A-N-A-T-O-M-I-Z-E: Traditional Bahraini Breakfast

By Raul Dias

I’m greeted with an emphatic “namaste!” at the first place I stop at, while “kaise ho?” is what I’m asked at the second. It’s a mere three hours into my first visit to the 33-island archipelago in the Persian Gulf known as Bahrain and I can see India referenced almost everywhere I go. But then the Manama Souq—which is where I am—is no stranger to Indian culture and in this case, food.
Fronted by the impressive Bab Al Bahrain or ‘Gateway to Bahrain’, this heaving marketplace is the
nation’s capital Manama’s nerve center; as it has been for years. It is also where centuries of trade ties
with India—mainly involving pearls and spices—have been fostered and nurtured. It’s early in the
morning and a traditional Bahraini breakfast is what I’m craving for after hearing about it from my friend and de facto Bahrain guide Zahra.
Settling down at a local coffee house with our tall, frosted mugs of saffron sherbet in front of us, I wait in anticipation for the promised breakfast bonanza to unfold. And what a feast it turns out to be! We begin with the breads, where an unusually fishy taste in one of them intrigues my palate. It turns out to be the mihyawa which is a roomali roti-like folded bread that’s sprinkled with fish sauce. Next, I tear into the khubooz which is a Persian bread that is very popular in Bahrain. I use this to scoop up the spicy, tangy bayd—a dead ringer for the Parsi scrambled eggs dish we know as akuri.
With the unusual twinning of salty cheese and apricot jam at its core, the triangular shaped, donut-like stuffed zinjubari maintains a fine balance between its sweet and savoury components. It’s the perfect foil to the two kinds of luba I try next. Essentially a tangy beans’ stew, the first iteration is made with broad beans and cheese, while the other with red beans and tomato sauce was not at all dissimilar to a spice-bereft rajma back home.
Simly called aloo, the cumin redolent sautéed potato dish, I am told, is an out and out knock-off of India’s ubiquitous zeera aloo. Another one of the breads intrigues me and it’s the pau. A fusion of a classic Bambaiyya vada pav and a Kutchi dabeli, this mashed potato-stuffed sandwich is even anointed with a garnish of crunchy sev noodles and pomegranate seeds!
Speaking of noodles, the last dish in my Bahraini breakfast procession is balaleet which is another sweet-savoury aberration. This one sees saffron-saturated vermicelli noodles cooked in ghee and sugar, crowned with a fluffy, savoury egg omelette that adds not just a contrasting texture, but an unusually yummy flavour when mixed with the sweet noodles.
From sweet with savoury and Bahraini with Indian, fusion was never this fabulous. Trust me!

(This column first appeared in the 17th September 2017 issue of The Hindu newspaper's Sunday Magazine section on page 8 http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/the-bahraini-breakfast/article19697500.ece)