The vendors kept busy straightening rows and stacks of fish, and, when they saw us passing, trying to come up with ways to get us to stop and chat. Usually this involved handing us a recently-deceased sea creature to hold. In the northeast corner of the souk, there’s a small section devoted to a mind-boggling array of dried fish products. There are tiny dried shrimp smaller than a fingernail all the way up to massive sheets of ochre fish the size of my entire lower body, all hung in the sun and stacked or piled high in a barrel. Whole fish, fillets, just the heads, tails, and some ground to a powder; it’s all here. At the east end of the market, there is a fish cleaning station where rows of men stand, carefully and incredibly quickly zipping off scales and rinsing out fish innards. (This side of the market also holds butchers—goat heads or lamb brains, anyone?)

If you’re like me, even all this raw fish will whet the appetite. Outside the market, on the northeast corner, is an outbuilding holding the most important part of an early morning fish market tour: breakfast. Grill & Shark Restaurant may or may not have a menu, and it may or may not grill food that may or may not include sharks. Our point-and-look hopeful methods yielded a “fish” (squid) curry and a “vegetable” (chickpea) curry, accompanied by rounds of light, flaky paratha. In total, a visit to Dubai’s fish market will take you about an hour including breakfast. If you’re jet-lagged, you’ll probably be ready for a nap, and if you’re on a layover, this may help you sleep the rest of the way. And if you’re sticking around Dubai and have a kitchen, don’t forget to buy some of the bounty of sea creatures for a meal later—after 6:30 a.m. (once most of the wholesalers are long gone) the market is open for anyone to shop.

Transfer tomatoes to a medium bowl and discard drained liquid. Add cucumber, lemon juice, and parsley to tomatoes. Season Israeli salad with salt to taste and mix well.

In a medium bowl, toss cabbage with vinegar and season with salt.

In each pita pocket, smear 3 tablespoons (45ml) of hummus in an even layer. Layer 2 to 3 slices fried eggplant on top of each. Drizzle each with 1 tablespoon (15ml) tahini sauce, then top with sliced eggs, Israeli pickles, and remaining tahini sauce. Spoon some of the Israeli salad and seasoned cabbage into each pita, drizzle with amba, and serve.

Special equipment
Fine-mesh strainer

Notes
Amba, a sauce made from pickled mango, and Israeli pickles, which are spicier and more tart than American bread-and-butter pickles, are available from international and Israeli grocers and online.

Meanwhile, heat 1/4 inch oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Working in batches if necessary, fry eggplant slices, rotating for even browning and turning once halfway through, until golden on both sides and tender throughout, about 5 minutes; lower heat if oil begins to smoke. Transfer eggplant to a paper towel–lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Salting the diced tomato drains off excess water, concentrating the flavor and improving the texture.
Sprinkling the fried eggplant with salt while it’s still hot ensures that it will adhere.
Falafel may get all the attention, but the sabich, another popular Tel Aviv snack food, has won my heart. Filled with moist slices of fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, a generous layer of creamy hummus, crunchy Israeli pickles, and Israeli salad, and drizzled with tahini sauce and amba, a pickled-mango sauce, it’s all you could want in any sandwich, and more.

Ingredients
2 plum tomatoes (7 ounces; 200g), cored and diced
Kosher salt
Olive oil or vegetable oil, for frying
3/4 pound Italian eggplant (about 1 medium eggplant; 350g), sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1/2 large seedless cucumber (7 ounces; 200g), diced
2 tablespoons (30ml) fresh juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley
1/4 cored head cabbage (7 ounces; 200g), thinly shredded
2 tablespoons (30ml) white wine vinegar
4 fresh rounds pita bread, warmed and split just enough to form a pocket
3/4 cup homemade or store-bought hummus (6 ounces; 170g)
1/2 cup (120ml) homemade or store-bought tahini sauce (note that tahini and tahini sauce are different products)
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
Israeli pickles, for serving (see note)
Amba sauce, for serving (see note)

Directions
Place tomatoes in a fine-mesh strainer set over a bowl and toss with a generous pinch of salt. Let stand 30 minutes.

Everybody knows the classic 30-minute recipe, but what if I told you there was such a thing as a 15-minute recipe?!

The shrimp is about a five-minute grill, and the couscous is a five-minute cook. Even if you do them separately you are looking at a 10-minute project, but if you do them in tandem it is so fast.

Of course, my main issue isn’t time, but if my kids will eat this. Shrimp is notoriously tricky for kiddos. Check out the report card below to see how mine did with it. Let’s dive in!
WHAT ARE THE BEST SKEWERS FOR GRILLING SHRIMP?
There are two options when it comes to skewers: metal and bamboo. Metal are nice because they don’t burn, but they also let the shrimp rotate and are harder to manage. Personally, I like bamboo skewers for quick-cooking dishes like this. Just soak them briefly in water and they work great for shrimp.

IS THIS EASY TO SCALE UP FOR A COOKOUT?
Absolutely! Cook as many pounds of shrimp as you want. They cook so fast that you can feed a huge crowd with this recipe in just a few minutes! It’s a great backyard BBQ recipe, assuming that someday we will get to have parties again.

Sand mussels contain very useful minerals, but they are not included in Turkish cuisine. It is being exported from Turkey but is not consumed much in the domestic market. However, much more private and aromatic taste of the mussels we eat in Turkey var.çocuklug Uskudar in the past, 5th generation seafood and fish of my life indispensable as one of Istanbul. You may not remember the images of the past, but wherever you go in the world, scents and flavors come with you. I still can’t forget the tastes of sea fish I ate in my childhood. My father always brought to our house which fish to eat and when. We never had frozen fish. It’s time to get up, it’s time for bluefish, bluefish … I love both fishing and eating. In fact, when I was working at an Italian restaurant while studying in London, I would have been dying to weed it while everyone was running away from sorting the shrimp. Why is that? Because the smell of fish and seafood always reminds me of my childhood, homeland, family and where I came from.

Fate brought me to Italy. When I was from Istanbul, my way went to Italy, unaccounted for. I have been in Italy for a long time. Although it is Mediterranean, there are differences between Turkish and Italian cuisines. It is much easier to find seafood other than fish fresh in Italy. In fish markets, there are various sea shells, various shrimps, oysters, octopuses. Especially in southern Italy, Napoli is very rich in this regard. You can always find fresh seafood. The fish market of Naples is somewhat reminiscent of the Istanbul fish markets of my childhood. However, it is possible to find more varieties than shellfish here, too. When the sea and Italian spaghetti or linguine are combined, a delicious taste comes out. Spaghetti alle Vongole Verace (Spaghetti with clams), a little smaller Spaghetti con lupini di mare, is indispensable for Naples cuisine. Moreover, it is very practical to make.

The beauty of its taste comes from its simplicity and freshness. You can prepare it for lunch on Sundays. Even though the Neapolitan fish vendors don’t say ‘Big Sister’ like the ones in Istanbul, they are very cheerful and sincere like in our markets.

Everybody knows the classic 30-minute recipe, but what if I told you there was such a thing as a 15-minute recipe?!

The shrimp is about a five-minute grill, and the couscous is a five-minute cook. Even if you do them separately you are looking at a 10-minute project, but if you do them in tandem it is so fast. Let’s dive in!

Of course, my main issue isn’t time, but if my kids will eat this. Shrimp is notoriously tricky for kiddos. Check out the report card below to see how mine did with it. Let’s dive in!
IS THIS EASY TO SCALE UP FOR A COOKOUT?
Absolutely! Cook as many pounds of shrimp as you want. They cook so fast that you can feed a huge crowd with this recipe in just a few minutes! It’s a great backyard BBQ recipe, assuming that someday we will get to have parties again.

To be honest, it’s kind of personal preference here, but I like to use large shrimp for this dish. These usually come in around 35ish shrimp per pound, which means you can get six skewers with about six shrimp per skewer.

I wouldn’t go smaller than that on the shrimp or they will overcook on the grill. If you go larger, just do fewer shrimp per skewer. For dishes like this, I like to grill peeled shrimp so you can slide them from the skewer onto the plate!

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR GRILLING SHRIMP
The main trick to grilling shrimp is to cook it on high heat for a short time. You want to get a quick sear on them and they are done. If you overcook them they will get rubbery.

To prevent your shrimp from sticking to the grill, rub the hot grill grates with oil right before you add the shrimp.
Grill shrimp over direct heat, or if you’re using a gas grill, medium-high to high heat (375°F-450°F).
For large shrimp, you only need about two minutes per side for nice and juicy shrimp.