Hey everyone hope you're having an amazing day! It's Mark Wiens I'm in the Farasan Islands which is just off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea and this is a cultural Island The people are so hospitable, it's so friendly, and the food is delicious. Today we're going on a tour of Farasan islands and we're going to be touring around. We're gonna be eating some of the local food and trying some of the local Delicacies and then the Highlight for today is we're gonna go to a beach where some of the local community have gathered and they are going to prepare for us a local traditional Farazani style meal with fish cooked in a local Tandoor on the beach. It's going to be an incredible day, The food is going to be delicious and there's going to be a lot of fun culture and delicious food which is all coming up for you right now in this video Welcome to Farasan Island chain and it comprises of 266 Islands Here we are in the Red Sea Um, so we're in a very unique area.

it's a marine Sanctuary here and these islands are known for their unique culture. So we're off to explore and it's going to be a really interesting day here. Oh man, that's actually rarely drizzling and raining this morning as we arrive. I Mean we're in the main city here.

It's really nice and quiet and and peaceful. so hopefully the rain is going to clear because we have a big Seafood Barbecue on the beach for lunch today. But we're stopping first in the town for the local breakfast. Foreign Island And it's just like deep frying.

Paradise He has a number of different batters, a few different things going, that's that's like expertly drops into the oil and they just fry into golden crispy. Oh what a cool spot you have. A lot of people actually get delivery right out the window. It's like a drive-through Uh, but they're frying them hot and fresh.

The aroma of deep frying oil smells so good. Foreign. that's like a jet engine flame that they're using to keep that oil. It's so hot it's just so much pressure.

Some some flour with egg flour and water. Just they mix it together and if you want it sweet, you don't attack, just flour and water. Also, it's not sweet at all. Two kinds.

Okay, so if you wanted to throw it, uh, salt it or if you wanted to, Oh okay. okay. the flat ones are called my fish and the ball ones are called. okay.

let's try these flat ones first. Okay, the flavor of the oil is so tasty. Like thank you. Okay, I mean it's just like flour, egg, and water.

that's basically it and salt. Um, it has that nice kind of fluffy, almost like a deep fried pancake texture to it. Now this next one is the mafesh. Oh, this one has a little more of a seasoning to it and it has a sourness to it as well.

Oh, this one is really good. Oh I Really like the muffish the best. Simple but good and you can tell how it would go really well with tea or with coffee in the morning like a shavory fried donut. I like the other one the best though.

The muffin. oh man. Already loving this island. People are so friendly and hospitable and it's so peaceful and laid back and ottoman.

Who is our guide here already? Um I mean who's saying that this is a very common local breakfast food? Oh that was some serious deep frying action. It was so good. Foreign. about 25 to 13.

Okay, 25 to 30 000 people. Okay so next up we're at the market and I think it's like a melon. It looks like it has a really strong ripe ripened Aroma to it. maybe a type of musk melon and so this is common and in season.

He has a nice pile here and we're gonna try it. Try it right here at the market. If it's rainy like this it will grow. Okay okay okay yes sir.

here we go. First taste of the musk melon. It's coming up well. the local mountain.

Very good, very good again. hey again again. so sweet and so juicy. I'm so friendly here.

Okay it's just cold and refreshing. We need to have another piece. This one a big fresh slice of the melon. so juicier.

Last, Okay, okay yes. oh what a what a cool place with friendly people. Oh man and you can really feel that this is like a they got juice dripping down my chin but you can really feel that this is a like a Island laid-back lifestyle. Community Here people are just so welcoming and just like hanging out through the max.

So they are well known for seafood and for fish on this island surrounded by the Red Sea and uh, right now there's just some some of the small fishes that he is preparing for drying some of the fish uh which is also very common part of the local diet. and then I think later in the afternoon the fish auction takes place at the market as well. but I don't think we'll have time to see that but he's just oh look at those, the eggs and the rose sack. The market was fantastic.

We're on our way now to the beach just a little just a few minutes away. uh where we are gonna cook some of the local food for lunch today on the beach. a fishing folk song right as we arrived for the entrance to the beach and where we'll be cooking for lunch today. that was beautiful and just the Laughing water and the waves.

Okay okay oh that was beautiful and a warm welcome and we are setting up right here on the beach for the seafood. Feast The Farazan welcome in Hospitality This place is just so culturally rich. People are so hospitable and welcoming and the food so far has already been delicious. but I know the meal is gonna be just on another level.

You can tell Uncle here he is the the master of the the fish slicing and gutting and preparing the Fresh Catch of the Day you could just see how fresh these fish are. the eyeballs are just glistening and Shining one of them is definitely a grouper. looks like some Snapper definitely all local local fish from the Red Sea right here on Tarasan Islands I don't know. Oh what a scene here.

the seagulls are all just gathering for the innards and the Sun is starting to come out. Oh What A Beautiful Day This dish is a traditional dish and it's socially known that the for the first day after the wedding the family of the uh, the the bride and the groom they in the morning they eat this dish and it's gonna be prepared now. Okay so as we're waiting for the fire and the fish is still being cleaned oh yeah his uncle is still washing the fish over here but uh we're gonna get started on another traditional dish. Okay that's like a really kind of like sticky batter and you can smell the spices in it and it's really yellow, maybe from some of the spices in there and as soon as she drops those into the oil they're like Patty sized.

Then she just kind of like immediately start to to float and kind of swell up. Foreign. Foreign. Okay here we go.

First taste. oh that's the most fluffy dough you'll ever have. A show sponge you and um it has this amazing mix of salty and sweet. mm-hmm I mean it tastes like curry powder mixed with dough on the inside but then cinnamon sugar on the outside.

It's like a a curry cinnamon sugar donut. Almost. That is amazing. Oh that's such a unique blend that actually like complements each other so well.

This is with Auntie who prepared this what is it called I think I Just came across my favorite donut in the world that I've ever had. Let's check out this move. Uncle's move. He just wets his hand and then grabs burning embers with his hand.

That's experience. Oh man. I Think the oven is almost heated, the fish are about to go in. Oh come on hello I Want to move and then the cover goes on I Love these.

Just like one oven just moves, everything goes in and and the technique is that they burn all the wood and create a bed of coals so it's really really hot and that heats up the oven and then they take out like the Flames wait for it to burn down, Then they just like stock up everything in that oven and completely seal it so you're roasting your steaming and you're kind of like, um, baking everything all at the same time and then smoking. Everything is smoked as well. Yeah, so it's called the Tandoor here. Uh, which is you know like I mean variations of this are found all over.

Uh, but this is such a cool like portable Tandoor Style here within the Red Sea and there it is. everything is just gonna like I mean it's pretty cool because you just seal it up and once it's sealed, you just wait to see what happens. But they know exactly when to take it out so it's all perfectly cooked and not overcooked some money. Uh, next dish that she's making is called Sayadia.

It's a gonna be Fish and Rice But starting off by caramelizing some of the onions, so in the middle of cooking that Uncle just shows up with his fishing net. She desperately wants to show us how he casts the fishing net into the ocean. He's a I believe a former Fisher Oh he's so cool. Okay I think we're going straight to the ocean in between cooking the dish.

Foreign. Here's a man on a mission. no stopping. Uncle Mark Oh we got some seaweed.

Okay, that's the recipe for the saladilla, which is like a rice with fish but with spices. She adds in some tomato paste, she adds in a little packet of spices with cinnamon and I saw coriander seed and then some other seasonings. A whole pepper goes in and then that's gonna cook all together. So one of my favorite dishes in the Jazan region is this uh fish cooked with sesame oil and Tamarind and so she's getting ready to make one.

This is a dish that you'll find in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia and it's like sesame oil is one of the most loved one of the top oils that they use and it has to be cooked in a stone bowl and then the sesame oil has to be heated really hot until it starts to foam and bubble. And then she made a onion mixture with some of the spice mixture which I think that's like smells like a blend of spices like cumin, especially cumin and turmeric in there. Oh the fish goes in first. okay name of this dish Simpson so Mark Simpson and then that's gonna onions are about to go in.

oh all those onions and the Cuban Aroma all just bubbling with that sesame oil. foreign Cameron Cameron Okay so come on the tea is ready which was cooking over the Open Fire sweet tea. Okay so that that sesame oil fish is done so much foamy Bubbles and actually the she made a Tamarind mixture which is for another dish foreign foreign. A lot of cooking, so many different dishes and we are very close to getting ready to eat.

We're gonna take all the fish out of the oven. Foreign. Come on. the solution comes out of the oven.

It's such a simple preparation. There's no I mean other than Salt there's no seasoning on it. but it has such an incredible Aroma from the smoke and from the steam that it's been baking in. and those like lumpy like kind of like Blobs of bready dough which is such a cool process.

One of them is the sour bread which I love. and then we've got the fish. We've got all the different other dishes as well. There's it's going to be a feast.

The final component we need right before we start eating the The Mercy. the mashed banana pudding with bread and it's hand mashed as well, hand mashed fresh. There's a little little like bread crumbs on the bottom. plus the banana goes in.

Oh and the ghee. The ghee goes in foreign I think it's honey. Oh nice, very nice. Wow.

Not only are there so many different dishes but the style of serving everything just on the table. There's so many things and more things are coming all on a like arranged on the table and Community this is Ultimate Beachside Community eating in Parasan style foreign all sitting down for the feast. What an arrangement! We're starting with the Marsa Marsa which is again the bananas and bread. honey.

Oh and you're supposed to eat that with some of that salted fish. The sweet banana and honey with the Salted fish. Whoa, What a combination. like really sweet honey and banana plus salted fish in your mouth all at the same time.

All right. we're okay. Oh they were. we were.

This is the real way to eat. They said okay, much more comfortable. Yes, oh what a way to share a meal. What are we eating next to this fish? You can just start breaking into the fish.

This one is the grouper I think so this you just eat straight. Okay, so this is the this is my first bite of the fish. I think I got the grouper. Smoky Yes good, very good.

Smoky and steamed. but that technique of cooking the fish. They have to know exactly how many coals to add at the bottom for the right timing so it doesn't overcook and then push it in bench with that smoke because when they seal it all up, that kind of like extinguishes the fire but just lets it all smoke in there. Oh what a meal! Okay, this is some of the sour bread cooked in the fire which you can dip into anything.

Lots of sesame oil and lots of uh, onions in here. and then all of that like Masala Masala spices. Oh all the curry curry spices like cumin in there. Oh wow, that's amazing.

The onions just melt in your mouth. The flavor of the sesame oil and the fish and the what I love about that is all the spices, the coriander seed and the cumin in there. Wow this one is the salad. Yeah it's the fish with rice with tomatoes.

I'm gonna dig into this real fast. Oh it's so aromatic and so fragrant. Very good. This is so good.

Oh The Tamarind Oh with the bread. okay another move you have to make and look how it just takes on the shape of the charcoal and kind of roasts on that fire. I want that kind of crusty? Edge that is a Crusty Edge right there. Take some of the bread.

so this is the next dish with the fish and the Tamarind sauce. In fact just going for that sauce, the shower, tartness of the camera and the Tomato coming together that's so good. Oh what a meal! what a variety! Okay So we've got all the dishes to eat. what a table spread of food.

um got a few more dishes to try. gonna gonna dig in and what a feast on the beach an Islands What hospitality! That fish preparation is so unique and like like such a smoky taste. it's so good. Okay oh I'm going for a piece of the bread and one of my favorite sauces of jazzan is the helba which is a combination of spices into a like foamy sudsy paste.

such a unique taste with a bitterness and I think it's the texture also which is literally kind of like a sudsy and texture and just like foam. It's so awesome and it's so like such a unique flavor to go with all of this combination of dishes. What a meal! Oh and I love this bread. It has this like kind of like almost a fermented sourness to it.

The vegetable s that's like a melted vegetable medley. zucchini, tomatoes, onions in there and it's been cooked down until it just yeah literally dissolves in your mouth. Okay, here we go, we're still digging in. I Think probably that sesame oil with the onions and the Masala spices is my favorite dish of the whole.

that's so tasty. Um and that shower bread just absorbs all the flavor. What about this one? One more dish we forgot about the Black Eyed Peas Just simple but like stewed down black eyed peas and potatoes in there I think light spices, everything is fantastic and I love just this. decoration is just impressive And this location, the hospitality.

Yes yes yes, we're going in for the helper. so that's something you eat with almost every meal here the hilba is available. It's like one of the flavors of Jazan moving around the table. What I saw Uncle doing is like squeezing it into a box and then you dip in, dip into the fish and the tamarind.

Superb. Okay oh man, and the seagulls are out! What a meal! What just a memory that will be here on the Red Sea Farasan Island The hospitality the friendliness that was an ultimate Saudi Arabian Red Sea Feast on the beach and thank you to Chef Abdul thank you to Chef Halima for cooking the local, Specialties for our guide Utram for bringing us here and our uncle who showed us how to do so many things and then also to Abdullah for arranging into the ministry of Tourism in Saudi Arabia for arranging this. uh what a fantastic day! From here we just go straight back to the pier where we're gonna take the boat back to Jezan the city. Um so that's gonna complete our time here but what a memorable experience.

One of the most memorable days in Saudi Arabia And ah I Love the food and the hospitality is such a cool place. a special cultural destination. I Want to say a big thank you to you for watching this video. Please remember to give it a thumbs up if you enjoyed it.

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