This week, we tried an Instagram-based cloud kitchen by the name of “Mummy’s Middle Eastern Cuisine”.
Mummy’s Middle Eastern Cuisine started off as a small home-based business to bring in a rich taste and authentic experience to all food lovers. Speaking to Genie A.K., who is part of the team, she told us about Grandma Daya who was a chef with over 30 years of experience in the food industry in the UAE. She arrived in Sri Lanka in 2012, bringing along with her a collection of authentic Middle Eastern recipes, where she continued her “food” journey by cooking for her loved ones. Now in memory of her, Genie told us that Mummy’s Middle Eastern Cuisine intends to cater and pass on her delicious and traditional cuisines, and share their love for Mediterranean food to everyone they serve.
The specialty of their dishes are mainly the Middle Eastern concept and taste. With over 30 years of experience in cooking Middle Eastern food, they focus on cooking their meals with authentic flavours. When speaking further on the topic, she commented: “What makes our brand unique is the fact that we use traditional cooking and flavouring methods to take on the authentic flavour of our cuisines, just so our dishes still maintain their original taste.”
Middle Eastern food stems from a variety of cultures around the Mediterranean, Red, Arabian, and Caspian Seas. It includes Arab, Israeli, Moroccan, Syrian, and Turkish cuisines – just to name a few. In reality, a long list of countries and cultures are included.
While Middle Eastern food encompasses a variety of cuisines, it’s generally characterised by fragrant and copious spices, nuts, olive oil, and creamy elements. Mutton, lamb, and goat are traditional meats. Chicken, beef, fish, and pork are also used, but less frequently.
Middle Eastern biryani is popular in Iraq, Bahrain, and other Middle Eastern nations and is quite similar to the Indian version. Indian biryani uses red and green chilies, which makes the rice spicy. The colour of the rice is yellow since they use turmeric instead of saffron. The dish itself is essentially the same – fragrant rice with a hearty combination of spices, meat, and potatoes steamed together. The dish is topped with caramelised onions that add depth and a subtle flavour; a complete meal in itself. We tried the chicken biryani, and to be honest, it may taste a bit bland since there is a notable lack of spice; there is also a hint of sweetness. The blandness, however, is a mark of the preparation style of Middle Eastern food, and it is sufficiently covered up by the spices used to marinate the chicken. The rice comes with a side of hummus and green chilli chutney so you can control the level of spice in your rice – although even the chutney isn’t all that of a kick.
Probably the most famous dish originating from the Middle East, hummus, is a creamy and versatile dip made from chickpeas. The hummus was quite lovely – creamy and smooth and could even just be eaten with a spoon. We were also given a fresh salad with lime on the side to enjoy the biryani with, which was a very refreshing touch.
For dessert, we tried the muhallebi, which is a milk pudding commonly made with rice, sugar, milk, and either rice flour, starch or semolina, popular as a dessert in the Middle East. At first sight, it may not look too appetising since it’s just a white, creamy pudding but once you’ve had a bite, it’s very difficult to put down the spoon. It has just the perfect amount of sweetness, and you can taste hints of spices; even the flavour of the milk is pronounced and we absolutely loved it. There was also an undertone of rose water that came through with the dish. We think this would be an interesting new dessert to serve if you’re ever having guests over – add a bit of garnish and it’ll look as great as it tastes.
Mummy’s Middle Eastern Cuisine also undertakes gifting (desserts), and caters to events (weddings, parties, corporate events, etc.) so they’ll be just the right fit for your loved ones on their special occasions too.
With the help of their fans’ love and support, they intend to open up a restaurant – with their brand in memory of Grandma Daya’s dream – one day soon.
Instagram: @mummyscuisine
