Imad's Syrian Kitchen: A Love Letter from Damascus

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A love letter from Damascus to London Imad’s Syrian Kitchen (HQ) is no ordinary cookbook in the way that the restaurant of the same name is no ordinary eatery. Start by washing the lentils, rice and freekeh together in a large sieve until the water runs clear. The only complaint I have, is that when water needs to be added (to lentils, bulgar wheat etc) we are directed to add enough to come so many centimetres above the dried food.

We sit down with acclaimed chef Daniel Humm, of Eleven Madison Park in New York, to hear more about his new food-and-art book, ‘Eat More Plants’, released with publishing icon Gerhard Steidl. She is a die-hard Francophile – speaking French helps tremendously – but put her anywhere and she is happy. I never make moussaka the traditional way because I don’t often cook meat at home and the required béchamel sauce is a faff, but this was a Syrian moussaka which is much less work and I put it together with ease in my lunch hour.With a lot of help from my husband, I have made fourteen of the recipes – and have plans to try more.

Expect delicious and colourful mezzes, hearty mains, a killer wine list and warm Syrian hospitality. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Only one recipe had an ingredient I was not able to get: sour cherry molasses for the ‘Saroja’ (fried baby aubergines with cheeses).

In a tall, large pot, heat the olive oil over a medium heat, then add the cumin seeds and toast for a minute. Plus: Leon Foo, co-founder of Singapore-based coffee-capsule company Morning, tells us about the brand’s mission.

The publisher said: “ Imad’s Syrian Kitchen will be a personal collection of more than 100 delicious and imaginative recipes that will welcome everyone into the home kitchen of a celebrated Syrian chef. He expresses this love and affection through his cooking – gifting London with his successful restaurant, and now with his cookbook, containing favourite recipes, and notes on Syrian culture and its relationship to its food.Imad Alarnab is a refugee whose courage and fortitude have enabled him to set up a new life in the UK.

Anyone who wants to know what it means to be a refugee will be staggered by Alarnab's harrowing account. Instructions are clear and thoughtful throughout, but it’s the author’s personal experiences that make this heartfelt cookbook shine. By some turns of good fortune and enormous resilience, he rebuilt his life and that of his family, and opened an excellent restaurant where diners can enjoy his Syrian menu. This book is now joining my collection alongside The Baghdad Kitchen [which I also recommend if you can find it]. Alarnab's story is heartbreaking and humbling, with pages of key Syrian ingredients sitting next to the story of his brutal beating by Syrian police.A celebration of flavours, the recipes are all accessible, straightforward and completely unforgettable. Join Monocle’s deputy head of radio, Tom Webb, as he takes us on a whistle-stop tour of this year’s Monocle Christmas Market in Zürich. The recipes were all easy to make, though some of the timings needed extending (possibly due to our oven’s idiosyncrasies).