Looking for ethnic food inspiration

[fiamma]

Im looking for some "ethnic food" inspiration, but something a bit different from the usual, in other words Caribbean/Jamaican, some of the African cuisines (East, North etc.), Middle Eastern. There are some quite cheap books on Amazon, but I have so many cookbooks already and want to be sure I can make the recipes in the book (i.e. will I be able to get hold of the ingredients easily, what kind of ingredients do these cuisines involve, are the recipes too complex or time-consuming etc.).

So if anyone can give me a bit of an insight into these cuisines, experiences or book suggestions, I'd be really grateful.

Thanks all

[Tigerlily]

I'm sort of seriously considering writing a vegan Middle Eastern cookbook. So many things are already vegan or can be easily veganized. There are so many things other than the typical falafel and hummus. I wonder if it would be popular enough.

Mjeddrah is my favourite thing ever. It's very smelly to make (fried onions) so my mother only does it once in a while.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Mjeddrah
That's the closest recipe I could find, except my mother adds way more than just 1/2 onion and we don't add any other spices other than cumin and lots of salt (necessary, IMO).

Instead of rice, we do it Palestinian style with bulgur (crushed wheat). I think that should be available in Italy. Get the medium coarse kind. Don't get the fine bulgur or the really coarse/chunky kind. It should be called medium grade, medium coarse, medium something.

[fiamma]

Thanks Tigerlily I think you should definitely write a cookbook Thanks for the recipe suggestion too; I will certainly check that out. And we get bulghur here, no worries!

[Tigerlily]

It's seriously the bomb. I could it eat it on a weekly basis. Eat it with salad, generous squeeze of lemon juice, lots of pita bread. Heaven.