Succulent Macaroni Simmered in Spicy Tamarind or Pomegranate Sauce

In Iraq and most parts of the Arab world, especially the eastern region, pasta is not a staple food the way rice is. It is cooked every now and then for variety’s sake. In my childhood, the only type of pasta we had access to was long tubular macaroni, broken into smaller pieces before cooking. Of the fine noodles, we had vermicelli (sha’riyya) and the local toasted small noodles called rishta. Spaghetti was the last to reach the region. Both sha’riyya and rishta