BENGALURU : Cooking is my passion and I love seeing diners enjoy the food I prepare. My journey has been a never-ending learning experience. One of the ingredients that I find unique is sumac.
Sumac is a versatile spice used quite often in the Middle Eastern cuisine. It comes from the Rhus coriara plant and has a unique taste due to a combination of tangy, lemony and fruity flavours.
Sumac originates from Lebanon. It is widely used in the Middle Eastern and the Mediterranean cuisines. Over the years, it has become an integral part of Arabic cooking also.
Sumac comes from the berries of a wild bush that grows in all Mediterranean areas, especially in Sicily and southern Italy, and parts of the Middle East, notably Iran. This spice is used in many preparations as it lends a sharp taste to the dish. It is mostly used as a marinade or a dressing. It is very mild too, so it can be generously be used in any dish. This spice, however, should be used at the end of cooking because heat usually dulls its flavour.
I’ve used it in various dishes to add an extra zing to the dish with its unique flavours. Lebanese dishes are very light and sumac just compliments these dishes perfectly. People like Lebanese cuisine because it includes abundance of raw flavours and they tend to love dishes and salads because sumac adds the right amount of spice and flavour in almost everything.
It is similar to lemon in term of its sourness but has an astringency aftertaste. Sumac has a sour and fruity tang in it and hence, it can bring the required tangy essence in any given dish and its zest will do wonders to a dish.I was introduced to this spice for the first time when I saw my mother cooking at home and since then I’ve gotten used to cooking with this in most of my dishes. Since I had seen my mother use Sumac so often, I was used to getting the portion right. Hence, I did not face too many challenges.
- Chef Ahmed Ammouri The chef is visiting Shangri-La Hotel for Lebanese food promotion which is on till June 15.