This past month I spent 8 days in Sana'a, the capital city of Yemen, learning to cook with women in their homes. In the mornings we would go to the market and wade through cages of squawking chickens and mountains of vegetables to buy our ingredients and spend the afternoon preparing countless breads, pastries, soups and traditional dishes.

It was inspiring to watch these women cooking and turning out so many delicious things with the most modest equipment and a gaggle of children dangling from their limbs as they worked.

In between bouts of cooking and eating we spent our time going to the hammam, getting our hands and feet painted with traditional naksh, and calling in on neighbours for 'ladies parties' of tea, pipe smoking and chewing khat leaves. It was incredibly fun and a fascinating opportunity to see women without their traditional dark veils relaxing, chatting and having fun.

Yemeni food is quite different from other Middle Eastern cuisines and in some cases shares an affinity with the food of Ethiopia and Somalia. Here are three of the many delicious things that I learned to make during my magical week there.