigate.
With cream-filled qatayef, kunafa oozing strands of melted cheese and little bowls of muhallabieh, this is particularly true of Arabic sweets.
There is an alternative – coconut milk. Muhallabieh, Umm Ali and roz bel haleeb (rice pudding) can all be made using full-fat coconut milk, with the added bonus that they take on an exotic new flavour.
The trick here lies in making whipped coconut milk.
Leave a can of coconut milk upright in the fridge for several hours. When you open the can, the solids and liquid will have separated. Carefully scoop the solids into a bowl and add a little sugar, a drizzle of rose syrup or orange blossom water, or the seeds from a vanilla pod.
Beat with an electric hand whisk until thick and fluffy, then use to fill qatayef and kellaj, to ice cakes and puddings, and as an accompaniment to the polenta basboosa mentioned earlier.
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