Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in Algasa which is the world's biggest Oasis located in Saudi Arabia and today we are going on an ultimate food tour of Alcasa. We'll be having local breakfast. We'll be walking around the Spice Market and the bazaari and then the Highlight. For today we're meeting up with Chef Fahad who is going to cook us a traditional meal from alcasa within a date palm.

Farm It's going to be an incredible experience to learn about the local food and all the ingredients that go into it, tell me how it stays, and to learn about the beautiful culture from alcasa. so stay tuned. It's going to be an incredible day in Saudi Arabia and I Cannot wait to share all of the culture and all of the delicious food with you coming up right now! Good morning! Mark Welcome to Al-hasa Thank you very much thank you very much! This is the east side of Saudi Arabia It's near Qatar Bahrain so we have really, really tradition food here and this is one of the oldest restaurant and oldest meal that served in Alhasa. and you're gonna see a different way Here they are.

You're very welcome. So we're starting off bright and early this morning for breakfast. So I mean the Oasis is so big that there's multiple cities within the Oasis and Villages Thank you! Okay, it's kind of lamb. It's served with original Alhasa bread.

This bread only make an Al-hasa It's make with the dates. Yeah, so but in the kitchen here they have like the big pots going with lamb feet. I think there's some lamp heads as well and they scoop it up into your bowl and then as one of the unique things here is the actual bread made with dates. okay let's go eat.

this is with bread on it already and the other one I told him they're not mix it up. Yeah so you get to see the Brew There's many cultures that have lamb pit or heads and feet. Yeah it's actually a very common breakfast but this is I think one of the unique things here is especially that date this bread right. That's something that's unique.

So we've got two different versions. one is the with the bread on the bottom and then they put the soup in a kind of like the bread absorbs and then we've got the feet on the side as well. squeezed lemon so you can see how tender it is. the bones are just actually completely smoothed the meat just Falls up it's so tender and I'm especially oh it's just full of our tender.

but I want to try that bread first just fully absorbed. How is it that's meaty? Yep it's like hearty and fatty and just jiggly. mm-hmm when you taste the sweetness of the dates from the the bread but not overpowering just like with the bread with the bread and you just go for it. some of that collagen the skin and then again mix it with that that bread all together in one bite.

It is so like so tender. it just melts in your mouth. all of the collagen, all the fat, the skin has just been cooked down until it's just wobbly in your mouth. I Like that bread a lot too.

It's really tasty. Um, do you get it The marrow? plus the the juice that has just been absorbed into the center of the bone? oh foot mirror. Oh so so like meaty. Oh man, what a way to start the day? Yes.

Okay, there we go, The gotra all right now. we're ready to go today. so we're off now to walk around the souk. This is the oldest market place and many people come from around the world.

um and from around the GCC from a Gulf region to go shopping here for spices for many things and it's been a ancient marketplace so we're gonna walk around a little bit, see some of the the things that they have here and maybe have some tea. One of the most famous thing about Al-hasa the bisht. You see the princess, the king, the minister must wear something like that. The people from Alcasa is very well known for tailoring, right? Yep, and foreign.

Okay, okay we're stopping for a local coffee shop within the souk. Um just to have a little bit more breakfast especially Ying is having some eggs. um and then we're gonna have some Saudi coffee this is like special this is called. it's a kind of sweet noodles with salty eggs omelette with some of the noodles sweet with an amazing fragrance of cardamom in there and then you've got the texture of the noodles plus the hot omelette just kind of all melts together.

this is called this is special Okay So we've got a Saudi coffee which is again like a light roast almost like Green Beans Coffee uh brewed along with cardamom and saffron and it's just so aromatic I love the aroma of the the cardamom well it's such a like soothing beverage and then eaten along with al-hasa dates and Ahasa dates are some of the most famous dates in all of Saudi Arabia There's something like two and a half million date palm trees within this Oasis So they produce unbelievable amount of dates every year and these dates you could just see how oily and how sweet they are. Oh oh that date is unbelievable. sweet and syrupy and it goes perfectly together with the coffee this is we're gonna make some of it. this is come from Iraq this one this is more easy to cook and it's really good.

It doesn't give you a lot of Cornish thank you Oh we're just walking through the the soup now and we're moving on to the spice souk section where you find all of the ingredients that make up the cuisine of alcasa from bay leaves to Cinnamon to a variety of nuts and all the spices. the turmeric, the dried lemons. It's just an abundance of the the colorful spices that go into the cuisine. Is it dry fish we call it SAS and it's been eaten like this right away.

Or it's grounded to powder and we use it in one dish. we call it Wadma. We only eat it when it's cold. If you eat it in summer you will go to the hospital.

It is too strong. It's too hot to the stomach so it's gonna be cold weather to eat it. This is al-hasa Lemon Lime the green one. It's different than everywhere else.

It's really strong, really smelly. It's like 10 times more and we squeeze it by hand, remove the seed and we leave it in the sun for about a year. So the Sun make the constration here. it is really strong.

You cannot drink it. you cannot. but you can add to water and drink it. It's good for the stomach.

it's good for Wow. Yeah and you know the this is a dry Ginger Yeah, Ginger and this is dry turmeric. All right. Okay yeah, this is Arabic Blue and simple.

So many spices and such a variety. And I Love this whole mixed platter of spices. You can see the coriander seed like cumin, maybe the fennel, the bay leaves, the cinnamon in there, the dried turmeric, but such an abundance of spices. There's pepper in there, there's dried flowers, there's Arabic gum for the incense, there's dried turmeric and the dried uh Ginger But these are some of the spices that have just been traded in this area for centuries.

Um, this has been a Crossroads of trade and a place to where spices are introduced and where have just like mingled into the culture. Okay so we're stepping into a brochure where they roast coffee here. They started cool 1957. this is like way old 40 years before I burned yeah since 1957 his father.

Okay the starter of this place and it's been here forever. This is the Uh Saudi coffee and Al has a virgin. the Saudi coffee al-hasa variety and so what? what? All does it include cardamom, Zephyrus? Is it a fungus or no, no a flower. It's kind of flower.

Yeah Oh okay okay then Ginger is included in the in the Saudi coffee. especially from oh wow okay I have no idea and ginger and clothes and clothes. so it's like way more than just coffee. I Mean it's a it's a spice blend.

This is the Royal Yemeni coffee. This is the most expensive one. This is not roasted like once. it's this is once it's prepared.

Yeah and there is different level of roasted like lightly half and half and heavy roasted. Yeah see this is a little more roasted. Of course we gotta taste test the coffee where they roast it. Where the oh no, that's so good before they roast it.

where they mix the spices, grind everything fresh. Um and in Saudi Arabia coffee I mean it's so much more than a beverage. It's a huge part of the hospitality, the culture, the greeting um and I Just love that blend of spices. so soothing and full of spice.

Oh it's so good. Thank you! So next up we are visiting a local rice farm and to see especially the local rice Harvest from Al Casa and this is the rice. This is the Harvest but they did not go to the final product yet. Can you tell me that the type of rice again the Hasawi rice and it's specifically from and it only grows here only grow Hui And we happen to be here during the season the harvest season so hopefully we're gonna have a chance to see the rice.

Harvest Oh you have some flowers here though. it's here so they put it in the machine and take it out of the Shelf but this is a hard to do by hand so must be Machinery to do see. this is the seat. Okay so this is the the rice that's already been cut and then it will dry and then they'll be remove the husks.

It's just amazing to be in the middle of the desert and yet it's so Lush and so fertile because of the natural water that comes from the ground here. After the hour visit, they leave it for 10 days when it's really dry. they collect it in a pile like this and they pile everything here and the top of this plastic. but then they separate the seed.

Then the hay and the hay go to the animal. They feed the animal with the hate or like they burn it for a warm purpose. After they do this, they leave it and the outside for eight months to one year. Ah, then they take it.

Then yeah, then they call Georgia. That's mean they're like uh, grounded. smash it a little bit. Okay, so they remove the husk.

the husk. Okay, okay so that's the full rice process of this special grain rice that's native and that's uh, highly prized and alcasa and it's very nutritious as well. It's so cool to see the rice Harvest and production in We are continuing on to the next place. We're on our way to Fahad's farm in the date palms and they're gonna cook for us some of the local Specialties from El Paso some of the local dishes.

That's really going to be the highlight of today. So here we are on the farm. Oh this place is beautiful. Yes nice to meet you, nice to meet you.

That's mean the one root that have two palm tree together like this. This is the name. even the place had the name from the palm and it's mentioned the Holy Quran also. so is that rare to have that? It is very okay rare.

Yeah okay and the place been set by uh my friend and uh colleague Omar Alosvor to benefit the city. especially the food. you know. So that's why he called me to run it out.

and we have every kind of activity you can imagine and all about the tradition. So we're gonna start from very beginning. Okay first thing we'll do is take a little tour and walk around the farm. This is the name of the place and one in the top and this is the the real story about Alhasa.

This car. It's the most known car ever in Al-hasa It's a Chevy Caprice Oh this place is absolutely gorgeous and this is a cultural like a heritage site. preserving the cultures and the traditions of Al-hasa and how everything revolves around date palm trees and how the culture just reflects that. and so here.

I mean there's cooking, places to sit and relax. you can learn about date palms. It's like a full immersion into the alcasa culture that has I mean the ancient culture that has been around for so many years and the farming and the cultivation. So it's kind of like a museum at the same time.

it's just so incredibly peaceful. I Mean this. This is what you think of when you think of an oasis and this is an oasis and it's an entire group of you yeah, who are aiming to preserve the cultural heritage and food? Yes! so it's oh so all the ingredients are ready. We're about to get started cooking, we are ready and we have a lot of dishes and not even everything is here.

So we have Hasawi rice. This is the rice that only grow in Al-hasa and this is the gradient we covered because of the fly. It came with lamb meat uh any, you know the rest it's vinegar, ground lime. this is the black line, grounded and mixed spices.

That's the wheat. one broke only this is two broke, this is one broke and this is the whole thing. and 11. or yogurt, some garlic, some onion.

In general, we took our time. We give every part of the food. it's time to cook so he put the onion and stay with the onion for a while till it's caramelized. then move to the next step.

So it's a long process but at the end you're gonna eat something amazing. We usually did not use the pressure cooker but it's gonna take a long time to cook. Okay, thank you. So they're getting started on all the dishes all at once.

all the different Aromas coming out. Um that lamb dish. Oh that's gonna be with the little gold rice, The aroma of the spices just sauteed down and then over on this side of the kitchen. He's getting started on that dessert with the fresh date palm syrup.

This is one of the most used ghee or butter in Hasawi kitchen. A photo. that's how we rise. It's not like other rice, you didn't see it like every piece of rice by itself but like the usual Saudi Cook no this one.

it's like sticky together. So this is the way it's served. like this. Oh man, that dessert is so interesting with all the date syrup and then he whisks it with water.

He adds in some of the melted ghee and then there's another bubbling pan of melted ghee with some dates tossed in. Then black pepper goes into the dessert because this dish is only winter dish. If you eat it, you're gonna get hot from inside out. I Mean we had for breakfast already that traditional bread from Al-hasa This bread is famous here.

I Mean it's a special type of bread because it includes dates within the dough and so we're also gonna have that for lunch as well and so they rolls it out and then just slaps it into the Tandoor My mom made it so I'm gonna use it for the duration. It's mixed spices we put in this thing so it does not go all the way in the cooking. Okay yeah okay okay right now with the Jewish thank you. we're gonna remove the foam.

So this way so the flower didn't get chocolate. Oh man so that's where that that's with that date syrup melted down and then flour. you got to keep on stirring it so that and then let that flour go in so that it like probably like evenly goes throughout the mixture. thank you.

It's so fragrant and that you just smell the the aroma of that date syrup and then like when it's cooking you just that Aroma comes out all right foreign so all of those meat and spices they're tenderized now uh one goes in with the wheat and the other one with the local rice from al-hasa foreign some butter to start our last dish in bad leg the onion. it's main thing in Hassan and has a dish and our way to cook it till it's brown if it's not brown something Missy hello it's hot Fahad said this will be the best date I ever eat in my life. It's just straight up yes money on it I bet on it so well it's so it's been. um it's an alcohol date that's been boiled in ghee for how long? exactly? maybe 45 minutes, 45 minutes.

Yeah and so you can see like the sugar starts to come out of the date right and then caramelizes yeah in the clarified melted butter. okay tell me how it's taste. oh wow I told you that is I've never had a date like that before. Yep oh it's just saturated with the with the ghee the salty sweetness yeah oh that's good that is that is unbelievable.

It's like a date sponge of ghee just like gushes with the ghee and the saltiness from the ghee and then the sweetness of the date that is unbelievable. Okay this room you know they should have did not take a lot of time. So yes yes this is the dry black lemon Ade the small ones for the salad and so okay Okay it's done. So now we add the secret ingredient that's Laban or yogurt or valino.

So the Laban or the yogurt give it that uh saltiness and sour and taste two kind of flour. the wheat flour and the all-purpose flour and the yeast sold caves, cilantro and green onion. This is the mean thing. two eggs, turmeric and black pepper and mixed and water.

This is one cup and we're gonna see if we need more. We're gonna add foreign now. we're gonna open on the Harissa that one I Started early this morning. We're gonna remove some of the Cornish to make soup.

You can add some meat to it if you want to. Uh this is the lime I told you about. This is from our house. We leave it in the sun for about a year.

Yes, this is rice or wheat. This is wheat. Okay, we usually remove the meat on the plate and add it a little by little. This Is How We Do It Okay and so it's finally, almost everything is done.

As you're dishing it out, we're about to start eating. We're gonna remove this so it does not break and we lose the taste. This is like with shrimp with rubion. Okay so all the food is almost ready but they said you gotta, you gotta eat this while it's hot and fresh because it's better when it's hot.

It sees like deep fried fritters with so many spices and the leeks and the green onions but then dipped and then glazed in date syrup. So it's kind of a dessert but Savory at the same time. Hmm oh oh that's incredible. It's like yeah it's like a curry donut but with the sweetness of the date syrup, the savoriness of the green onions and the the leek and the spices.

Wow. The ultimate salty and sweet in your mouth at once. Okay so then one of the things that you'll notice is that ghee is very important in the food. The local food of alcasa.

almost every single dish includes ghee and then almost every single dish is finished with ghee at the end like drizzled or some of them even have a like a puddle a little Dugout hole with ghee in the center. Okay so all of the food is ready and okay God is going to explain. where do I start? Oh yeah okay Beautiful. This is the muffalette with the shrimp.

We cooked it and we serve it with um that's the ghee and eggs. this is the Girish It's the same seed but this is smaller than this one so it's both made with wheat right? Three things with wheat. Okay okay so Harisa, Jerisha and Falak jirisha basically with the soft meat like um the the meat that's in the sides of the lamb and the haris, the made with the beef and long chunk of beef and all serve with the dinner. That's the special ghee we make and the master of the Masters the hasawi rice that the one can only find in Alhasa.

So Ali cooked it with meat also lamb meat and vegetable mainly the egg plans and so all of these dishes are traditional from al-hasa Oh yeah and they're traditional dishes that you would. Yup you would mainly find yeah different from other parts of. yep and we did not talk about. Oh yeah it's the main dessert in Winter Even if you like it, you cannot eat it in summer.

it's so strong it's gonna give you like warm from inside out. Okay it's cooked basically with the flour wheat flour. That's it. That's the game.

Oh I Can't wait to start eating. Yeah thank you thank you thank you thank you. We're gonna start with the phallic, some of the onion, onion, tomato and put it on cilantro. Put it on here lemon and lime.

Also some of the egg. oh yeah yeah, make sure that you have a shrimp and yes on this first bite yeah okay here we go the first bite oh it's so good with the the fragrance of the the dry lemon in there is what really like like gives it that acidity. then with the freshness of the onions the the ghee the wheat. oh it's so good.

Okay we'll try the next dish. this is the Jerisha yeah just cooked with the soft meat of lamb and this is the this big chocolate. bigger chunks of wheat. yeah okay soft lamb the wheat.

It's almost like porridge. Style It's so sticky and so hearty and so like Rich yeah and so like if you taste the flavor of that ghee. oh man that's good. The the lamb has just sort of started to melt.

it's so tender and make it like dissolve into that wheat paste. Yeah I'm glad we like it. oh it's so good and it's a little bit spicy. yeah yeah you can taste the yeah there's the flavor of the pepper.

yeah okay next dish it's like a it looks like a volcano oh yeah in the center. oh must you cannot swallow it with them. Yeah believe me because it's so sticky. So this is the the wheat with the beef with beef.

okay so yeah baby. long slice of beef but then it's cooked like it's cooked for so long that everything starts to melt and then when you prepare it that's the dish that he really like whipped up and really stirred to like. Make sure all that gluten releases until it turns like a gluey paste. almost.

Oh yeah wow. it's like so sticky it is. It's like a gum see like a gum cheesy pizza. You dip it into the ghee.

Yep, you must dip it. They're so like pasty. yeah yeah, like a dough almost. um.

But then with the strands of the beef in it and the Gigi is kind of like a I mean it adds flavor but also it adds like an oily texture to it, like it kind of slides around in your mouth a little bit. Man, these dishes are just so rich and so hearty. This is the Harisu so this is the same ingredients as the Harish but it wasn't It wasn't from the face and then you added the uh yes okay just add a little water and lemon. See how is the yeah it's like caramel, yeah the milk skin.

but yeah it is from the wheat. It's such a complexity of lemon. I Mean it's been brewing in the Sun for a year? Yeah and that just magnifies the the flavor of that lemon juice. Wow! The next main dish.

this is one I'm very excited to try because we we saw the rice Harvest this morning. Yeah and then this is also a rice green that's only available in Alhasa and named it's called yeah Timber So good. So we've So good. Like the lamb melts in your mouth, everything is tender and then the I Love that Rice it's just absorbed all of the Lamb yeah and all of the spices, the the turmeric and the in there.

that's what you can taste as a fenugreek. Everything is has a unique flavor and then everything is like a really like amazing mixture of things. like all cooked in one pot. I Think that's what stands out to me.

Oh nothing. That dish is absolutely amazing with the sourness of the the onions and the tomatoes and the coriander in there pairing with that wheat and the shrimp. Oh it's so good. The lamb just melts in your mouth again that fenugreek.

and the rice which is just absorbed. that's like the main seasoning spice that you can taste. Gotta try that pepper. Hmm it's so sweet and juicy.

It's one of my favorite dishes. That dried lemon is just that flavor does not count. One day it's not enough. I Swear to God So next time I Want you with your family.

Thank you thank you whole family! Oh to be an hour on place you choose the time it's yours. Thank you! Come and enjoy and we'll take you on a tour every day. Thank you around the whole East Coast I Don't know. um we're here every day So for dessert we've moved into the tent with the fire with traditional Saudi coffee and we're gonna have it.

Yeah it's full with black pepper and ghee. Yeah so this took like hours to make with it. Starting with that date palm syrup and then adding in water and then adding in flour and then just getting that texture right, adding ghee and adding more ghee until it's the perfect like sticky texture and then black pepper on the top and a puddle of ghee as well. Wow oh it's so sticky and the black pepper on top is like gives it some spice.

It's not too sweet actually because it's only coming from that date serum. It's not only day, it's like mildly mildly sweet, that pepper that really adds on a nice kick to it. And then of course the Saudi coffee which just oh it's always good. What a way to end this day sitting by the fire, drinking Saudi coffee with the dessert and just hanging out in the tent with the fire.

Oh man and what a meal! Learning about the unique dishes and the food of Al Casa in Saudi Arabia the spices and the dried lemons and the dates that go into the cuisine and life here has always revolved around the date palms and the palm trees and that's also reflected in the cuisine. The food is so rich and so hearty. I mean eating is about Community It's about spending time with others here. And yeah, today has been an extremely memorable day here in Al-hasa Thank you to Fahad and the entire group of chefs who are aiming to preserve.

The Culinary Heritage of Alhasa, this is the world's largest Oasis with such a unique culture and I will have Fahad He does make you two videos he makes does social media about the food in Alhasa. so I'll have his Link in the description box below that you should definitely check him out. He's just such a nice guy, so hospitable and so that's going to be it for this video. I Want to say a huge thank you for watching? Please remember to give this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.

Leave a comment below I'd love to hear from you and if you're not already subscribed, make sure you subscribe now for lots more food and travel videos. and also stay tuned for this entire Saudi Arabia Series where we are traveling around eating some of the local. Cuisine It's been an amazing trip and thank you to the ministry of Tourism here in Saudi Arabia for arranging it and that's going to be it. Thanks again for watching! See you on the next video Foreign.