00:00Hi, I'm Niel Moraad and this is How I Host.
00:08Today I'm making recipes from my cookbook, Rukma.
00:11The sun is deciding to show up this week, so I'm going to be leading with vegetables,
00:15really lovely and fresh and light, having some friends over for lunch.
00:19So when I think about planning a menu, I think about the time of year, what's in season.
00:23I also think about who's coming. Everyone's quite different,
00:26so you kind of have to just know your audience and know who you're cooking for,
00:31and then you can kind of take it from there. Middle Eastern people love to feed.
00:35We're quite generous in the way that we serve food. A table that looks full and abundant is my style.
00:41I'm just pan frying these tomatoes. I want them to soften and take on a bit of color,
00:47but I don't want them to completely fall apart. Tomatoes are already very sweet, but
00:51cooking them in a bit of olive oil and maple syrup really brings that out, and it's just so so lovely.
00:57I think the first thing that people notice when they come into my flat is the kitchen. It's quite
01:02quirky, you know. It's not like perfect, but there's lovely like pantry and label jars everywhere.
01:08My favorite thing about having people over is just the togetherness of it all. Enjoying food,
01:13relaxing. I mean that's the whole point of hosting, isn't it? I think I always lead with Middle Eastern
01:18flavors. It's just what my go-to. It's my instinct. It's the way that I cook. So I think because I grew
01:23up in Bahrain, I grew up in the Middle East, I didn't move here until my late 20s. So it's just
01:29that is my style in every single way. I've got these sauteed pine nuts that I kind of cooked until
01:36they were nice and golden with some garlic and oregano and then some zatar that I stirred in at the end.
01:42And then I just sprinkle it with some extra zatar because I just love how like lovely and herbaceous it is.
01:48I always kind of drizzle it with a bit of olive oil, good quality olive oil as well.
01:52These are my pan fried tomatoes with halloumi and zatar pine nuts. So I've got these green beans
01:59and then I've made this lovely dressing with grilled lemon, slow cooked onion, lemon juice,
02:04and loads of herbs and maple syrup. Take your time when you plate things and really put love and thought
02:09into it. If you have sharing plates, it just encourages conversation. Oh, this is so good,
02:14do you want more of it? Or does anyone have dibs on that last bite? So when I'm planning a summer
02:21menu, I really think about colour. This is my opportunity to bring colour in as much as possible.
02:26For example, these beetroots, they're super earthy and a lovely way to bring happiness to your
02:33table, I guess. I've tossed them in a really, really simple dressing. It's yogurt, tahini, toasted
02:38sesame oil, some lime juice. I'm just going to top them with some charred spring onions. So you've
02:44got something really, really pink and then you have something lovely and green and charred.
02:48Today is like really colourful, very vibrant. I just wanted to scream joy in every way from a bright
02:56tablecloth, really colourful cushions. The plates are all kind of mismatched and the plates are quite
03:02neutral because I want the food to be loud. Bringing people together via food is just such a lovely way
03:07to just celebrate friendships and connection. I hope to create like a very relaxed, calm, welcoming
03:14atmosphere. I want people to just walk in and just feel at home, be completely relaxed and feel taken
03:19care of. So I've started doing this thing where every time I travel, I write some plate or crockery
03:25or something like that. I really love these bud vases. I think they're a real statement. They're
03:30really cute and you know, at the end of the day, you can give away the flowers for people to take home,
03:34which is such a lovely thing. My favourite colours are sunset colours. I really like to introduce that,
03:40not just in my food, but you can see it in the flowers too. This is my nectarine dish. I've kind
03:46of left it to the last thing so the nectarines don't spoil. It's so easy to make that you can just
03:51assemble it last thing. So I'm starting off with the dressing. I fried off this ginger and mustard seeds
03:57and chilli and then the frying oil I'm going to use as a base of the dressing. So it's got like a bit of
04:03spice and heat to it. And I'm going to mix that with some maple syrup and lime juice. My grandfather
04:09used to have a house in Lebanon and I spent a lot of my childhood summers in Lebanon. It's not like
04:14Bahrain is a desert, but Lebanon has got this beautiful fertile land and loads of fresh fruits.
04:20So at the end of the meal, they'd always bring like big process of fresh fruit. And I remember
04:24having the stone fruits, especially apricots, which we call mishmish and just eating it and the juice
04:30just kind of like dripping down my chin. That's kind of why I was inspired to do this dish.
04:36With this spread, for example, I just thought of like really nice, delicate, summery flavors.
04:43You have to kind of make sure the flavors really complement each other in a nice way
04:47and that not one dish isn't so overpowering that the rest of the dishes don't have a chance. So you
04:52don't want an attention seeker dish. You just want dishes that all want to play together in a nice way.
04:57So I'm adding quite a lot of coriander to this dish. I think that like coriander and herbs in general
05:06should never really be used as a garnish and that's quite common in the Middle East. We use
05:09herbs quite heavily, especially like cooked herbs, which transform the flavor completely,
05:14become like earthier and more intense. But yeah, in this salad, I use quite a lot of coriander,
05:19but if there's coriander haters out there, they can use parsley or a bit of dill or whatever herbs you
05:24really like. Some mint would be lovely. It just really kind of freshens up the salad in a lovely way.
05:32I really enjoy hosting in summer because we're spoiled for choice in terms of what we can bring
05:37to the table. There's just so many different vegetables to play with and everyone's just
05:41happier during the summer. People kind of kicking back and enjoying each other's company.
05:47I also love it when they taste the food and obviously really enjoy it. It's something like
05:53that brings me joy to see them really having a lovely time.
06:01All right, the food is all ready, the table is set, everything's looking great,
06:05and I think I hear the doorbell, so I'm going to go let my friends in now.
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