Prawn machboos. Picture: Drina Cabral
Travellers can escape their everyday life and experience a culinary journey around the globe by discovering other cultures through food – without even leaving their own home.
To bring travel inspiration into people’s home kitchens, Emirates chefs share the ideal three-course-menu to give globetrotters a taste of their next vacation, while staying home.
In the Middle East, lentils and other legumes are known as popular sources of nutrients. Therefore, as a starter, Emirates chef Said El Alam presents a traditional Arabic Lentil Soup.
“Thanks to many different spices, its signature taste will immediately make you feel as if you were strolling around one of the famous exotic spice bazaars in the Gulf,” El Alam says about the dish.
Emirates’ recipe for lentil soup is simple enough for any beginner chef and the perfect way to start your culinary journey.
For a truly Middle Eastern experience, Emirates has also made some of its most popular Arabic dishes available to its fans, including its signature prawn machboos. The full list of recipes from fish sayadieh to lamb kofta can be viewed here.
For the main dish, home chefs can visit India and taste a flavourful lamb biryani. Emirates chef Ravi Nage presents the traditional Indian dish lamb biryani with yoghurt raita.
“Using typical Indian spices like cardamom will transfer you to one of the many beautiful spice plantations of the country such as the Cardamom Hills between Kerala and Tamil Nadu,” he explains.
Last but not least, there is always room for dessert and some chefs even claim that dessert is the most important part of a menu. Emirates German Chef introduces the recipe of sweet crepes with apple compote.
Known by many different names in Germany/Switzerland, the sweet pan dish is very popular among all age groups and served both as a main course or dessert.
“Together with the delicious apple, cream cheese and raisin filling, the taste will immediately take you to a cosy café in Paris or a chalet on a mountain-top in Southern Germany/Switzerland,” Udo adds.
These international dishes, as well as many other multi-course gourmet menus – always adapted to the respective destination country and cooked with local ingredients – are taken from Emirates’ recipe books.
The airline also serves proudly South African inspired dishes on various local routes such as Rooibos cured salmon, lamb bunny chow, mosbolletjies bread, ostrich fillet, Stellenbosch Red verjus sauce with smoked ostrich lardons, roasted cajun and paprika chicken breast, a wide selection of cheeses and malva pudding.
The Emirates Food Channel, available on Youtube, gives customers a behind-the-scenes look at how it creates its onboard menus and works with its global partners. The episodes showcase the detail that goes into menu development by Emirates chefs and ingredient sourcing for onboard meals.
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