Secrets of Healthy Middle Eastern Cuisine

Middle Eastern cuisine, based as it is on grains and greens, might seem like healthy cooking at first glance. But, as Abourezk points out, it is often laden with oil and butter. Abourezk, a nutritionist by training, reforms classic Middle Eastern cooking by eliminating many of these fats. While most of these recipes are vegetarian, Abourezk includes a few meat and fish dishes to demonstrate that these are not always outside the realm of good health. In order to keep fats from dairy sources to a minimum, she suggests making one's own yogurt cheese at home in a simple process of coagulation. This cheese turns into both spiced and aged versions for different tastes and strengths. Nutritionists commonly balk at desserts' concentration of sugars, but Abourezk's simple milk pudding perfumed with orange blossom water and garnished with chopped pistachios will satisfy most sweet cravings.