Noor Murad, a Bahrain-born chef and author, heads the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen and shares her culinary journey. She discusses her book, 'Lugma', which blends traditional Middle Eastern recipes with modern twists. Noor highlights the significance of black lime in enhancing dishes and the rich tapestry of Bahraini cuisine, woven with personal anecdotes. She emphasizes the emotional connections food creates and her experiences navigating cultural identity in London. With a focus on accessible ingredients, she inspires listeners to embrace the comfort of Middle Eastern cooking.
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Noor's Journey to Writing Lugma
Noor Murad shares her journey of writing Lugma, a cookbook rooted in her Bahraini upbringing and Middle Eastern heritage.
She wrote it to introduce lesser-known Bahrain flavors and stories to a broader audience.
insights INSIGHT
Bahraini Cuisine's Unique Blend
Bahraini cuisine blends Indian, Persian, and Arabic influences due to its history as a trade seaport.
This fusion creates a unique flavor profile heavy on spices, herbs, sour notes, and traditional Middle Eastern staples.
insights INSIGHT
Arabic's Dialect Diversity
Arabic dialects vary greatly across the Middle East, with Bahrain's being more casual and distinct from Levantine Arabic.
Noor highlights the importance of incorporating Bahraini dialect and Arabic calligraphy into her book.
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Lugma: Abundant Dishes & Stories from my Middle East
Lugma: Abundant Dishes & Stories from my Middle East
Abundant Dishes & Stories from my Middle East
Noor Murad
Noor Murad's "Lugma" is a culinary journey through the diverse flavors of the Middle East, focusing on Bahrain. The book features over 100 recipes, blending traditional techniques with modern interpretations. Murad shares personal stories and anecdotes alongside the recipes, offering a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of food. The book's title, "Lugma," meaning "a bite," reflects the intimate and generous nature of Middle Eastern hospitality. Through "Lugma," Murad aims to introduce readers to the unique culinary heritage of Bahrain and the wider region.
Lebanese cuisine
Anissa Helou
Lebanese Cuisine provides a richly detailed portrait of Middle Eastern cuisine, featuring more than 250 authentic recipes. It has been short-listed for the prestigious Andre Simon Award and received rave reviews globally.
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Shelf Love
Recipes to Unlock the Secrets of Your Pantry, Fridge, & Freezer
Noor Murad
Yotam Ottolenghi
Shelf Love provides over 85 recipes for relaxed, flexible home cooking, focusing on utilizing pantry, fridge, and freezer ingredients. It is the first in a series from the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, designed to make Ottolenghi-style meals more accessible and stress-free for home cooks.
Ottolenghi Test Kitchen: Extra Good Things
Bold, vegetable-forward recipes plus homemade sauces, condiments, and more to build a flavor-packed pantry
Noor Murad
Yotam Ottolenghi
This book offers a collection of recipes that highlight the 'extra good things'—condiments, sauces, dressings, and more—that can transform any dish into a spectacular meal. It includes vegetable-forward recipes with make-ahead elements that can be repurposed in various dishes throughout the week, allowing readers to stock their pantries with Ottolenghi-style flavor enhancers.
There’s a building in North London, built from equal parts brick and tahini, with walls coated in olive oil and floors stained with spice. This is the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, where a group of individuals meet and eat, cook and write, tear and share and gather with just one motive: to create good food with good ingredients, and to share it with the world.
Chef and author Noor Murad joined the Ottolenghi Test Kitchen in 2018, eventually becoming its head and the writer of its books, “Shelf Love” and “Extra Good Things.” Bahrain-born, London-based and New York-trained, Noor’s own recipes have been featured in the New York Times, and she’s cooked on BBC's Saturday Kitchen. Her Middle Eastern roots have a strong influence on her cooking, with Arabic, Indian, and Persian flavors making a prominent appearance in her recipes.
Noor joins Google to discuss her book “Lugma: Abundant Dishes & Stories from my Middle East.” Lugma is an Arabic word that means, “a bite.” The book offers over 100 recipes as an ode to the food she grew up eating—traditional flavors and modern dishes from Bahrain, the surrounding Middle East, and beyond.
Talks at Google 
