Bahrain - home cooking



When anticipating the next meal, from Bahrain, I expected to have the same problem as I had with the Bahamian meal. There are many pan-regional restauarnts in London (Caribbean, and in this case Middle Eastern) but finding individual national dishes wasn't going to be easy. The little bit of research I did online confirmed this. However, another complication was that the meal in the question this time - mahboos - is popular all over the Gulf region, but each country adds their own unique touch to it.

Therefore I thought the safest way to authentically recreate the meal the Bahraini way would be to, again, cook from home. In Bahrain, chicken mahboos is most prevalent, and I combined several Bahraini recipes to create this meal.

Most recipes worked from quartering a whole chicken. Not one to mess with whole animals, I opted to go for a mixture of chicken legs and boneless thighs. I started by mixing a combination of garam masala, tumeric, cumin, cardamom and salt together and rubbing it into the chicken pieces.

The next stage was to fry three chopped onions in oil until golden brown, then adding black pepper and some lime juice. Next, add the chicken pieces to the pan, sprinkle ground cinnamon, and baharat onto the contents of the pan, mix and turn well, cover and cook for three minutes.

As an aside, I was really surprised to find baharat in my local supermarket. It is a Middle Eastern mix of many different spices and is very common in the region.

Next, I added garlic, ginger and tomatoes to the pan, cooked for a few minutes more, added some more salt, water and covered the pan, cooking the contents for 45 minutes.

Five minutes before this time was up, I added chopped coriander leaves. Then, after removing the chicken pieces from the stock, I brushed them with oil, spinkled more cinnamon powder on them and grilled the chicken until golden brown.

Back to the pan of stock, I added the basmati rice and cooked until the stock was absorbed. Then the rice was sprinkled with rose water and lemon juice, and topped with pieces of butter. This was then cooked on a low heat for 10 more minutes.

Then it was time to serve. After fluffing up the rice it was spooned onto a plate, and the chicken pieces placed on top.

I was actually really pleased how this turned out. The chicken was perfect - very flavoursome and very very succulent. The grilling added extra flavour. But the part I enjoyed most was the rice. It was absolutely awesome. The range and strength of flavours had to be tasted to be believed. The difference that the rose water made to the overall taste was incredible.

It turns out I had cooked way too much rice. Which was perfect, as we both took a full box of the stuff to work for lunch the next day. And it was just as good then as it was the day before.

This was one large, wholesome, and hugely enjoyable meal.

Bahamas - home cooking

The progress has been slow so far, but we have finally completed the letter "A", and are now on to our first "B". Progress with the next country, the Bahamas, was slowed due to research that was needed to ascertainwhether there was a restaurant in London that specialised in Bahamian food.

Stopping short of calling every Caribbean restaurant in the city to ask if they could come up with the goods from this small island nation, I couldn't find any suitable restaurant for our project. I had hoped that a friendly email to the Bahamian High Commission in London would result in some points, but instead it resulted in nothing.

There was only one thing for it. Time to head into the kitchen...

As with the last country whose cuisine I cooked, Antigua and Barbuda, it was difficult to find a suitable dish that we would both enjoy. In this case, it was because the majority of the main courses were seafood dishes, of which we are not too keen.

However, something that instantly appealed with chicken souse - a kind of hot, tangy chicken broth. Apparently it is known to be a bit of a curer for the morning after the night before. I'd be lying if I said that neither of us were in this kind of situation of the day of cooking (!)...

Ingredients needed for this were chicken wings (we went for about five or six per person, so 12ish altogether), one large onion (chopped), three large potatoes (chopped), one cup of fresh lime juice, one Scotsh bonnet chilli (chopped), two tablespoons of salt, one tablespoon of clovess, one large carrot, four bay leaves and one tablespoon of black pepper.

Cooking was in two stages - meat preparation/marinading, and cooking of the broth. Season the chicken wings with the salt and four tablespoons of the lime juice. Mix around thouroughly, coating all the chicken, then cover, refridgerate and allow to marinate for an hour.

After the time has passed, add the chicken and all the other ingredients to a large pot, and add water so that it covers all the contents plus one inch above. Bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for an hour.


The meal is traditionally served with Johnny cakes, which are made from cornmeal. However, I was unable to find these, and I wasn't about to try and make my own (I cannot bake to save myself!) so I just bought some floury bread rolls.

The chicken souse had a very powerful, interesting flavour. The citrus of the lime juice really punched through, as did the intense spice of the Scotch bonnet chilli. However, the flavour of the broth itself carried the other spices that were added. The meat on the chicken wings was really succulent, and had taken in the flavour well, almost falling off the bone. The potato and the carrot gave some substance to what was in the end quite a thin soup.

As good as it was, we each had a rather substantial portion and after a while you could certain feel the citrus juice sitting on the stomach. Overall though, this was a really enjoy, strangely refreshing meal. Easy to see how can perk up even the most lethargic of afternoons!

Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan restaurant

Restaurant:  Azerbaijan Restaurant

Location:  330 Ballards Lane, North Finchley, London, N12 0EY

Date of visit:  1 June 2012

Time of visit:  8.30pm

Steve and Elle ate:  Mirza ghasemi (Steve), Kashk-e-bademan (Elle), Khoresht gheymeh bademjan (Steve) and chelo kebab sultani (Elle)

When I first moved to London I used to travel the full length of Edgware Road to get into work. Near the southern end, I'd pass a restaurant called "Azeri". When we started this restaurant project, I was satisfied that I knew where we'd go when we got to Azerbaijan on the list.

Truth be told, I thought we'd hit this restaurant about two years ago but the project has taken so much longer than I expected. And, of course, by the time we came to tackling "Azeri" on Edgware Road, it had closed.

So I was getting ready to cook my own Azeri meal, as I was certain this was the only Azeri restaurant in London. But, as luck would have it, a new restaurant - creatively titled "Azerbaijan Resturant" - recently opened in Finchley. So off we went.

I've actually spent some time in the country of Azerbaijan, so have been exposed to the cuisine. It became quickly clear to me that bread and lamb were king. Especially bread. And lamb.

Also I knew it would be difficult to differentiate between food from Azerbaijan and food from Iran. Particularly from northern Iran, and the provinces to the north of the country, which have the same name as their neighbourly country! And this restaurant was no exception - the menu was a mix of Azeri and Persian food.

We arrived just after 8.30pm on a Friday night, and were somewhat surprised to see such a lovely restaurant deserted. We were the only visitors when we arrived, and as we left we were still the only people to visit the restaurant.

The restaurant itself was impeccable inside. The decor was very fresh and clean - you could tell it was a new restaurant. The layout was faultless, and it was generally a very pleasant place to be. This was helped by the very helpful and attentive service we received from the moment we arrived.

The menu had a great selection of hot and cold starters (all mostly vegetarian), a selection of dry and saucy mains, deserts and a decent wine list. All the food items had clear explanations of what they involved.

Despite having visited Azerbaijan, I certainly didn't go into the restaurant knowing what to look for on the menu. So, to the both of us, it was difficult to picture how the starters would come from just the description. So you could say we were ordering blind, but this is part of the fun!

For starters, Elle ordered the Kashk-e-bademan - grilled aubergine, mint, whey and fried onions. I went for the Mirza ghasemi - aubergine, garlic, tomato, eggs and olive oil. When we ordered these, the waiter suggested we also ordered a nan bread to go with them. This made sense when they arrived, as the starters came as a puree on a small plate. The bread, however, was monumental in size! And only £1. It was a very fresh, light, thin nan bread, which was a little crispy, and was ideal for spreading the purees onto.

Elle's starter had a definite but subtle mint taste. That said, there wasn't really any other strong flavour that stood out. It was quite fresh in taste and appearance, with a hint of aubergine and onion.

I was really pleased with my starter. Being a fan of garlic, I was glad to note it was pretty garlicy! It also had a touch of spice, which I didn't expect. The eggs gave it a decent bit of consistency and it all went very well with the bread.

When the mains came, they were instantly impressive. Elle ordered chelo kebab sultani - a skewer of boneless baby chicken and a skewer of minced lamb. The skewers were very generous with the amount of meat on both, and the meat itself tasted wonderful, particularly the chicken. Alongside this was a small bowl of red powder and half a dozen butter sachets. It wasn't clear what she was supposed to do with this, although undoubtedly it was in place of a sauce to go with what was otherwise a rather dry main meal. We still aren't sure what the red powder was. I assumed it was chilli powder at first, but it wasn't really spicy it all. It was more zingy or tangy, almost tomatoey.

I ordered the Khoresht gheymeh bademjan - lamb in tomato, yellow split peas, dried lemon, aubergine and rice. It came as a kind of stew, with a separate plate of white and saffron rice. It had a really intriguing flavour. I was quite surprised at how much the lemon stood out. That said, it wasn't overpowering at all, it just cut through. The lamb was cooked beautifully - the chunks just melted in the mouth. And the sauce, with the split peas, went perfectly. The other large lumps in the meal, which I found out by eating one whole, were whole lemons cooked down to about the size of a tiny egg. All in all, it was very nice, and very filling.

Therefore, as always, there was no room for dessert!

Before all the food came a small plate with a complimentary salad of tomato, cucumber, lettuce, olives and salad cream. 

For drinks, Elle had Diet Coke, and I had a bottle of Bud.

Through the meal, we were serenaded by a selection of Azeri music, which was not intrusive but was definitely scene setting.

When the bill arrived, we noticed that they had failed to add the second of Elle's Diet Coke's to the total, so we pointed this out and just added money, alongside the tip. As we left, the waiter was quick to tell us to come back on a Saturday night for more food and to hear live Azeri music.

From start to finish, I cannot fault this restaurant at all. The decor, the atmosphere, the food and the service were all absolutely spot on. And if that wasn't enough, it was really decently priced, for great quality all round. So it was even more of a mystery that when we left this restaurant, it went back to being empty.

Cost of meal:  £35 (including drinks)