These Vegan Middle Eastern Recipes will be sure to brighten up your dinner table and tantalize your tastebuds! I love the flavors of the Middle East, a delicious blend of the Mediterranean and Arabic cultures. This cuisine lends itself well to plant-based eating, with endless combinations of satisfying recipes.
Middle Eastern cuisine includes dishes from Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon as well as traditional dishes from Bedouins.
Middle East cuisine is comprised primarily of hummus, falafel, tahini, tabbouleh, baklava, pita bread, baba ghanoush, mutabal, dolma, foul mudammes and lokum.
Rich, filling, colorful, divine, nourishing, and luscious are all words that can describe the wonderful creations of the Middle Eastern.
Despite the Middle East's cultural diversity, its cuisine has a level of homogeneity that can be seen in the popular use of olive oil, parsley, mint, garlic, sesame seeds, chickpeas, nuts, olives, dates, fava beans, tomato, spice, wheat, and rice.
Mezze
Mezze; small dishes of food, embody the generous, sharing culture of the region, and provide an opportunity to try an array of different flavors and textures.
History of Middle Eastern Cuisine
The Middle East incorporates the Fertile Crescent, including the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where wheat was first cultivated, followed by rye, barley, lentils, beans, pistachios, figs, pomegranates, dates, and other regional staples.
The domestication of sheep, goats, and cattle took place in the region as well. Fermentation was also discovered there, in order to leaven bread and make beer. Additionally, the earliest written recipes come from that region.
As a crossroads between Europe, Asia, the Caucasus, and North Africa, it has been a hub of food and recipe exchange for millennia.
During the first Persian Empire, the foundation was laid for modern Middle-Eastern food when rice, poultry, and fruits were incorporated into the local diet.
Figs, dates, and nuts were brought by merchants from conquered lands, and spices were brought from the Orient.
The region was also influenced by dumplings from Mongol invaders; turmeric and other spices from India; cloves, peppercorns, and allspice from the Spice Islands; okra from Africa, and tomatoes from the New World.
Religion has impacted the cuisine, by making lamb the primary meat since both Jews and Muslims do not eat pork.
My favourite Vegan Middle Eastern Recipes
Here are a few of the recipes I've been working on recently. Very happy to share them with you.
View, E-mail, print or add recipes to your own menu collection.
Below I have a link to a recent cooking class recording where you can see me making some of the recipes and explaining each step in more detail.
More Vegan Middle Eastern Recipes To Explore
All you need to know about Chickpeas
Chickpeas really are a miraculous ingredient with so much history and cultural relevance. I use chickpeas in many different recipes; from flatbreads and falafels to Masalas and smoothies. They are inexpensive, versatile, and super nutritious.
Here is my article about why you need more Chickpeas in your life.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!