An Arabian Feast – 7 dishes prepared in just 1 hour. Stress free, crowd pleasing, exotic, super cost efficient and make ahead. Oh, and incidentally gluten free. I can’t think of a single reason why you shouldn’t try this menu for the next time you have a party!
“An Arabian Feast – 7 dishes, 1 hour of preparation, cost efficient, easy and make ahead. My favourite menu for feeding a crowd!”
This menu will be very familiar to my friends because it is my “go to” spread when I’m entertaining 12+ people. I recently single handedly prepared this for 50 people (though this did take more than 1 hour as I had to make 4x the quantity of each dish!). I started writing all the reasons why I love this menu and it started to get really lengthy so I thought it would be more efficient to just list the high points:
-
Fast and easy – it takes 1 hour to prepare 3 starters, 2 meat dishes, 2 salads + 1 sauce which can be prepared the day before. Then all that’s required to be done is to grill the meat just before serving (or you can even grill ahead, the meat stays really moist);
-
Prepare ahead – other than grilling the meat, everything can be made ahead by a day (or more in most cases);
-
Everyday Ingredients & Cost efficient – all the ingredients are everyday ingredients you can get at any supermarket. Plus there are common ingredients across all the dishes. This menu will feed 8 people very generously (12 people if you increase the lamb/chicken by 50%) and costs around A$40 – $45 (~ US$30 – $35) which I think is great value for a feast like this;
-
Pantry Essentials – I think you’ll be surprised how many of the spices and herbs you already have in your pantry. Though Middle Eastern food is often thought of as quite “exotic”, the most common spices are things like cumin, coriander and paprika which are used in many cuisines including Mexican, Spanish and Asian cuisine;
-
Unique and exotic – I think this is quite a unique menu. It’s quite modern too. These dishes are inspired by chefs like Yotam Ottolenghi and Karen Martini, both of whom are known for their contemporary (and traditional) Middle Eastern and Arabic dishes;
-
Eat with your hands – you can get away with serving this with just napkins which is really convenient when hosting large numbers! If you are using large pieces of lebanese bread (which I was), just cut them into quarters so they are easy to make and hold in your hand rather than needing a plate;
-
Flavour Explosions and Freshness – this menu has a balance of “flavour explosions” (the chicken and kebabs), rich and creamy (hummus and marinated feta) and freshness (the salads); and
-
Fragrant and Colourful – when it comes to food, we smell first then we eat with our eyes. Every single time without fail, someone comments on the smell when the meat is grilling! And the bright fresh colours always brings a smile to my face!
“All these dishes are made with everyday ingredients you can get from any supermarket. I think you’ll be surprised how many of the spices you already have in your pantry.”
You will be amazed how fast and easy it is to prepare this feast! This is what’s on the menu (click for the recipe):
TO NIBBLE
1. Hummus (5 minutes) – just whizz up chick peas, tahini (sesame paste – usually in the spreads or health food section of your supermarket), olive oil, garlic and lemon juice until smooth. Can be made ahead up to 2 days (keeps for a week, but is best made closer to serving day).
2. Chargrilled Vegetable Platter (Homemade Vegetable “Antipasto”) (15 minutes) – Slice vegetables of choice, cook until charred on grill or stove with just salt, pepper and olive oil. Make ahead (day before) or on the day. Serve drizzled with olive oil and Yoghurt Sauce on the side.
3. Herb & Chili Marinated Feta (5 minutes) – dice feta into cubes, drizzle over olive oil, crushed garlic and your choice of herbs, finely chopped chili, lemon zest. I like to use a soft feta (like Danish feta) so it can easily be spread onto bread with a knife, but sometimes I make it with hard Greek feta too. Make ahead (day before) or on the day.
Serve with pita / lebanese bread.
FOR THE MEN TO GRILL
4. Chicken Sharwarma (5 minutes prep) – thigh fillets marinated overnight in spices, olive oil and lemon juice. The spice mix marinade will only take you minutes to make. Then on the day, grill, rest then slice to serve on pita bread with salad.
5. Lamb Koftas (10 minutes prep) – mix ground lamb (mince), spices and breadcrumbs. Shape into sausages and thread onto skewers. Can be prepared ahead.
Stuff into pita bread with salad and a drizzle of Yoghurt Sauce (included in the Chicken Sharwarma, Lamb Koftas and Chargrilled Vegetable Platter recipes).
BECAUSE WE MUST HAVE GREENS
….and cater for Vegetarians….
Both these salads are great for stuffing into pita breads with the grilled meat. The chickpea salad is a great meat free alternative for stuffing into pita breads.
6. Spiced Chickpea Chopped Salad (15 minutes) – chopped tomato, cucumber and red onion topped with chickpeas coated in a spice mix, herbs and a fresh lemon zest dressing. The dressing and chickpeas can be made the day before but the salad is best chopped on the day. I have made it up to 12 hours before serving and it was fine. The tip to make ahead is to scoop out the watery centre of the tomatoes before chopping them. This helps keep the salad fresh for longer.
7. Shredded Cabbage, Carrot and Mint Salad (10 minutes) – if you have a tool to julienne the carrots (I slice the cabbage by hand), this takes just 5 minutes to chop.
A SWEET ENDING
Since publishing this post, I’ve shared a couple of recipes that will fit right into an Arabian feast – Baklava and a Persian Love Cake, a syrup soaked semolina cake.
While the Baklava does take time to assemble, it is actually quite straight forward and is an impressive dessert that lasts for days – and feeds a crowd! The Semolina Cake is very straight forward to make – and the best part isn’t pouring the hot syrup over, it’s poking tons and tons of holes in the surface of the cake!!
Notes
* All the savoury recipes are entirely gluten free. Use gluten free flatbreads.
* The same Yoghurt Sauce recipe is used for the Chargrilled Vegetable Platter, Chicken Sharwarma and Lamb Koftas. So just make one big batch. This also saves on preparation time.
So truth be told, the total preparation time adds up to 1 hour and 5 minutes, but I rounded it down to 1 hour! Love to hear what you think! Drop a comment below if you have any comments at all. (Note: excludes desserts which I subsequently added)
Happy chopping, marinating and grilling! – Nagi
Gosh Nagi, this is an awesome feast. I’ve made it twice in the last week and it totally delivers in both flavour and convenience. It’s so great you can make most of it the day before so it’s not chaotic on the day. I especially adore the char veges. You can add so many other veges to it like mushrooms, pumpkin, grilled eschollots, beans and cherry toms . I also added crushed feta at the end. I cook a lot with lemon olive oil which gives a lovely flavour.
I served up the amazing S/Chicken with crumbed lamb cutlets and the cutlets was the only thing I needed to cook on the day.
Everyone loved the cabbage salad and especially the yoghurt cumin sauce.
So amazing Nagi, this is my absolute go-to when we’re having several guests over.
I love the German theme but will opt for the middle eastern crowd pleaser.
WOW thats a very large CRAB sendnit over with master Dozer 😋
Nagi, love your recipes! And this one… AMAZING! Made the entire banquet, minus the dessert… every single dish was not only easy to make but honestly sooo delicious and an absolute crowd pleaser! Yum!
Going to attempt this next Monday…wish me luck. Your enthusiasm shines through the screen.
You’ll nail it!!! Enjoy! N x
Hi Nagy, Due your suggestions and notes to your recipes I have been able to add new ideas to my rather bland cooking. I don’t go for fancy cooking, and your blogs have a great selection of recipes and ideas which have made my plain cooking very tasteful, and the ingredients needed are always in my pantry. So after waffling on like I do before getting to the point, I would like to see more of those recipes which don’t require you to have undertaken a cordon blu course.
Your notes on why certain spices are used or alternative ideas to creating a lighter cream sauce are great. Bozer is adorable and I wish I had a companion like him again- I had two beautiful dogs (male and female)who unfortunately because of their ages are now in doggie heaven with their friends.
Thank you for your blogs. I look forward to more wonderful recipes and I appreciate your sense of fun and humour which comes through on your site.
Take care and be safe
Wow, this sounds amazing. I’m just making the lamb koftas for tonight, but I saw the link for this whole feast and now I’m stoked. Marked the page for the next time we’re able to have people over 🙂
I hope you love it!! This is a regular for me during (NON LOCKDOWN) summer gatherings! 🙂 N x
Hi Nagi, I made the entire feast tonight. Only change was I did the lamb shawarma instead of kofta. It was a beautiful and bounteous meal. Will definitely be making again. We will be eating this for next few days. Thanks for putting this together and all the extra notes and photos. It really helps.
I made the Arabian feast for about 40 people on new years eve. It was a huge hit with friends and their early teen-aged kids. So delicious and colourful and came together without any of the (often) stressful last minute prep for a big group.
As always Nagi, your recipes are spot on!
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Sonya! N x
Love how you present the recipes. You cook like I do, quick easy simple yet great tasting. I never tried the Chicken Sharwarma thinking like many others, it was difficult or hard to find spices. Going to make this week.
I’d love to know what you think once you try it Melissa!
looking at your arabian party menu, and was wondering how you think it would go at an outside winter bbq.
I had looked at your chicken satay and peanut sauce for one dish but this probably wouldn’t fit in with the Arabian menu. What do you think?
Hi Dawn, the Satay Chicken is Thai so it wouldn’t really fit in here, but I think it would be perfect for a BBQ! – N x
Hi …love your blog. What are two desserts you would suggest with this feast? Thanks
Popped a couple of suggestions in with pics – Baklava or Semolina Cake (Persian Looooooove Cake!) N x
Hi Nagi
I made this for a party of 20 and instead of the koftas I made your slow roasted lamb shawarma in the oven to take the pressure off the grill. I also did some veg and haloumi kebabs for the veggies. It was a great success and the informal nature of packing pittas with yummy meat and salads suited the occasion well. I also served a warm chilli sauce alongside a yogurt/lemon sumac sauce. I wanted to leave some feedback about numbers and multiplying up the salad quantities. Your recipes gave a guide amount which I adjusted for my numbers but I ended up with way too much salad. Probably 3 times too much cabbage and carrot and 1.5 times too much chickpea salad. It would have made prep a lot quicker doing less. By the way have you tried that recipe for breadcrumbed olives from Ottoleghi? Wow delicious. Thank you so much for your guidance and great recipes.
Thanks for the feedback Giles I will look into that when I revisit this recipe! But too much salad ain’t too bad a position to be in, right?? 😂 I haven’t tried the crumbed olives but it sounds like I must!! N x
Hi Nagi,
shawarmas were my go to meal when I lived in Oman and that’s why i have decided to make it for my Australian friends next week. Wondering where you bought the flat breads from?
Hi Sebahat! I just used Lebanese bread in these photos but try my easy No Yeast Easy Soft Flatbreads!
Sabahat, I miss the shawarmas of Oman! Especially near the GTO clock tower and Quorum. Let me know if these come close to shawarmas from Oman!
Hi Nagi,
I just moved to Qatar, and I’m trying to learn how to cook some Middle Eastern dishes. This all looks amazing!! When you make the chicken shawarma, do you leave the fat on the thighs? Or cut it off? I think you said the fat is good for caramelization, but I wasn’t sure whether you trimmed any of it. Thanks!
Wow what a move Alicia! I spent some time in that region for work but never went to Qatar 🙂 I use skinless chicken thighs for the shawarma, and I don’t trim the fat off but here in Australia, it’s pretty well trimmed already. You definitely want SOME fat on the thighs – for the browning! N x
Hi
Nagi
Find it difficult to spend time preparing. Back problems.
Consequently have put chicken thighs in marinade in a bag and frozen them.
I have made the kebabs and am open freezing those.
I plan to cook in or on my stove for guests next week.
Should i put the meats in refrigerator to defrost overnight. Will they work if placed, when at room temperature, in a very hot oven. If so how long would you suggest i roast them.
Love your marble cake by the way.
And thank you for sharing a very useful menu
Hi Sandar, sorry to hear about your problems 🙁 Yes if you defrost then you can cook in a hot oven, it will work but not quite the same but still super tasty! I would do 200C/390F for 25 minutes for the chicken and 20 minutes for the koftas. 🙂
All prepared and ready to go. Took me two hours. Small grill pan so had to grill veg in batches. Also ground cardamom in pestle and mortar . slow worker. Made ahead. Your instructions flowed beautifully.
Hi Nagi, we have office lunches once a month with a team assigned. I’m thinking of suggesting this menu – we need to cater for 120 people but this menu is perfect for this. What do you think?
Woah! 120 people?! That’s massive!! You’re making that all yourself???
I made this Arabian feast few weeks ago for 3 people, trying to create a restaurant experience during lockdown. Made 1/2 of the portion and we had leftovers for days. It was absolutely delicious. Recipes were so easy to follow.
I made this Arabian feast today for a lunch with some friends. It was a huge hit! Every bit of it was absolutely delicious. The flavours & colours were amazing! The prep took me a bit longer than stated but it was worth it ?
It’s so wonderful to hear you enjoyed it Pip, thank you for letting me know!! N x
Nagi – This whole Arabian Feast sounds fabulous! I’m hosting a dinner party for 12 next month at a meeting room that doesn’t have a kitchen, so I have been searching for dishes that I can make-ahead, transport to the venue, and serve at room temperature. It seems to me that all of these could be served at room temperature, with the possible exception of the Lamb Koftas. What do you think, would they be OK at room temp?
Also – any suggestions for a “themed” beverage (preferably alcoholic?), and a dessert?
Hi Penny – you are bang on about all this being served at room temperature! I actually prepared all this for a large party for someone and the only thing reheated was the chicken (I didn’t make the koftas for them). Themed beverage….hmm. How about a mint tea with a slash of vodka? 🙂 Mint tea is very Middle Eastern! I would probably use peppermint tea with sugar then add a good slug of vodka.
OMG this set of recipes is FANTASTIC. I love many of your recipes but these in particular are outstanding. Easy, affordable, healthy and SO FLAVOURFUL!!
I’ve made each of these recipes at least once, including the full set once when I had a dinner party – it was a huge hit. The sharwarma and cabbage salad are my two favourites and I make them at least twice a month.
Thank you a million times for sharing your beautiful recipes.
And oh my goodness, I just realized I’ve already left you a comment here a year ago LOL!! But that just shows you how much I ADORE this set of recipes. Still on my regular dinner rotation!
BA HA HA! I LOVE that Viva!!! N x
WOO HOO! Yay, thank you SO MUCH!!!
I’m getting ready to make this for 6 people Thursday night – can’t wait to see how it goes!! Everything looks amazing 🙂
I hope you love it Emma! 🙂