French - middle eastern cuisine equivalences

I have been eating and cooking here long enough that I gathered a few tricks or equivalences between our cuisines. Basically what I will list are ingredients in french cuisine that if swapped with their middle eastern "equivalent" will definitely give a middle eastern taste to your dish:

- lettuce -> cucumber (typical salad has finely chopped cucumber and tomatoes as the base)
- vinegar -> lemon juice
- butter/oil -> olive oil
- sour cream -> tehina (sezame sauce, goes very well with meat by ex. in sinia)
- pepper -> cinamon (can mix with some nutmeg too, generally dishes here are not hot)
- chilli -> paprika (on chicken or humus by ex.)
- beef -> lamb
- pork -> chicken
- parsley -> coriander or mint
- pasta -> rice

If you just try these swaps on simple everyday french dishes you'll discover interresting oriental tastes and it actually works for pretty much all the dishes using these ingredients. Obviously if you're coming from the middle east you can try to reverse it :).