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Dubai Food - RARE Camel Platter - WHOLE Camel w/ Rice + Eggs - Traditional Emirati Cuisine in UAE!

 

Dubai Food - RARE Camel Platter - WHOLE Camel w/ Rice + Eggs - Traditional Emirati Cuisine in UAE!


- What you're about to witness is an ultra traditional
and rare Emirati meal.
An ancient tradition since the early days of civilization,
one that we were incredibly lucky to experience.
That being said, this is a tradition
that may be sensitive or controversial
to some viewers.
So if you feel uncomfortable, please close this video.
All right, check it out, guys.
It's Trevor James.
We are in Dubai, I'm hanging out with my buddy, Peyman.
You can check out his YouTube channel
in the description below.
And today is a super special occasion.
We're going for a whole camel.
- It's gonna be amazing.
Trevor, welcome to Dubai.
This is like the ultimate welcome meal,
It's tribal, it's traditional and I hope you enjoy it.
- Can't wait, let's go check it out.
This is it, Dubai.
Home to the world famous Emiratic cuisine
and the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.
And when our friend, Peyman invited us out
to experience this once in a lifetime entire camel meal
and an opportunity to share with the world
an ancient tradition since the dawn of time.
We decided to come and check it out.
And knowing the historical importance of the skin,
milk and meat of the camel, being an important part
for the survival of the Bedouin people,
it made us wanna see this tradition
in the modern world even more.
Nowadays is prepared using camel's raise
in a nearby desert for exclusive guess
and special occasions.
Awesome, so this is it right here.
- So this is it, it's called Zaman Awal.
- Zaman Awal?
- Zaman Awal and Zaman means time, Awal means first.
So this is kind of like, olden time.
So this is basically a Bedouin tribal, cultural meal.
- Okay. - It's very, very
traditional soup.
- Awesome!
Let's go try it out, guys.
Thank you.
Here we go.
- So this is--
- Okay, here we go.
- [Peyman] How are you?
- [Trevor] Hi.
- [Peyman] My friend Trevor.
- Nice to meet you.
Thank you for having us.
Hey, how are you?
- It's huge!
- Whoa!
Here we go.
So they've been preparing it overnight so we're seeing
an entire camel that's been marinated.
Whoa!
Look at that.
If you're wondering how we could eat all of these,
a communal meal usually eaten by 20 or more people.
It was all decided upon as per tradition,
that the restaurant would give us as the guest,
the first taste.
After which the entire staff of about 20 who rarely
get to eat any camels that they cook joined in.
After which, the restaurant donated the rest
to a non-profit charity who gives food to people in need.
But first, we had to help with the marination process.
- So look at this.
- So tamarind, turmeric, cumin.
- [Chef] Chili, chili.
- Chili.
Oh, chili. - Green chili is like that.
And also the local masala so those are the local spices.
They usually have them in a mix and they put 'em on top.
And we're gonna be putting a second coat of that local
masala over the top.
Look at that masala we've got here, guys.
You can smell the tomato, the chili,
all those spices, the cumin.
Beautiful.
- So this is, I want you to have a quick smell of this.
- Ooh!
Wow.
You can smell all the cumin.
- Yeah, absolutely. - Yeah.
- [Chef] Local ghee.
- Local ghee?
Ooh!
- This is animal fat, right? - That is potent ghee.
- This is called samen over here.
- Oh, samen! - Samen, huh?
So they call it samen, this local, local oil.
- Oh, lentil!
- So you know the stuffing, the actual stuffing.
So you probably have split peas over there,
you have cashew nuts, you've got raisins in there
and you would put this inside the camel
or on the rice?
On the top. - On the top.
Saffron, and we're gonna be putting this on top
of the camel, all over top?
- [Chef] I mean, very good smell.
- [Trevor] Very good.
- Already you finished putting or now you would put it?
(speaks in foreign language)
- Okay, sprinkle the saffron on top.
Wow, look at that.
Oh, look at all the cardamom.
After this, the pot was loaded up with water and steamed.
There it is.
And it is on the flame.
- So amazing and all of this is being done
by the team over here.
So the chefs, so chef Azis over here.
Chef Umbakar.
- Thank you so much for having us.
- Thank you, thank you so much and the guys
are originally from Kerala, from south of India.
- Kerala.
(speaks foreign language)
And you guys have been here for more than 20 years?
- Yeah, yeah, more than 24 year, him 28 year.
- So you guys are from Dubai, you're not from India anymore.
This is your home.
- Same small, same small come here.
- So Trevor, you won't find a lot of chefs in the country
that can cook Emirati food so when you have people
that cook Emirati food well, this is gold.
- This is golden and we're so lucky to be here today.
Thank you for having us.
We're gonna wait a couple more hours and have a feast.
Thank you, thank you.
And after waiting six hours for the steaming camel,
it was time to plate the camel and eat.
Look at that beautiful camel.
Whoa!
That is a lot of camel meat.
Wow!
Look at that!
There it is, guys.
The entire roast, steamed camel.
And look at that, the meat all
just got so succulent and soft.
That is so much meat.
- [Peyman] So look at that, now, he's putting the stuffing
all the way.
So normally, you would have that stuffing in the middle
of the stomach of the lamb, right?
But now, he's just pouring the stuffing all over the rice.
So that's split peas, there's lentils, it's cashew nuts,
it's raisin and obviously, it's got spices.
- Oh, an egg!
Look at the eggs on there.
Oh, and the liver.
The liver goes on top.
Whoa!
That is a huge, huge.
Let's turn it this way.
Whoa, look at that!
It's all here so we just watched them put everything on.
So we've got all of that masala on the camel meat.
What else are we seeing here?
- You're seeing all the stuffing.
And the stuffing is split peas, it's got lentils,
cashew nuts, raisins and of course spices
on top of that as well. - Yeah!
- Saffron. - Saffron.
You instantly smell that rich masala,
that Emirati masala.
It's just amazing.
- Oh, this is fantastic. - Thank you, chef.
Thank you!
- Oh, look what's coming here!
- And this is the ghee.
- So this is the ghee which is getting poured on top.
So you know people over here like their food nice!
Which means oily.
- Heavy!
Oh, look at that, that's pure ghee.
Here we go, guys.
- [Peyman] So, basically we've got,
look, the entire restaurant needs to work on this meal.
Think about it, right?
- [Trevor] Yeah.
- [Peyman] There's like 17 or 18 people over here,
setting everything up.
- [Trevor] Setting this beautiful meal out for us.
- [Peyman] And there's no better place than this center.
- Absolutely beautiful, unbelievable.
(speaking in foreign language)
This is the moment we have been waiting for.
Just look at this giant, giant plate
platter full of camel meat.
You can see, it's just covered with spices and that aroma
coming off of this is insane.
And this is the hump right here, right?
- [Peyman] That is.
- [Trevor] So we've got the hump, we've got boiled eggs,
they've put a ton of saffron and that camel meat
is just wafting the masala flavor.
- [Peyman] So with this kind of meal, you basically
there's more meat than there is rice on purpose
so you eat a lot more meat.
So basically take yourself a piece of meat.
- [Trevor] Oh wow, so soft!
- [Peyman] Look at that, and the fat
has lots of spices on it.
So it's customary for the host
to give the meat to the guest.
- [Trevor] Okay.
- [Peyman] So I'll normally pick at it
and put some good meat in front of it.
- [Trevor] Oh, thank you!
- [Peyman] So we'll start with that.
- [Trevor] Amazing.
- [Peyman] And I'll get myself a piece and actually,
this is a great piece for you to have.
It's from the inside that's still hot.
And it's good, you can get a piece of that.
Look at those strands, look at that, super nice.
- Perfect strands of meat.
- Let's get some of this rice. - Okay.
- And make sure you get a lot of that
hashu sort of stuffing.
I want you to get everything so the cashew nuts,
the split peas, the raisins, all of it.
So, get that.
- [Trevor] Get it all together?
Into a mound?
- [Peyman] Into a mound, yeah.
So something like this, like that.
- [Trevor] Just squeeze it into a ball.
Oh, and there's all those curry leaves and spices in there.
Squeeze it into a ball.
- [Peyman] Squeeze it into a ball like that
and then straight into the mouth.
- [Trevor] You can see all the saffron in there.
- [Peyman] So get yourself maybe a little bit more rice.
- [Trevor] A little more rice and cashew.
- [Peyman] 'Cause the rice will allow you to actually
turn it into a ball.
- [Trevor] Look at that!
That's pure beauty right there.
- And use your thumb, just scoop it straight
into the mouth.
- Oh wow!
That is purely amazing.
That rice with this mixture here.
- [Peyman] So we call the hashu.
- [Trevor] Hashu.
- [Peyman] An hashu is basically,
it's the word for stuffing.
- [Trevor] Stuffing.
Wow, the rice with the stuffing is actually almost
a little sweet.
It tastes almost like some berries or something in there.
- [Peyman] It's the raisin in there.
- [Trevor] The raisin and you got the cashews,
that nutty fattiness from the cashews, all the spice,
the cilantro and when you mix it with that
super tender camel meat.
- [Peyman] And I'm gonna give you a little bit
of camel meat on top of that.
- [Trevor] Thank you.
Look at that and just squeeze it together.
That is the definition of happiness right there.
- This is amazing and this is.
- That's so tender!
- This is good as if you have lamb like roasted, right?
- It really tastes just like almost a lamb meat.
Maybe a bit more deserty that you can feel
it's from the desert in a way but it's absolutely tender.
Almost like a lamb.
- Almost like a lamb. - Yeah.
- [Peyman] I think 90% of people wouldn't be able to tell
that this is a camel versus lamb, I think.
- It's very similar to lamb, tender, super soft,
fatty, it's got a bit of that strong.
Almost lamb-like flavor and incredible.
- [Peyman] And I have to tell you, Trevor, this meal
was done in true tribal style.
When I called Mr. Hamad Harab, the owner of this restaurant
and I said a friend of mine is coming to town
and we would like to serve him camel.
He said, say no more.
- [Trevor] Really?
In true tribal style, what happens is any guess
of anybody within the tribe is the guess of everybody.
- It's a true privilege to be here.
- [Peyman] It is our pleasure.
- So this is it, the hump.
How do you eat this?
Oh!
Oh, wow!
- Wow, that fat like melts.
- Wow!
- It's almost like butter.
- That is really beautiful. - Pure butter, right?
- It almost tastes like the fat from lamb
when it's on the grill on the barbecue with cumin
except upgraded fragrance level.
That is so fragrant.
It's like a buttery, lamb fat, upgraded extreme.
This was honestly the most unique food experience
we've ever had.
Special thanks to Zaman Awal restaurant for putting
this on and to Peyman who invited us out.
And after all the staff feasted,
the remaining camel was packed up and brought
to a local charity to give to people in need
so that no camel was wasted and to help
as many people as possible.
What an amazing day, thank you Peyman.
I am stuffed.
- Me too. - Incredible experience.
You guys gotta check out Peyman's YouTube channel.
I'm gonna leave a link in the description
and pin comment below.
Go subscribe, he's got a ton of cool content
and what an amazing experience that was.
- Thank you so much for being here.
I'm taking the credit for bringing
The Food Ranger to Dubai.
That's it, thank you so much. - Well, it was amazing.
Thank you so much, buddy.
- Pleasure, awesome.

Saudi Arabia & Iran’s cold war|

 

Saudi Arabia & Iran’s cold war

Let’s talk about how the cold war between Saudi Arabia and Iran is running hot.
These two really don’t like each other.

They’ve been going at it in one way or another for a long time now.
So why can’t Iran and Saudi Arabia get along?
What’s this modern-day cold war mean for the rest of us?
And what do other countries like the US and Russia have to do with it?
Saudi Arabia and Iran are undisputed heavyweights in the Middle East and when one of them lands a punch we all feel it.
Some say it’s a fight for regional dominance — political and economic.
Others say they’re challenging each other to be seen as the leader of the Muslim world
even though most Muslims don’t live in the Middle East.
They each represent a different sect: Sunni in Saudi Arabia, Shia in Iran.
Saudi Arabia is home to Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam.
The Saudis also host the Hajj pilgrimage.
So that gives them power and standing.
The kingdom’s dominant form of Sunni Islam is Wahhabism, which is a strict and orthodox interpretation.
Its followers consider the Shia heretics.
Both the Saudis and the Iranians, though, are accused of exploiting those religious divisions.
One example is what happened a few years back.
About 10%–15% of the Saudi population is Shia. They often say they’re oppressed.
And in 2016 a well-known Shia leader and critic of the Saudi monarchy Nimr al-Nimr was executed.
His crimes included terrorism.
Iran condemned his killing and a crowd set the Saudi embassy on fire.
What they’re really competing for though is influence.
And the Iranians seem to have the upper hand when it comes to military alliances in the region.
In Lebanon there’s Hezbollah, a militia with a political wing funded by Iran.
Hamas in the Gaza Strip also gets Iranian support.
In Syria and Iraq there are forces backed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
And there’s a reason why Iran’s taken that approach.
It just doesn’t have as big an army as the US and Saudi Arabia.
You might have heard the name Qassem Soleimani.
He was the Iranian general credited with developing Iran’s guerilla-style operations abroad.
The Americans assassinated him a year ago.
So let’s bring back that map. Where are the Saudis?
Well one place they’re in is Yemen, fighting Houthi rebels who as it turns out are also backed by Iran.
And the war in Yemen has really heated up the Saudi-Iran rivalry.
The Houthis attacked Saudi oil facilities.
And there’ve been explosions on oil tankers.
Iran’s been blamed but they deny being involved.
And what happens in those shipping lanes of the Gulf and Red Sea is felt by everyone because it affects the price of oil.
Iran has made some other powerful friends — like Russia and China.
They’re investing a lot in Iran in its ports and military and doing business at a time when Iran’s economy has been under sanctions.
The Saudis have plenty of friends, too — countries in the Gulf, Sudan, Egypt — even Israel to some extent.
Their trump card, though, is the US.
They both can’t stand Iran. But that wasn’t always the case.
Back in the ’50s Iran and the US bonded over a coup that got rid of Iran’s prime minister and strengthened the monarchy under the shah.
Some say that’s when Saudi Arabia began seeing Iran as a competitor.
But then the Islamic revolution happened.
The shah was replaced by a powerful Shia cleric, Ayatollah Khomeini.
And the balance of power in the region tilted away from the Americans.
Their relationship only got worse from there. Iranian students took 52 Americans hostage at the US embassy in Tehran.
And don’t forget Iraq invaded Iran with Saudi and American help.
But where the Iranians failed to hang on to their American friends the Saudis succeeded despite some serious strains.
Like how the Saudis didn’t back the US invasion of Iraq.
How 15 of the hijackers behind the 9/11 attacks were Saudi.
And how the Saudi crown prince was linked to the dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
So how did the alliance survive?
Well it might have something to do with the Saudis buying more weapons from the US than anyone else.
The United States is also Saudi Arabia’s second largest trading partner. And the Americans buy a lot of Saudi oil.
And then there’s Iran’s nuclear programme.
The Saudis are worried about Iran’s potential to build a bomb.
So the kingdom’s building its own nuclear research facilities and has been accused of buying atomic weapons from Pakistan — something they both deny.
And remember the Iran nuclear deal.
Well it was about countries like the US and Russia as well as the EU monitoring Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
But Saudi Arabia felt it didn’t go far enough. The US under President Donald Trump felt the same.
He pulled out of the deal in 2018.
Now, though, Joe Biden is expected to try to patch things up with Iran and renegotiate.
The Saudis aren’t impressed. Neither are the Israelis.
And in November the man seen as the father of Iran’s nuclear programme was assassinated.
Iran blamed Israel, which neither confirmed nor denied it was involved.
So you’d think that with such an intense rivalry Saudi Arabia and Iran would have gone to war already.
But neither side seems to want that.
What’s kind of surprising is Saudi Arabia and Iran actually have stuff in common.
They’re big oil exporters, they say they’re champions of the Palestinian cause and they both want to modernise their economies.
Those are good starting points to work together. But right now they’re in deep.
We hope that was a useful primer to understanding what’s going on between Saudi Arabia and Iran.


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