Bahrain

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TASTES OF BAHRAIN

with Michael Olivier

"In a strange way Bahrain, surrounded by emerald sea - the Persian Gulf - full of the most magical fish and sea foods, was everything I expected it to be and everything I did not expect it to be!" Michael Olivier reports back from Bahrain on a unique and illuminating experience from this tiny kingdom in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia.

I had been invited there by Stuart Chase the General Manager of The Gulf Hotel to present a South African Food and Wine Week and had invited Annette le Roux, chef and former owner of Jemima’s in Oudtshoorn, to join me. Annette is one of my favourite chefs who has a wonderful knowledge of Cape Cuisine.

A tiny kingdom in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain comprises 33 islands in a parched part of the world. Parched it may be, but there is plenty of fresh water from springs which bubble up all over the place.

Bahrain was once a pearl fisher’s paradise and one of the main sources of pearls in the world until such time as the invention of cultured pearls in the early 20th century by a team of scientists at Tokyo University. However the Kingdom is still a major source of natural pearls.

Close to the Gulf Hotel, which was to be my home for ten days, there was a wonderful national museum with displays illustrating the pearl fishing days and a wonderful section on women’s clothing showing the beautiful traditional Bahraini wedding gowns. Hard to believe as all Bahraini woman in the streets and malls all wore black veils and floor length dresses.

Another place worth a visit is the Qala’at al Bahrain, a former Portuguese fort where only tumble down walls remain but below is a Dilmun Palace, evidence of a thriving 4000 year old civilisation. Here Dilmun seals and weights were discovered linked to the ancient Ur and Indus Valley confirming the kingdoms importance as a trading centre.

The Gulf Hotel in Bahrain is a huge monolith of a place all marble and glass and mirrors and chandeliers with bedrooms in a main building and then an apartment block next door where Annette and I stayed. There are a number of excellent restaurants in the hotel, Lebanese, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Iranian, Thai you name it you can eat it.

Each of these restaurants has staff from the country involved, all supplied by the main kitchen, which is run by Executive Chef Neil Mason. Former Cape Town Restaurateur, Fiamma Swainston of the eponymous restaurant is Chef de Cuisine of La Pergola, the Italian Restaurant.

The kitchen is quite well equipped and is currently being upgraded. The staff is mainly Indian – the number three chef Mr Sylvester has been here for 25 years. Mr Anwar, a tall charming quiet Egyptian is Sous Chef and he has been here for 22 years. Annette and I befriended a charming Indian lady called “Miss Rufina” who seemed to have the measure of the men and could achieve almost anything!

The produce flows in from all over the world, from flying fish roe from Japan to Tamarind from India. Fruit and vegetables from anywhere from Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The variety of fish made me want to cry. There is a large fish called Hamour, which is just stunning. Firm of flesh, white white white meat and possibly one of the best fish I have eaten.

I visited the fish market and apart from the Hamour, there were Garfish, which are about hand-length with a long needle like projection in front, and then any number of fish of all sizes and colours, with extra large eyes, many of them looking like Nemo's cousins. There were baskets of Blue Crabs which we tasted on a sea food buffet in the Al Waha Restaurant of the Hotel and many different varieties of shrimps and prawns all scooped up out of the bounteous waters of the Persian Gulf. Didn't see any lobsters around.

The fruit and vegetable market was itself an experience. There were the usual stuff from all over the Middle East. Brilliant figs, the most orange of oranges, melons, watermelons and little purple shallotty onions, huge fat cloves of garlic [from China] and white and red onions, fat roots of ginger, fresh tamarind still in the pods.

There was a charming old peasant farmer with a wooden box on a leather sling in which he carried all the ingredients for fatoush, a delicious fresh Middle Eastern and North African salad. In his box he had herbs and saladings, radishes and herbs such as mint, dill, rocket, bitter herbs, young baby spinach, parsley, bright pink radishes and spring onions all grown in his garden.

There is also a huge convention centre at The Gulf Hotel through which literally hundreds of people pass each day. One night alone there was a disco for 4000 and on another day a plated lunch for 1000.

We began on Monday with a set menu with a selection of South African Wines for about 160 people and a show called Diamonds & Dust, which is a group of 12 young South Africans from the Barnyard Theatre Group. The show was put on after dinner - vibrant, energetic and very noisy and made me so proud to be a South African.

On Tuesday we did the show, also in the Convention Centre with a buffet for 300 people. I have never seen a buffet of this size before – it was quite incredible. There were a number of South African dishes – everything from Pickled Fish and Bobotie to Soet Patats and Malva Pudding.

On Wednesday and Thursday we did fine dining for about 60 people in the Fusions Restaurant, which is on top of the hotel overlooking the Southern part of the city. Tourists are allowed inside and they are building a large lecture centre next door to the Mosque, which will serve as an information centre about Islam.

One day - a Friday - I did a wine tasting of Cape Wines at the Riffa Golf Club so it was quite busy. The hotel does all the catering for the club. Boris Bekker was there promoting a 900 unit luxury resort at the Club called Riffa Views. A number of South Africans who have been involved in developments like Pezula and Oubaai are working there.

On the Friday and Saturday nights we did a buffet in the Al Waha Restaurant of South African dishes for about 250 people.

The food in the hotel was world class. The Hummus is so delicious, there seems to be a bit of sesame oil in it but it is so smooth, I am sure it has been sieved through the silken veil of a belly dancer.

The Labneh – a sheep's milk yoghurt type cheese, the variety of olives and middle Eastern Salads just stunning.

The hot dishes are anything from Spinach and Paneer Curry to something called Lamb Nahir [swear they used our Tomato Bredie recipe] to a large dish of hunks of lamb and rice which the gentlemen in Arab gear seemed to pile into - sure it was like their mothers comfort food.

There are always vast bowls of fruit at every meal – I had mangosteens for breakfast and there are any number of Nashi Pears and Rambutans, brilliant pink watermelon and green melons and the most yummy Kiwi fruit.

I could go on and on. Sadly Gulf Air no longer travels direct from Cape Town which rather precludes Bahrain from being the perfect stopover on the way to Europe.

It’s an experience just so different and unique - I’d gladly go back.

Here is my recipe for Bobotie and its accompanying rice, bits and pieces taken from all advice given over the years, tips written about in old books and my own desire for a real breadth of flavour.

You’ll need: 1 thick slice white bread, crusts removed, 250 ml cold milk, 2 tbsp sunflower or peanut oil, 1 tbsp butter, 2 medium onions, finely chopped, 2 fat cloves of garlic, 1 tbsp medium aromatic curry powder, 1 tsp turmeric, 2 tbsp white wine vinegar, tamarind juice or lemon juice,1 kg ground beef, a portion of this could be ground fat mutton, 3 tbsp fruity chutney, 50 g ground almonds, 75 g unbleached seedless sultanas, grated rind of one lemon and one orange [no white pith], 1 tbsp natural brown or palm sugar, 4 bay leaves, 2 jumbo free range eggs, sea salt and freshly milled black pepper, knife point of turmeric [if desired], 6 fresh lemon leaves [for garnish] (Serves 6)

Method: Soak the slices of bread in the cold milk and when saturated, squeeze dry in a sieve, set aside. Reserve the milk to make the custard topping.

Preset the oven at 180ºC. In a heavy saucepan, heat the oil and the butter; start browning the onions over medium heat. After a while add the garlic and continue cooking slowly until the mixture is a light golden brown. Add the curry powder, turmeric and white wine vinegar, tamarind or lemon juice.

Cook for a few minutes to release the aromatic oils of the spices. Add the ground beef/lamb and stir with a spoon to break it up, keep stirring until it loses its red colour. Add the chutney, almonds, sultanas, grated rinds, brown or palm sugar, bay leaves and seasoning. Add one of the eggs, beaten, and the soaked bread. Taste and reseason if necessary. Pack into a flat ovenproof dish and smooth off the top. Cover and bake in the preset oven for one and half-hours. Turn down the oven temperature to 150ºC to cook the topping.

To make the topping: whisk the remaining egg into the milk, season and strain if required. At this point you could add a knifepoint of turmeric to the milk just to give the topping a yellow colour. When the bobotie comes out of the oven, pour over the custard. Garnish in a pattern with the lemon leaves and return to the oven for a further half-hour or until the topping has set.

Bobotie is traditionally served with yellow rice and raisins, fruit chutney, sliced ripe bananas and toasted coconut.

Wine Suggestion: Not an easy dish for a wine match. I would suggest that if the curry is not too strong that an off dry Gewürztraminer from Paul Cluver Wines in Elgin might be a good choice, or a chilled fruity young Pinotage like Jeremy Walker's Grangehurst Pinotage, the unwooded Simonsig or Landskroon. Pop the wine into an ice bucket about 15 minutes before serving.

Yellow Rice with Raisins: Yellow rice is known as “Begrafnisrys” or Funeral rice in the Cape as it was traditionally served in Malay homes at large family gatherings such as funerals. Rice was either cooked as “droeërys” [dry rice] or “paprys” [wet rice], though this one, my variation in a type of pilaff, falls somewhere between the two. While saffron was used in earlier times, turmeric is the current favourite spice used for colouring the rice.

You’ll need: 340 g basmati rice, 125 g seedless raisins, 100 g unsalted butter, 1 onion - chopped very finely, 1 whole peeled clove of garlic, 1 piece of stick cinnamon about 4cm in length, 2 cardamom pods, crushed to release the seeds, ¾ tsp turmeric or some threads of saffron, sea salt, freshly milled black pepper, sugar to taste

Place the rice in a bowl and pour over a kettle of boiling water. Stir for a while with a fork and leave to stand for ten minutes. Pour into a sieve, drain and rinse under cold water. Pour some boiling water over the raisins to plump them up.

Melt HALF the butter in a heavy saucepan with a tight fitting lid. Add the onion and the whole garlic clove and let them sweat gently until the onion is transparent. Add the cinnamon and cardamom pods. Add the rice to the pan, turning it over several times so that each grain is covered in the hot butter. Add the turmeric or saffron, two very good pinches of sea salt and some freshly milled black pepper and 600 ml cold water.

Bring quickly to the boil, stirring only a little, and reduce the heat to the lowest, cover and cook for 11 minutes. Remove the rice from the heat. Stir in the rest of the butter and gently fork through the rice with the raisins and about a teaspoon of sugar or more to taste. Cover and leave the rice to stand for ten minutes. Remove the garlic clove before serving.

Michael Olivier trained at The London Cordon Bleu Cookery School and is a well known Cape food and wine fundi. Michael has worked in and managed such well known places as Lanzerac Hotel in Stellenbosch and was Public Relations Manager for the top marque wine estate Boschendal. Having run three restaurants, Paddagang in Tulbagh, The Burgundy in Hermanus and Parks in Constantia, and being featured in the national top ten restaurants, he is now a food and wine writer, occasional broadcaster and hospitality industry consultant, both locally and on a project in Western Australia.

Michael also imports specialist cookery equipment. His book Michael Olivier – a Restaurateur Remembers, is published by Double Storey Books.

Micheal is Wine Consultant to a national supermarket chain, Pick 'n Pay and is Editor of the witty and informative Noshnews.

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