Souq Waqif – A Different Kitchen

This week I’ve had fun using the Qatari Spices mix I brought back from the Souq Waqif in Doha, which I visited on my travels there in November. For this recipe, however, you can use any good mix of curry powder.

By way of background, I visited Doha in November and enjoyed the football and party atmosphere of the World Cup. It was quite some experience, with people from 32 nations all over the globe rubbing shoulders together in one city, in friendship and harmony.

In a previous blogpost, I explained the bewildering range of spices I came across on sale at Doha’s old traditional market, the Souq Waqif. The mix I chose is a blend of 9 different spices, including red chilli, cumin, cardamom, ginger, turmeric and coriander, all ground into a beautiful yellow/orange powder. See my photo below, taken at the Souq.

In this dish, I decided to make a paste and combine it with seasonal vegetables that become sweeter when roasted, namely butternut squash, parsnip and green pepper.

Normally I would like to retain control over the individual spices I am using. However, when you have a good quality ready made blend put together by an expert that knows their spice combinations, it provides a basis for a reliably good meal, and is also a time saver.

Servings

This will make 4 servings.

Timings

25 – 30 mins to roast the veg, and then 10 mins to combine in the sauce. The rest you can do while the veg are in the oven.

You Will Need

a large roasting tray’s worth of chopped and deseeded butternut squash, chopped parsnip and chopped green pepper, spread out on one shallow layer and coated in 1tbsp oil
1 tbsp oil for the wok
2 – 3 tsp of Qatari Spices mix, or other curry powder
1 onion
1 garlic clove, crushed
a 5cm piece of root ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 400ml can of coconut milk
any other veg you have to hand for using up – I threw in a half-can of sweet corn, chopped scallions and some button mushrooms
boiled basmati rice for 4 people – for me this means around 200g

Method

Heat the oven to 180C and put in the roasting tray with the veg for around 25 – 30 mins.
Put the oil in a wok. When hot, add in the onion, garlic and ginger.
After a minute, add in the spice mix, with a few drops of the tomatoes and the coconut milk. Stir it around in the wok to make a lovely spicy paste.
If you are using button mushrooms like me, add them at this stage and let them sizzle for a minute or two.
Pour in the rest of the tomatoes and coconut milk and stir. Turn up the heat so that it thickens and reduces.
While the sauce is maturing, put the rice in a saucepan with boiling water and simmer for 10 mins or so, until the grains are just soft enough to bite through.
When the veg is roasted, tip it all in to the wok, and stir so that it gets coated in the thick sauce.
Drain the rice, and divide between 4 plates. Serve a few spoonfuls of the spicy veg curry alongside. See my main photo at the top of this post.

Customise it

The core ingredients are the sweet roast veg, and the spicy tomato/coconut curry sauce. As I’ve indicated, you can add in any other veg you have to hand and wish to use up – it all helps make your curry unique. You could also swap the rice for a pillau, home-made or ready-made, or some Naan or flatbread. Flat breads were especially popular in Qatar.

For the next track on our ADK Spotify Playlist, I’ve chosen another of the great new bands that are coming through just now. They’ve been deservedly lauded recently at the Grammys and the Brits. Here’s the Isle of Wight’s own Wet Leg, with Chaise Longue.

Souq Waqif

Most of Doha’s development has taken place in the last few decades, funded with the money from the oil industry. The notable exception to this is Souq Waqif, the origin of which dates back to the early 20th Century. Doha was then a small coastal town with an industry in pearl diving. The Souq is where bedouins – the inhabitants of the deserts across Arabia – would come to trade food and textiles with the local people.

By the early 2000s, it was a little worse for wear and, with the focus very much on new development in the city, consideration was being given to its demolition. However, what now seems a very inspired decision was made in favour of renovation. It is now a popular destination for visitors to the city – particularly at the moment with people here from all over the globe for the Football World Cup.

A walk through the Souq is a joy for anyone who recalls the old Arabian Nights legends. The low level sandstone buildings, and narrow, meandering alleyways could be a theme park land, or film set from an Indiana Jones movie, until you remind yourself that this is actually the real thing.

A tiny shop door leads to a cavernous collection of colourful and richly textured carpets. Hey, maybe one of those might fly? Street traders sell bejewelled plates and ornaments. Could a genie be hiding inside one of those lamps, I wonder?

Colourful birds chirp from their cages. You can buy everything you could possibly need for your falconry hobby (including the falcons).

The Souq is a real experience for the senses. Our arrival coincided with the call to prayers echoing from the tower of the nearby mosque, mingling with the hubbub of the crowd and haggling from the stalls. The air is filled with the scents of burning incense and people smoking from the sheesha pipes at the pavement cafes. Then there are the aromas and colours from the spice market.

I had read about the spice market before coming here, and was looking forward to a visit. It is a whole subset of the Souq, with more shops than it seems possible could be sustained, selling every spice imaginable, along with nuts, dried fruits, seeds, loose tea and local sweets. The produce is mostly sourced from across the Middle East and Asia.

Everything is sold loose, so that you can buy as much or as little as you wish. The photos that follow give some impression.

It is also very reasonably priced. I bought about 300g of Qatari spices – a local mix of 9 different spices – for 3 QAR, working out about 60p (or under 1 US Dollar). I also bought some loose green tea from Iran.

We chose a pick and mix bag of local sweets to eat as we walked around – mostly comprising nougat, nuts, dates and often with bitter fruit jelly or rose petal coatings.

As regular followers will know, the Middle East is a stop for me on the way to spending some time in Australia. A plan is developing in my head to marinade chicken pieces in the Qatari spices mixed with yoghurt, and barbecue them on skewers for our family and guests on Christmas Day in the sun. Future posts will tell if that comes off!

As for musical choice, I was astounded to realise recently that one of my favourite all-time bands, Siouxsie and the Banshees, have yet to appear on the ADK Spotify Playlist. With this post, however, your time has come, Sioux. Cue Arabian Knights.