Miami-based chef and restaurateur Yaniv Cohen is known as "The Spice Detective," and he has a food blog of the same name. He grew up in Israel in a Sephardic Jewish family of Middle Eastern and North African heritage and he says his fascination with herbs and spices started early in life.
"Our little apartment in Kiryat Malachi, in the southern district of Israel, always smelled of fresh garlic, cumin, paprika, coriander, caraway, cilantro and onions, so you can pretty much say I was born into the magnificent world of spices," Cohen writes in the introduction of his first cookbook, "My Spiced Kitchen." Each of the book's 15 chapters focus on a spice (or spice mix) that is essential to Middle Eastern cuisine, and Cohen shares 70 of his favorite recipes that make good use of those spices.
He says that his mother, grandmother and aunts all make different versions of this rice dish from the chapter on turmeric _ and it's always a crowd pleaser.
