How to Level up Your Mezze-Making Skills, with Help from Chef Reem Assil

If you’re lucky enough to have visited Reem Assil’s corner bakery and restaurant, Reem’s California in San Francisco’s Mission District, you know the delightful culinary conundrum of trying to figure out just exactly which of the mezze to order. For many, store-bought baba, hummus, and other Middle Eastern dips have become the reliable last-minute dinner savior, the backyard cookout mainstay, and the savory anchor of impromptu summer parties, but each and every one of Assil’s recipes is next-level and worthy of slowing down and treating as an event in and of itself.

For those of us not lucky enough to live near Reem’s California, the esteemed Oakland-based Syrian-Palestinian chef has just published a new magnum opus cookbook cum culinary memoir Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora ($35; Ten Speed Press).

This beautifully written and photographed book is not only a masterclass in Arab cooking and the classic dishes it yields, but also a reminder that recipes don’t create food just to be eaten, but also to be a vessel of storytelling, containing within it the imprint of family and ethnic history, of immigration and exile.

We’re thrilled to be able to excerpt Arabiyya and share a few of the recipes from the book, along with Assil’s nuanced culinary advice and family stories. Cook your way through these recipes and we’re pretty sure you’ll elevate your mezze-making skills while enriching your understanding of just how profound a bowl of hummus can be.

Start With

Hummus (Chickpea-Tahini Spread)

“Learning to make great hummus requires tasting along the way and trusting what you taste,” writes Reem Assil. Adjust salt, oil, and lemon as you go. Get the recipe here.

Khalta Harra (Chile-Spice Mix)

This chile mix packs a perfect balance of earthy, sour, and salty flavors with just enough heat from the sweet Aleppo pepper to let you know you’re alive but keep you from losing the other flavors. It’s equally at home as a rub for the grill, a garnish for mezze spreads, or a seasoning for roasted vegetables and sauces. Get the recipe here.

Try These at Home

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Awarma Bil Hummus (Hummus with Spiced Lamb)

It’s hard to keep from snacking on the choicest shreds of this gorgeous confit of crispy lamb breast. That cut is the fattiest part of the lamb, and slow-roasting it allows it to cook in its own fat and become moist and tender. Harvest the spice-steeped lamb fat into a glass jar to use later for spectacular home fries or roasted vegetables.

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Baba Ghanouj (Charred Eggplant Salad)

This is a bright, creamy, pomegranate-eggplant salad, but hold the tahini, please. It’s a mystery why baba ghanouj, one of our most widely known dishes, is so different in the United States from that in the Arab world. When we talk about baba ghanouj in the Levant, we are referring to a tart salad of creamy roasted eggplant, brightened with pomegranate molasses and flecked with tomatoes—which is what this is! Eat this baba ghanouj with bread, or it’s also delicious as a side salad.

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Muhammara (Roasted Red Pepper–Walnut Spread)

The Arabic word muhammara translates literally to “something that is red,” so the trick to this dish is to choose peppers with the deepest ripe-red hue possible to create the perfect sweet pepper spread. The secret ingredient is a backdrop of sweet and tart pomegranate molasses to brighten all the other flavors. Snack on this with fresh flatbread or toss it into your pasta. There is no wrong way to eat muhammara.

Reprinted with permission from Arabiyya: Recipes from the Life of an Arab in Diaspora by Reem Assil, copyright © 2022. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

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