First of all, can you tell us about your involvement with Gourmet Abu Dhabi?
Gourmet Abu Dhabi is the ultimate cuisine platform where all cooking and food lovers meet. It is now time for Emirati food to shine as this is the first time there will be an Emirati cooking masterclass at the festival and we wanted to make it more special by launching the book at the same time.
What do you think the food festival does for Abu Dhabi’s dining scene?
This event assembles internationally well-known chefs from different parts of the world here in Abu Dhabi. And now Emirati cuisine is going to be a chief part of this international event. Abu Dhabi’s dining scene has evolved drastically in the past few years to include a variety of both Western and Asian cuisines as well as the more traditional Middle Eastern ones such as Lebanese or Egyptian. I believe this event will only succeed in evolving the dining scene in Abu Dhabi even more. My personal goal however is to make sure that traditional Emirati food plays a major role.
Can you tell us your earliest food memory?
Every Friday, I used to watch my mother preparing dough to bake traditional Emirati bread and urged her to let me help. She would give me a piece of dough saying, ‘Bake it’. If my dough failed to turn into bread, my mother would distract me by asking me to bring her something in order to replace my dough with a well-baked loaf of bread to make it look as if I had baked it myself. This trick fuelled my passion for cooking even more.
Would you say your mother was your greatest culinary inspiration?
My mother was always my inspiration growing up. She used to buy me cooking toys and let me help her in the kitchen and tag along all the time. I had a very strong connection with my mum, she’s my close friend. I grew up on Emirati food, my roots lie in Emirati food, so it was natural for me to develop a certain attachment to it. It started when I was eight years old. I was always really close to my mum, and being the only female amongst my siblings, it was natural that I always tagged along with my mum and aunts as they cooked in the kitchen. I loved watching them, it made me want to grow up to study cooking and I wished to become the first Emirati woman to master this art.
Do you prefer preparing the classic Emirati recipes you learnt from them, or giving traditional dishes your own twist?
I have adapted the traditional recipes to make them more appealing to today’s health-conscious youth. For example, despite the fact salads do not feature heavily in Emirati cuisine, I’ve created a number of new salad recipes and included them in the cookbook. Another example of Emirati modern cuisine is what we call Jabab bread rolls. Those are basically the Emirati pancakes, with saffron, cardamom and date syrup. At instances I’ve also lessened the amount of oil I use in the dishes, however, for purposes of maintaining tradition, I’ve also ensured I mention original measurements of each recipe. All of that being said, nothing beats classic Emirati recipes. I love making traditional Emirati seafood dishes as well as traditional Emirati bread. My favourite dessert to prepare is called ‘balaleet’, you may know it as vermicelli.
Will these dishes feature in your Emirati cookbook?
This book aims to document and protect Emirati recipes and I wanted to encourage the younger generation of Emiratis to embrace their cuisine and carry on the nation’s culinary traditions. My goal is to raise awareness of the Emirati cuisine firstly in the UAE, then the GCC, and hopefully the whole world eventually. I want it to become one of the most important and unique cuisines in the world. My passion for Emirati food and wanting to preserve the original, traditional cuisine helped preserve my identity as a female UAE National.
Where is your favourite place to eat in Abu Dhabi?
Home is my favourite place to eat. Friday is family day, and just that gathering with the entire family while we cook and eat is something I hold very close to my heart.
