- 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.