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Tapas, spices, sweets: the traditional cuisine conquering Qatar 2022

By Javier Picazo Feliu

Doha, Nov 4 (EFE).- From madrouba rice to the national dish machboos to local regag crepes and marguga stew, tradition, ancient recipes and spices collide in Qatar’s contemporary cuisine.

Qatar’s gastronomy is a journey through the desert and sea and the legacy of a community that is receptive to novel influences.

“Qatari cuisine is a lovely experience. It has lots of flavor, lots of spices. Every dish has its own unique recipe. When you try them they are never the same, so you have to try everything,” Noor al Mazroei, a chef and well known expert of Qatari cuisine, tells Efe.

The chef catapulted to stardom when she started sharing her recipes online, gaining a solid fanbase.

“I became a chef by trying and learning from my mistakes. It was a passion. I started at home and then sharing my recipes on social media. After that, I started working with restaurants more and by starting small, getting bigger,” she says.

Noor has been cooking since she was a child, with her grandmother, but in contrast to her humble origins these days she can be spotted on Instagram (@noor_almazroei) meandering through the Qatari bazaar with David Beckham or on a cooking show with some of the best chefs in the world.

Her secrets are: creativity, a respect for traditions and hard work.

“I don’t want to transform the Qatari food or change the Qatari food, I want to provide options. When you have events like the World Cup, there are people who are vegan, gluten-free, or vegetarian, so everyone deserves to try the Qatari food. That’s why I like to provide alternatives to Qatari food. So, if you want to try a specific dish, you can find it in any way you want,” she adds.

QATARI TAPAS

When it comes to cooking, Noor always considers flavor, texture, presentation and creating something unique, without neglecting tradition.

“My goal is to make healthy Qatari food. Food has to be for everyone,” she says.

It is a passion that stems from the difficulties she has encountered in sourcing eateries for her celiac daughter, who cannot eat gluten and which is used in almost all regional food.

“It was a kind of discrimination,” she muses.

“Our traditional food usually has meat or chicken or fish. Vegan is something that is not that much in our recipes. So we can do the same rice dish, we can do it with the same flavors and spices, because our secrets are the spices, but we will do it vegan. We can take the chicken and put something nice, we can choose any kind of vegetable we love and we can provide it without sacrificing the taste,” she notes.

Noor has her own version of madrouba (rice simmered with milk, cardamom or chicken, among other ingredients) where she swaps meat and rice for oatmeal and spinach.

She also makes a healthier version of machboos (Qatar’s national food, a flavorful rice dish with chicken, beef or camel meat) which she seasons with a secret ingredient: bezar.

“Bezar is a mix of spices. It has coriander, cardamon, black pepper, salt… everyone has their own mix. It is something unique that we use in machboos,” she adds.

In traditional Qatari food, sharing is the norm. Highlights include, small crunchy dumplings filled with vegetables, meat or cheese such as samboosa, chickpea falafel, hummus, a mix of grilled meats called kofta, or regag, which are crepes with cream cheese, fruit, vegetables or chocolate.

But for Noor the key is “doing what you love makes you special, because what you do from your heart can reach the people. Work hard, love what you do and do it for the people.”

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