List of Middle Eastern dishes Facts for Kids

The Middle East and North Africa are home to many different cultures and people. This means their food is super diverse! You'll find lots of unique ingredients, cooking styles, and techniques. This article will tell you about some of the amazing dishes from this part of the world.

Delicious Middle Eastern Dishes
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Delicious Middle Eastern Dishes

Popular Dips and Spreads

Many meals in the Middle East start with tasty dips and spreads. These are often served with warm bread.

Hummus is a super popular dip. It's made from cooked, mashed chickpeas. It also has tahini (a sesame paste), lemon juice, and garlic. It's creamy and delicious!
Baba ghanoush is another yummy dip. It's made from mashed eggplant. It usually has olive oil, lemon juice, and spices like sumac.
Toum is a strong garlic sauce. It's like a European aioli. It's made with garlic, salt, olive oil, and lemon juice. It's often served with grilled meats.
Matbucha is a cooked salad from Morocco. It's often served as an appetizer. The name means "cooked [salad]" in Arabic.

Main Dishes and Hearty Meals

Middle Eastern cuisine has many filling and flavorful main dishes.

Falafel are deep-fried balls or patties. They are made from ground chickpeas or broad beans. They are seasoned with herbs and spices. You can eat them in a pita bread or on their own.
Shawarma is a famous street food. It has layers of roasted meat slices. The meat is cooked on a slowly turning vertical grill. It's often served in a wrap or as a plate with sides.
Kebab refers to many grilled meat dishes. They often come on skewers, like Shish kebabs. They are popular all over the Middle East and beyond.
Tajine is a special stew from North Africa. It's named after the unique clay pot it's cooked in. Tajines are slow-cooked. This makes the meat very tender and the vegetables flavorful.
Couscous is a tiny pasta made from semolina. It's very popular in North Africa. It's often served with a stew or vegetables.
Dolma are vegetables filled with rice, meat, and herbs. They are popular across the Middle East. They can be served warm or cold.
Kushari is a popular dish from Egypt. It's made with rice, lentils, chickpeas, and macaroni. It's topped with tomato sauce and fried onions.
Mulukhiyah is a green leafy vegetable. When cooked, it becomes a thick, "slimy" broth. It's used in many Middle Eastern and North African dishes.
Shakshouka is a dish of eggs poached in a sauce. The sauce is made from tomatoes, chili peppers, and onions. It's often spiced with cumin. It's believed to be from Tunisia.
Freekeh is a cereal food. It's made from green wheat that has been roasted. It's popular in Levantine cuisine and Egyptian cuisine.
Ful medames is an Egyptian dish. It's made from mashed fava beans. It's mixed with olive oil, parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon juice.
Harira is a traditional soup from Algeria and Morocco. It's a hearty and flavorful soup.
Hawawshi is an Egyptian dish. It's like a meat pie. Minced meat with spices is placed between two layers of dough and baked.
Kibbeh is a family of Middle Eastern dishes. It usually has spiced ground meat and onions. This filling is surrounded by a grain-based outer shell. It can be fried or baked.
Kibbeh nayyeh is a raw version of kibbeh. It's minced raw lamb mixed with fine bulgur and spices.
Lablabi is a Tunisian dish. It's made with chick peas in a thin garlic and cumin-flavored soup. It's served over pieces of stale bread.
Méchoui is a whole sheep or lamb roasted on a barbecue. It's popular in North Africa.
Pastilla is a traditional Moroccan meat pie. It was traditionally made with pigeons. Today, shredded chicken is often used.

Sweet Treats and Pastries

The Middle East also has many delicious desserts and pastries.

Baklava is a famous layered pastry dessert. It's made of thin filo dough. It's filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey.
Qatayef is an Arab dessert. It's a sweet dumpling filled with cream or nuts. It's often served during the month of Ramadan.
Makroudh is a pastry often filled with dates or almonds. It's popular in Tunisia, Morocco, and Algeria.
Sfenj are like donuts. They are cooked in oil and then soaked in honey or sprinkled with sugar.
Briouat are sweet puff pastry treats from Morocco.
Msemen are traditional pancakes from the Maghreb region. They are usually eaten with mint tea or coffee. They can also be stuffed with vegetables or meat.

Other Interesting Dishes

Here are a few more unique dishes you might find:

Ahriche is from Morocco. It's tripe or other animal organs wrapped around sticks and grilled.
Asida is a lump of cooked wheat flour dough. Sometimes butter or honey is added. It's common in North Africa.
Bazeen is barley dough from Libya. It's served with tomato sauce, eggs, potatoes, and mutton.
Bichak is a stuffed pastry appetizer from Morocco.
Brik is a stuffed pastry from Tunisia, similar to bichak.
Chakhchoukha is an Algerian stew. It has lamb, spices, tomatoes, and flatbread.
Chermoula is a marinade from North Africa. It's made with pickled lemons, lemon juice, herbs, garlic, and spices. It's often used for seafood.
Duqqa is an Egyptian dip or seasoning. It's a mix of herbs, oil, and spices.
Fesikh is fermented, salted mullet fish from Egypt.
Kashk bademjan is an Iranian dish. It's made from kashk (a type of dried yogurt) and eggplant.
Merguez is a very spicy, red sausage. It's made from mutton or beef and is popular in North Africa.
Mesfouf is similar to couscous, but with butter added. It's from Tunisia.
Mrouzia is a sweet and salty tajine from Morocco. It has honey, cinnamon, and almonds.
Tabil is a Tunisian spice mixture. It has ground coriander seed, caraway seed, garlic powder, and chili powder.
Tabbouleh is a Levantine salad. It's mostly finely chopped parsley, with tomatoes, mint, onion, and bulgur. It's seasoned with olive oil and lemon juice.
Usban is a traditional Tunisian sausage. It's stuffed with rice, herbs, lamb, liver, and heart. It's often served with rice or couscous.