Beverages

At all of India’s roadside stalls, Masala Chai is served already sweetened. I have added about 1 teaspoon sugar per cup in this recipe, which makes the tea just mildly sweet. You may double that amount, if you prefer.

This is best made when good fresh mangoes are in season. When they are not, very good-quality canned pulp from India’s excellent Alphonso mangoes may be used instead. Most Indian grocers sell this.

A hot drink of boiled scented water taken as an alternative to coffee at night is an old tradition in Syria and Lebanon.

This is very sweet, but it is a syrup and not to be compared to orange juice. We used the smallish, slightly acid oranges with thin skins for this, but now that we have bottled freshly squeezed orange juice, that is what we use. Dilute 2 tablespoons in a glass of iced water.

A refreshing sweet-and-sour Persian syrup to be diluted in ice-cold water.

This fragrant drink was a favorite in my home. Commercial varieties of a concentrated version (a syrup) have an unpleasant synthetic taste.

In Morocco tea—a refreshing infusion of both green tea and mint—is the symbol of hospitality, prepared with art, served with ceremony, and drunk at all times of the day. Introduced in the nineteenth century by the English, tea became an indispensable drink. It is traditionally served in richly engraved English-style silver teapots (the grandest are from Manchester) on silver trays with tiny legs. It is poured from a great height into small, ornamented colored glasses. Spearmint is the type of mint used, and the infusion is sweetened in the teapot. In Morocco they like it very sweet, with many lumps of sugar, but you can suit your taste.

If you go to Egypt, one thing to bring back home is wine-red dried hibiscus petals.

This wonderful, heartwarming winter drink is hot milk thickened with the starchy ground bulb of an orchid called Orchis mascula. This was sold by street vendors from the large copper urn in which it was made. The stone-colored powder called sahlab (salep in Turkish and Greek) is expensive and not easy to find. I have often bought it in Middle Eastern markets only to discover that it was a fake or adulterated mix. Cornstarch is an alternative which gives a creamy texture but not the same special flavor.

This deliciously refreshing drink, called doug by Persians, ayran in Turkey, and laban by others, is consumed extensively all over the Middle East and particularly in Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran. It is prepared in the home, served in cafés, and sold by street vendors. It is good served chilled or with ice cubes.

In my family, it was the men—my father or brothers—who made the coffee. Here is their method. My parents had many pots of different sizes—for two, three, four, five people.

Taratir-at-turkman means “bonnets of the Turks.” There are very old recipes for these little pastries. The quantities make a large number, but they keep very well in a tin.

Stifatho is a Greek dish also made with beef. Serve it with rice or potatoes.

This is a version, using fillo pastry, of a Greek dish of lamb baked in parchment packets.