You can spend hours in the kitchen preparing a gourmet meal, but if you do not deliver a hefty meat dish all your efforts are shrugged off as futile.
Traditional dishes that are served for formal occasions and feasts include big juicy chunks of lamb or mutton, generally served with rice. Lamb is classified by age and spring lamb, three to four months old, is slaughtered to mark special occasions when its blood is often smeared over a doorstep or a corner stone as a sign of blessing and to ward off the evil eye.
As every slaughter has more or less the character of a sacrifice, great importance is attached to the fact that the blood from a slaughtered animal shall flow over the ground so that later it may be seen that an animal has been killed.
Seger, Granquist
For those who ignore such lore for more hedonistic delights, roasted spring lamb is the ultimate experience in gourmet dining.
Yearling mutton, between one and two years old, is preferred by many for its stronger flavour.
Because of its tenderness and fine texture, lamb is also a favourite for barbecues. Once summer has set in, barbecues are quite the thing for less formal entertaining; indeed, from May until late September, many balconies, terraces and patios are animated with the bustle of families and friends congregating around enticing displays of mezze and hot grills. The best that a restaurant can offer will pale next to the array of salads and variety of meats served for a mechoui at home.
A Syrian-Lebanese import, this dish has been adopted by Palestinians for generations and we have come to believe it is quite our own!
This recipe comes from my mother’s kitchen and she had learned how to do it from her Syrian aunt, Marie, a star cook in the Damascus bourgeois milieu, whom I remember very vividly, particularly in relation to this dish.
She lived on the third floor of an apartment building after having moved from a large independent house in a residential area of Damascus. Every time she wanted to prepare kubbeh was an occasion for an emotional outburst and a great deal of flurry. She would point at an ancient-looking stone trough sitting in the kitchen corner with a thick wooden pestle leaning inertly on the inside wall and lament over how it had fallen into disuse because of ‘them’, and she would in turn point vigorously to the floor below. Marie recalled in endless frustration the days when she could beat the kubbeh at any hour of the day, at four in the morning if she chose to, without the neighbours pestering her. It had taken quite a few months and quite a few arguments before she was persuaded to invest in a manual meat chopper and, ten years later, she was still unable to come to terms with it. And when everyone gathered around the table to enjoy the kubbeh, she wanted continual reassurances that after all, it did come out all right, although it could have been much tastier, and one had to make do with so many inconveniences these days.
Baked pan kubbeh is my favourite, but it can also be prepared as individual balls and deep-fried. Either way, it is not advisable to use lamb in the preparation: the shell will crumble in the pan and if you are serving qras, it will not be cohesive enough to hold the stuffing. You can indulge your taste for lamb in the stuffing, and your kubbeh will have a more interesting edge.
For the shell
½ kg (1 lb 2 oz) lean beef trimmed and cut in chunks for mincing
½ kg (1 lb 2 oz) fine burghol, or cracked wheat
2 onions
2 tsp salt
¾ tsp pepper
½ tsp allspice
For the stuffing
300 g (11 oz) minced lamb
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
3–4 tbs oil
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
⅓ tsp allspice
50 g (2 oz) pine nuts and 1 tbs oil
Wash the burghol and soak it in water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile peel the onions, wash them and cut them in four. Drain the burghol and squeeze it a handful at a time in order to get rid of the water. In a food processor, put small quantities of the meat, the burghol and onions and grind them to a fine paste. You can add the seasoning in the process. Knead the whole lot together and set aside covered with a clean cloth.
Peel the onion and garlic and chop them separately. It is possible to crush the garlic to get it really fine. In a medium-sized pan fry the onion in the hot oil for 3 minutes stirring constantly, then add the garlic and fry until they just about start turning gold in colour. Add the meat and mix it with the onion and garlic, and fry it while stirring constantly until it turns brown. Mix in the salt and spices; cover the pan and leave to cook for another 5 minutes.
Heat 1 tablespoonful of oil in a small frying pan and add the pine nuts. Fry them on a low heat until they turn golden then add them to the meat. It is always wise to watch pine nuts as they can burn very quickly.
For pan kubbeh, divide the meat paste in two and spread half in a greased 30 cm (12 in) oven pan, making sure to spread it evenly. Spread the stuffing over the surface and cover with the rest of the paste. Take a small quantity at a time and flatten it between the palms of your hands then place it over the stuffing, repeating with the rest of the paste. Spread it firmly and evenly over the whole surface up to the edges of the pan.
With a sharp knife, cut through the layers in straight lines and across to form diamond shapes. Have a bowl of iced water at hand to dip the knife in to prevent it from sticking. As the meat paste is quite thick and tight, this procedure helps for even and faster cooking and will prevent the meat from getting dry. Pour a stream of oil (at least a cup) over the surface.
Put the pan in a preheated hot oven (220° C/425° F/Gas mark 7) and cook, covered with aluminum foil, for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes or until the edges draw away from the sides of the pan.
Serve immediately with m’tabbal or a salad of aubergines with yoghurt.
Kubbeh balls are the perfect finger food for a buffet dinner or a stand-up reception, and their success depends on dexterity and patience.
With your left hand take a small quantity of the meat dough – the size of an egg – and using the index of your right hand push a hole through it. Synchronise the delicate movement of your finger with the palm of your left hand to shape it into an evenly hollow oblong shell. Spoon a tablespoonful of the stuffing inside and with your thumb, index and middle finger, close it to form an oblong ball. It is very important not to press the shell on the stuffing.
Half fill a deep pan with oil and put it on a high heat then fry the kubbeh, no more than five at a time until they turn golden brown. Do not turn them until you are sure they are done on one side, and be careful not to pierce them or break them. Serve very hot.
After experimenting with a variety of pans, I find that an old-fashioned aluminum pan is best for baking.
Have a small bowl of iced water at hand in which you can dip your finger if the paste sticks to your fingers during the shaping of the balls or while you are spreading it in the pan.
To make sure that the oil is heated to the desired temperature, it is the custom to fry first a small piece of bread until it turns golden brown.
From the cafés you can smell the charcoal scent of cooking kebabs and the hot, sweet odour of Turkish coffee.
William Dalrymple, From the Holy Mountain
The best cut for lamb kebab is the loin or the leg. Ultimately however, you have to rely on your butcher who knows the quality and age of the lamb he serves best. Palestinian butchers will avoid trimming the fat from the meat and, if you are not fastidious about fat consumption, they will generously add a small piece of pure lamb fat. Another consideration is the mincing process; ideally the meat is chopped to a fine texture by hand, and as very few butchers will take the time to fulfil such a request, they will pass the meat four times through the mincing machine, using the wide-hole blade.
You will always find a restaurant that prepares kebab the traditional way, and the best ones are usually outside the common circuit frequented by visitors and tourists, with shabby front windows in the heart of the souks and market places.
As a health conscious and calorie conscious cook, I have developed my own version of preparing kebab by substituting olive oil for the animal fat, which gives me the exact same softness of texture and, with the right seasoning, no one has been the wiser.
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) minced lamb meat, preferably trimmed of most of the fat
8 garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh chopped parsley
¾ tsp pepper
½ tsp allspice
A dash of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves
1¾ tsp mixed spices
1 hot pepper
1½ tsp salt
50 g (2 oz) pine nuts
3 tbs olive oil
Chop the garlic and parsley in a food processor. Chop the pine nuts on a low speed for a few seconds, making sure not to crush them to a paste. Add the garlic, parsley, pine nuts, spices and the olive oil to the meat and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Shape into oblong patties around the skewers and grill for a few minutes on both sides over hot charcoal. You can alternate the kebabs with small onions and cherry tomatoes.
Giant shawerma skewers adorn the shopfronts of restaurants in every downtown area. The fast food of the Middle East has gained favour in many cities around the world where ethnic food is popular. Giant skewers of thin layers of lamb and fat in the shape of an inverted cone rotate in front of vertical sources of fire slowly grilling the outer layer of meat, which is gradually slivered upon demand for the passers-by. It has become quite fashionable to have a shawerma stand installed in the garden for a party, although the cost is somewhat prohibitive. I have devised my own way of serving delicious juicy shawerma while cutting down on the saturated fat that comes with the commercial version. I use trimmed lamb or a nice cut from the fillet of beef, which cooks quickly and remains juicy. The rest of the secret is very simple: stir-fry your meat in a wok!
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) beef or lamb
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp allspice
¼ tsp each nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon and a dash of cardamom
¼ tsp gum arabic
3 tbs lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
1 small grated onion
For the Tahineh sauce
½ cup tahineh
1½ tsp vinegar
3 tbs lemon juice
1¼ tsp salt
⅓ tsp white pepper
⅓–½ cup water
Cut the meat in very thin long slivers and put it in a glass bowl. Pulverise the grains of gum arabic by mixing them with a dash of salt and crushing them with a pestle and mortar. Add to the rest of the ingredients, mix well and add to the meat. Refrigerate for a few hours tightly covered until 30 minutes before cooking time.
Put the wok on the largest burner on high and add the meat. Fry it while stirring quickly until it is browned. Serve immediately in kmaj sandwiches or on a hot serving plate. Sprinkle with tahineh sauce and/or a mixture of slivered onions sprinkled with sumak and chopped parsley.
Mix the tahineh with the vinegar and the lemon juice until you get a thick, whitish paste. Add the water slowly and keep on stirring until you get the sauce to the desired thickness. Add the salt and pepper and serve.
Kiftah can be prepared with beef or mutton. It is advisable to use beef if you plan to fry them instead of baking them, or you can mix the two kinds of meat. However, there are always the purists who will only consume mutton, even for frying. It often happens that I encounter people at the butcher’s who will ask him to add a chunk of fat to the meat before mincing it. I personally go for beef alone and use olive oil for the fat and for extra flavour.
1 kg (2 lb 4 oz) minced beef
6 garlic cloves
One small bunch of parsley, about half a cup, chopped
1½ tsp salt, or according to taste
½ tsp pepper
⅓ tsp allspice
A dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg
½ cup vegetable oil
In a food processor, chop the garlic and parsley, then add the salt and spices and chop some more. Add to the meat in a large glass container and mix thoroughly, using a wooden spoon. Taking small quantities at a time, form into small hamburger shaped patties and set aside to fry. It is possible to refrigerate tightly covered for no more than three hours before frying them.
In a deep pan, heat the oil and fry the kiftah a few at a time, making sure to turn them only when the lower side is totally browned. Serve immediately.
Kiftah is a favourite, especially accompanied with French fries and traditional tahineh salad. It is also delicious in warmed kmaj with a small quantity of the salad. Kmaj is a flat round hollow bread ideal for sandwiches with a difference: it can ‘pocket’ runny salads very well!
To avoid frying, it is possible to broil the kiftah alone or with tomatoes or vine leaves. It never fails to gratify the greedy and even the less greedy.
Whether lamb or mutton chops, they are succulent to the last morsel over a grill fire. The following recipe can be used for the preparation of shanks of lamb, cut up into cubes for the skewer, or use for braised brisket.
2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) lamb chops, trimmed of fat
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1½ tsp allspice
¼ cup olive oil
Mix the crushed garlic, salt, spices and olive oil and massage the mixture into the chops two to three hours before grilling.
You can serve the chops with a selection of salads, with moussaka‘a or any vegetable dish of your choice.
A dish that is both economical and substantial. It feeds a large family economically as a relatively small amount of kiftah goes a long way. The following recipe is enough for six hungry adult mouths and the combination of meat, vegetables and tahineh make it the epitome of healthy nutrition. If you are partial to lamb, you can prepare lamb kiftah or mix half lamb and half beef.
For the kiftah
800 g (1 lb 14 oz) minced beef
6 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp pepper
1 small bunch of parsley (20 g/1 oz), about half a cup, chopped
1¼ tsp salt, or according to taste
⅓ tsp allspice
A dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg
3 tbs vegetable oil
For the tajen
600 g (1 lb 6 oz) potatoes
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) aubergines (about one large rihawi type)
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) marrows
4–5 medium tomatoes (about 500 g/1 lb 2 oz)
1 medium onion (about 100 g/4 oz)
For the sauce
¾ cup tahineh
¼ cup lemon juice
1½ cups water
Prepare the kiftah by mixing the meat, the crushed garlic, the chopped parsley, the spices and oil and shaping the mixture into round or oblong patties (about 20 patties). Set aside.
Soak the tomatoes in boiling water for a few minutes to make them easier to peel. Wash, peel and cut the vegetables, including the tomatoes, into coarse cubes. Slice the onion into thin slivers and add to the vegetables. Season with the salt and spices and transfer to a large oven-proof pan. Add the kiftah at regular intervals, cover with an aluminium foil and bake in a preheated oven (220° C/ 425° F/Gas mark 7) for one hour.
Meanwhile prepare the tahineh sauce by mixing the tahineh with the lemon juice and the water until you get a smooth runny sauce. Cook in a saucepan over low heat on the stove for a few minutes while stirring constantly. Let it simmer for 3 to 4 minutes then add to the cooked meat and vegetables, mixing it thoroughly with the juices. Bake another 15 minutes in the oven, uncovered, and serve very hot.
Serve it accompanied by a simple green salad; many families serve it with vermicelli or plain rice.
800 g minced beef or a mixture of half beef, half mutton
3 onions
8 garlic cloves
¼ cup olive oil
1½–2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1½ tsp mixture
80 g (3 oz) pine nuts
1 tbs olive oil
Peel the onions and garlic and chop them separately. It is possible to crush the garlic to get it really fine. In a medium-size pan heat the oil and add the onions, fry them for a few minutes on a high heat, stirring constantly, and when they become soft add the garlic. Keep on stirring until the onions and garlic just start turning golden then add the meat and mix thoroughly. Brown the meat and make sure to stir it often so it does not stick. If you think it is necessary, add a small amount of oil. When the meat is totally browned, mix in the salt and spices, cover the pan and leave to cook for 10 to 15 minutes or until all liquid from the meat evaporates.
Heat 1 tablespoonful of oil in a small frying pan and add the pine nuts. Fry them on low heat until they turn golden then add them to the meat. Pine nuts are very tricky and can burn very quickly; that is why it is always safer to fry them separately and on low heat.
This hashweh can add an interesting dimension to a plain omelette or to hummos. Added to moussaka‘a, it becomes a dish worthy of a special occasion. It is a basic stuffing for many vegetable dishes as well as for sambousek, pastry stuffed with meat or cheese.
I learnt how to make a pot roast Armenian-style from a soft-spoken elegant lady who lives in a suburb of Jerusalem. It is thanks to her that I learnt to cook some of the Armenian recipes in this book. As I sit with Shoshana Hagopian on her front verandah, quietly sipping tea and delicately nibbling on a scrumptious home-made chocolate cake, she repeats to me for the umpteenth time how Armenians will always keep their nationalistic spirit, no matter where they are or where they go. Still, she regrets that so many have left Jerusalem and so many young ones are seriously considering leaving, especially for the United States where so many of their kin are well established.
1.5 kg (3 lbs 4 oz) beef for pot roast
2 carrots, peeled and cut into thin sticks
6 garlic cloves, whole
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 large onion, whole
60–80 g (about 3 oz) butter
1 cup red wine
Insert the blade of a knife in two or three places at both ends of the meat, sticking it in deep enough to insert the carrot sticks inside. Season the carrots with salt and pepper and insert the sticks in the deep holes, together with the garlic.
In a heavy pan, melt the butter on a high heat and fry the meat until it is browned on all sides. Add the onion, some salt and pepper to taste, and a cup of dry red table wine. Bring to the boil uncovered and leave to cook until reduced by half. Add enough hot water to cover and simmer for one hour, depending on the cut and the way you like it done.
Serve with plaki and fresh steamed vegetables and a green salad on the side.
A yearling makes this dish both special and quite extravagant and it therefore needs a special occasion. I cooked it for French cousins from Burgundy, great connoisseurs of food and wine, who were visiting Bethlehem while I was working on this book, and they were so delighted with the dish that they had seconds and smothered the accompanying rice with the sauce.
A leg of lamb about 2.5 kg (5–6 lb)
4 garlic cloves
A handful of rosemary leaves
2 tsp salt
2 tsp spice mixture
½ cup olive oil (80 ml)
Preheat oven to 240° C /475° F/Gas mark 9.
Put the leg of lamb, largely trimmed of its fat, into an oven-proof tray and put in the very hot oven to sear for 30 minutes, turning it over once.
Meanwhile put the garlic, rosemary, salt, spices and olive oil into the food processor and mix at high speed for one minute. When the meat is seared, baste it with the mixture on one side and put it back in the oven, which you lower to 220° C/4250 F/ Gas mark 7, basting again, 15 minutes later. After another 15 minutes, turn the meat over and baste the other side twice at 15 minute intervals. Cover the meat with foil and let it cook for another hour. Transfer the meat to a serving dish and the sauce into a bowl and serve immediately with plain rice and steamed vegetables.
Kiftah mixture (see recipe p.124)
20–25 vine leaves, preferably betuni
2 tomatoes
½ cup olive oil
Prepare the kiftah as indicated in the recipe above, mixing in half the quantity of oil. Taking a small quantity at a time, shape into thick short ‘cigars’, 2 cm (1 in) in diameter and 5 cm (2 in) long; set them aside while you prepare the vine leaves.
Wash the vine leaves and put them in a deep stainless steel container; pour boiling water on them until they are covered. Leave them to soak for 5 minutes then let them drain for a few minutes. In a similar way leave the tomatoes for a few minutes in boiling water, then remove the skin and set aside.
Using a wooden board or a worktop, spread the vine leaves out, one at a time, with the larger end towards you. Put one kiftah on that end and close the leaf around it starting with the sides and rolling towards the other end. Put the rolled kiftah in a greased oven pan.
Once you have finished, slice the tomatoes and place them over the kiftah; sprinkle with a dash of salt and the rest of the olive oil. Bake in a hot oven (250°C/450°F/Gas mark 8) for 40–50 minutes.
This dish can be served with a variety of steamed vegetables or French fries. For a more special meal, add a plate of tahineh salad.
