Stay home and still travel the world. Emirates helps travelers escape their everyday life and invites them on a culinary journey around the globe. Discover other cultures through their food.

To bring travel inspiration into people’s home kitchens, Emirates chefs share the ideal three-course-menu. This culinary journey gives globetrotters a taste of their next vacation, while staying home.

Starter: Spices and lentils in the United Arab Emirates

In the Middle East, lentils and other legumes are known as popular sources of nutrients. Therefore, as a starter, Emirates chef Said El Alam presents a traditional Arabic Lentil Soup. “Thanks to many different spices its’ signature taste will immediately make you feel as if you were strolling around one of the famous exotic spice bazaars in the Gulf”, Said says about the dish. Emirates’ recipe for lentil soup is simple enough for any beginner chef. This is the perfect way to start your culinary journey. See the full video with step-by-step instructions here.

For a truly Middle Eastern experience, Emirates has also made some of its most popular Arabic dishes available to its fans, including its signature Prawn machbous. The full list of recipes from fish sayadieh to lamb kofta can be viewed here.

Main course: Flavours of India

For the main dish home chefs can visit India and taste a flavorful lamb biryani. Emirates chef Ravi Nage presents the traditional Indian dish lamb biryani with yoghurt raita. “Using typical Indian spices like cardamom will transfer you to one of the many beautiful spice plantations of the country such as the Cardamom Hills between Kerala and Tamil Nadu” he elaborates. See the full videos with step-by-step instructions here: lamb biryani.

Dessert: Sweet temptation from Europe

Last but not least, there is always room for desert. In fact some chefs even claim the dessert is the most important part of a menu. Udo Leick, Emirates German Chef introduces Emirates’ recipe of sweet crepes with apple compot. This dish is known by many different names in Germany/Switzerland. The sweet pan dish is very popular among all age groups, and can be served both as the main course or dessert. “Together with the delicious apple, cream cheese and raisin filling the taste will immediately take you to a cozy café in Paris or a chalet on a mountain-top in Southern Germany/Switzerland.” See the full video with step-by-step instructions here.

Gourmet Menus

These international dishes, as well as many other multi-course gourmet menus, are taken from Emirate’ recipe books. Additionally, recipes are always adapted to the respective destination country and cooked with local ingredients. Each year, more than 110 million meals from 12,450 different recipes are served on board Emirates’ restaurant in the sky. The same attention to detail is given in First, Business and Economy Class. The airline’s chefs focus on simple, well cooked dishes that emphasise fresh ingredients of the highest quality and are changed on a monthly basis.

Additionally, Emirates has a partnership with 25 South African wineries. A selection of 50 different South African wines have been enjoyed by global travellers onboard Emirates flights. Some of the South African wineries served onboard include Ken Forrester, Porseleinberg, Klein Constantia, Waterkloof and Boekenhoutskloof, just to mention a few.

The airline also serves proudly South African inspired dishes. For example, Rooibos cured salmon, lamb bunny chow, mossbolletjies bread, fillet of ostrich, Stellenbosch Red Verjus sauce with smoked ostrich lardons and a scrumptious cajun and paprika chicken breast roasted, Rooibos tea jus, a wide selection of cheeses and Malva pudding on various South African routes.

More on Youtube

The Emirates Food Channel is available on Youtube. The channel gives customers a behind-the-scenes look at how it creates its onboard menus and works with its global partners. The episodes also showcase the detail that goes into menu development by Emirates chefs and ingredient sourcing for onboard meals.

Happy Cooking!

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