I quote an old adage to begin with " Eat an Emperor's breakfast, a King's lunch and a Pauper's dinner " to be in good health. Some people like me usually tend to indulge across all meals especially on weekends. !
We have all grown up with our usual fare of India breakfast be it the ubiquitous upma, idlis, parathas, "anda burji" or " poha ". However after moving to the Middle East, over a period of time, I developed a liking for the typical Middle Eastern breakfast.
A few weeks back, I got a craving for some Midddle Eastern breakfast and I drove out to a small cafe tucked in a corner of Riyadh, near the Malaz football stadium called " Al Naqaa". This is an immensely popular place amongst the locals and on any weekday morning is always full. The food is absolutely fresh always and one can find a large number of people waiting patiently for their 'take-aways'. Friday mornings is the best time to be there as there is no rush and a perfect time to drop in. and take away your breakfast.
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| Al Naqaa |
What do we get here? Piping hot falafels in 2 varieties. Small regular falafels and large falafels with a spicy filling. This one I guess is their very own creation and worth trying out. The falafels are really crisp and served with a mildly pungent coriander/mint sauce and some pickled gherkins. Dig in to the heavenly falafels after dipping into this sauce.
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| Falafel with mint leaves, pickled gherkins and sauce |
You cannot complete any middle eastern breakfast without hummous and foul meddames, I rate Al Naqaa's hummous amongst the very best that I have eaten in the last decade of living in the Gulf. It essentially is a Levantine Arab dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas, blended with tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and garlic. It is a popular food throughout the Middle East and now available across many cities around the world.
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| Hummous |
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| Foul Meddames |
Foul Meddames (pronounced Fool- Med-DAHM-us) is a dish of cooked/ mashed fava beans served with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic, and lemon juice.
If this was not enough for an over-healthy breakfast, I decided to stop by at another small take-away place near the Pepsi Al Ehsaa junction and buy another middle eastern dish called "Gulaaba". I am not sure which part of the Middle East this dish originates from and the ingredients per se. However it is again made of some beans and garnished with tahina, small tomato bits and is a great dish.
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| Gulaaba |
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| A complete middle eastern breakfast |
We enjoy eating the middle eastern breakfast as a wonderful change from our otherwise humdrum, regular breakfast fare. For those of you living in Riyadh, dont miss the divine hummous at Al Naqaa !
