Veggie Mains

How food is cooked at home in Palestine is very different from the way that it is cooked in restaurants. In restaurants the emphasis is on food which can be cooked fast: marinated and skewered meat, for example, ready to be quickly grilled. Ground meat shaped into kofta, ready to be fried or baked. This sort of cooking – quick-on-and-off-the-heat – is called ‘mashawi’. It’s something that restaurants in Palestine are really good at. All the work can be done in advance, ready to be quickly whipped up when the order comes through. These are the kebabs and shawarma joints, the falafel, kofta and pita stands, seen on many a street corner in the cities (and in chapters 2, 6 and 7 in this book).