Fried or Broiled Kibbeh KIBBEH QRASS MASHWIEH or MAQLIEH There are various sorts of kibbeh, and here is another favorite. Sometimes this kibbeh is molded into two pieces stuffed with lumps of lard, formed like a tea cup and broiled over charcoal on the grill which Lebanese call a manqal, or made into one round piece like a biscuit and fried. Prepare a recipe of basic kibbeh and one of stuffing as described in Kibbeh bi Ssanieh. Or, work a cup of lard with salt, pepper and cinnamon for the stuffing material. Form kibbeh into balls the size of a walnut. Smooth the meat ball with fingers dipped in cold water. With the thumb, form a hole in the meatball. Fill it with half a teaspoon of the meat stuffing, push meat into place, closing the opening, and pat the meatball into an egg shape. Fry in hot fat. Or stuff with the same quantity of seasoned lard and broil in the oven or over charcoal fire. If they are broiled, they are usually dipped in sizzling fat just before serving. This is the Syrian way. They are often served with a salad, laban or with the cucumber-laban mixture called Laban bi khyaar. Kibbeh in a Tray KIBBEH BI SSANIEH Grease a shallow 12 x 18 inch baking pan. Pat a layer of basic kibbeh smoothly and firmly over the bottom of the pan to the depth of one inch. Cover this evenly with with a layer of stuffing. Top with a second layer of kibbeh sligh~:ly thicker than the first. Score into diamond shapes with a sharp knife. Pour one cup melted samneh or butter over all. Bake in moderate oven about ~0 minutes, or until well browned. Serve hot or cold. Serves B persons. Stuffing: 1 cup ground meat 1 cup chopped onions -1- cup pine nuts 2 CUp cooking fat 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper -1- tsp. cinnamon (optional) Heat fat. Fry chopped onions in it until soft. Add meat and fry until lightly browned. Add pine nu~s and continue frying until they are slightly browned and the meat has lost its pink color entirely. Season with salt, pepper and cinnamon. Pour off excess fat. Kibbeh in Laban (yoghurt) KIBBEH BI LABAN Prepare one recipe of Kibbeh 'Orass Mashwieh and one of cooked laban. Form kibbeh into 18 balls the size of an egg. Boil one cup of rice until tender. Combine meat balls. rice, laban and half teaspoon each of crushed garlic, salt and dried mint ~.vhich have been fried lightly in samneh. Simmer gently first on medium fire and later on a low fire as the sauce thickens. Add salt to taste. Serve with rice. Serves 6. Meat Loaf in a Tray with Sauce KAFTA BI SSANIEH 1 Ib. Iamb 1 tsp. salt tsp. pepper cup finely chopped onions cup chopped parsley 1 cup tomato juice or diluted tomato paste Grind meat twice. Mix thoroughly with other ingredients. Butter a pie tin. Spread meat on the pan. Cover with a thin layer of tomato sauce. Bake in moderate oven until meat is done. Serve with potato salad and greens. Meat Loaf with Potatoes KAFTA U BATAATA BI SSANIEH For a one dish meal try this combination of meat loaf baked with sliced, boiled potatoes. Prepare meat as for Kafta in a Tray. Spread the meat on an oiled tin or baking pan. Cover with a layer of thickly sliced boiled potatoes topped with a layer of sliced tomatoes. Combine a cup of tomato juice with salt and pepper to taste and pour over the vegetables. Bake in a moderate oven until the meat is well cooked and the sauce has thickened like gravy. Fried Meat Patties KAFTA 'QRASS MAQLIEH Combine one pound of ground lamb with an unbeaten egg white and salt and pepper to taste. Form into patties the size _ of biscuits. Dip in flour and pan fry in hot fat. Serve with salad and potato chips. Meat Balls on a Skewer KAFTA 'ALA SHEESH 1 Ib. Iamb neck meat 1 tsp. salt z tsp. pepper 2 CUp finely chopped onions 2 CUp chopped parsley These are best when broiled over charcoal. The Lebanese eat them hamburger fashion inside a loaf of Arabic bread which catches all the well flavored meat juices. Grind meat several times through fine blade of the meat grinder. Mix well with other ingredient, and form into balls the size of an egg. Thread the meat balls onto skewers for broiling. If the meat balls are to be broiled in an oven they should be sprinkled lightly vwith olive oil. Broil until rare, medium or well-done, according to taste. Serve with laban and green salad. Vary these meat balls by adding an unbeaten egg white to the mixture. Form into patties, dip in flour and pan-fry in hot fat. Serve with potato chips and salad, or a sauteed vegetable such as green beans, carrots or peas. Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce KAFTA 'QRASS BI SAALSIT EL BANADOURA Make a sauce by diluting a tablespoon of tomato paste in l 2 CUpS water. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Drop fried kafta cakes into the boiling sauce and simmer for 40 minutes (or cook under pressure for 15 minutes). Serve these meat balls with mashed potatoes and a cooked green vegetable. Meat Loaf in Tray KAFTA BI SSANIEH 2.'- Ibs. Iamb or beef 1-1, tsp. salt .1, tsp. pepper 3 CUp samneh (or other shortening) 1 cup fresh tomato ~uice, or 1 tsp. tom~to paste diluted in one cup water 1 cup chopped onions 1 egg white Kafta is classical in the Lebanese cuisine. This is an old recipe but its appeal is the same today as yesterday. Grind meat through the fine blade of meat grinder several times until it is almost pasty. (In Lebanon the meat is pounded to a pasty consistency in a mortar and pestle). Now pass the ground meat through the food chopper several times with the chopped onions until thoroughly blended. Add salt and pepper. Spread meat mixture evenly about one inch thick on a large baking pan. Bake in moderate oven until lightly browned. Spread the samneh (or other shortening) over the meat and continue baking until well browned. Add tomato juice and bake until half the juice is absorbed. At this point Lebanese cooks place the pan on top of the stove to finish cooking. The sauce must be almost entirely absorbed. Cut into squares to serve. Accompany with fried or mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables and a green salad. Broiled Lamb / LAHM MASHWI 1 Ib. smaiskeh (baby lamb fillet) 1 tsp. salt 2 tsp. pepper 12 small onions (optional) Foreigners call this dish shish kebab. It tastes best when made with very young spring lamb. Lebanese cooks broil the skewered meat over charcoal on their braziers called manqals. The juices which drip during the broiling are caught inside a loaf of Arabic bread. When the meat is done, it is slipped off the skewer into the bread. In Turkey the meat is marinated in olive oil before broiling. Chop meat into one-inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper and let stand for an hour. Spear on to skewers, allowing six pieces of meat per person. Alternate lean and fatty meat with onions. Broil under a very hot flame, or over charcoal until outside is well browned and sizzling. If broiled in the oven, sprinkle a little olive oil over meat before broiling so that it will not dry out. Excellent accompaniments to this meat are laban and the savory Arabic sauces called hummus bi taheeni and baba ghannou~. Pounded Meat Patties 'QRASS LAHMI MADQOUQA 2 Ibs. boneless lamb 2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper Pound meat in a mortar until pasty or grind it several times through the meat grinder. Add salt and pepper. Form into patties two inches in diameter and about three-quarters inch-thick. Pan-fry in samneh or other melted shortening. Or place on baking sheet, dot each with shortening and bake in moderate oven until brown. Meat Patties with Laban SHISH BARAK BI LABAN 1 cup ground meat 1 cup chopped onion - cup pine nuts cup samneh (or other shortening) 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper 6 cloves of garlic 2 tsp- chopped kizbara (coriander) This is a well flavored dish of very small meat-filled turn- overs smothered in a rich laban gravy. The unusual flavor comes from the combination of garlic and coriander. Prepare a dough with 1- cups bread flour, half cup short- ening, 1 tsp. salt and half cup cold wa~er. Knead lightly and roll out a thin sheet on floured board. Make the stuffing as follows: Fry onions, pine nuts and meat lightly. Season and mix well. Cut the dough into circles not larger than two inches in diameter. Put a teaspoon of stuffing on each and fold over. Press edges together firmly. Now bend the half ćrcle so that both ends meet. Place on a tray and dry in a slow oven for 15 minutes. Heat one recipe of cooked laban and simmer the shish barak until the dough seems cooked. Crushed garlic, salt and kizbara should be fried separately and gently in a small amount of samneh to enhance their flavors. If fresh kizbara is not on the market, use the dried or substitute a few pounded seeds. Add to laban and simmer. Serve tepid with rice. Serves six. Savoury Meat Balls DAWW!D BASHA 2 Ibs. ground,~e'ef or lamb 11 cups sliced onions 2 tsp. salt tsp. pepper 2 CUp samneh (or other shortening) 4 CUp pine nuts 1 Tbsp. tomato paste 12 CUpS water This dish carries to posterity the name of a Turkish Pasha who lived in Lebanon and who was very fond of these well seasoned meat balls. Grind meat several times through fine blade of meat grinder. (In Lebanon the meat is struck in a mortar with a pestle until it becomes quite pasty.) Mix meat and seasonings together well, using the hands to achieve a smooth blend. Form the meat into small balls the size of marbles. Fry until brown in the hot samneh or other fat. Add sliced onions and pine nuts. ~ontinue to fry gently until well sauteed. Add tomato paste diluted with the water. Simmer until meat is well done. Serve with rice. Serves 8 persons. Ground Meat Rolls ROSTO MADQOUQA MARTADELLA 21i Ibs lean meat (beef or mutton) 1 I tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper tsp. cinnamon tsp. nutmeg 2 egg whites 2 CUp white wine cup vinegar 1 tsp. tomato paste 1 stick cinnamon 2 bay leaves Pound meat in a mortar until pasty or grind several times through fine blade of meat grinder. Mix well with seasonings and egg whites. Form into rolls about two inches in diameter and four inches long. (A hard boiled, shelled egg may be placed inside each roll.) Dip in slightly beaten egg white, then in toasted bread crumbs and brown well in hot samneh or other shortening. Make a sauce with one cup water, the wine, vinegar, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and tomato paste. Cook meat rolls in sauce until meat is done and sauce thickened. Lift meat from sauce. Cool. Slice. Serve hot or cold. Thin slices are good appetizers with cocktails. Hot, the meat may be served as a main course, accompanied by its own sauce, and fried potatoes, vegetables and salad. Laban with Meat LABAN IMMO * 2 cups leg of lamb cut in one-inch cubes 12 CUpS chopped onion 21 cups water 2 tsp. salt Several lamb bones Bring meat to a boil with water and salt. Skim off foam. Add onions (small whole white onions may be used). Cook under pressure for 30 minutes. Open pressure cooker and let simmer until liquid is reduced to less than one-half cup. Cool. Add laban which has been prepared according to the recipe for cooking laban (see p. 119). Simmer over a low fire until the sauce thickens. Crushed garlic and crushed dried coriander seeds should be fried quickly in fat and added. Serve tepid with riz mufalfal. Serves six. (*) His mother's laban. Roast Stu~ed Kid ~Saudi Arabia) KHAROOF MAHSHI 1 15-lb. kid or baby lamb 4 cups cooked rice 2 cups chopped pistachio nuts 2 CUp chopped almonds 2 CupS sultana raisins 1 cup ghee or butter 2 cups sliced onions 3l tsp. salt 2 Tbsp. kizbara (coriander) 2 tsp- coarsely ground pepper 1 tsp. candied ginger, ground Stuffed kid or baby lamb or sheep is so typical of Saudi Arabian food that no feast, whether a royal affair or a family gathering, will be without it. The meat, surrounded by masses of rice and garnished with hard boiled eggs, is presented to the gathering on a huge tray. The following recipe is adapted to modern cooking devices. It might be cooked most successfully at an outdoor barbecue, although with careful attention and constant basting, the meat can be s...isfactorily roasted in the oven. The seasonings which are listed are authentic and all must be used to achieve the correct flavor. Have butcher prepare kid for roasting. Rinse inside and out. Wipe dry. Rub carcass both inside and out with mixture of 2 a cup of the onions and the seasonings. Mix rice with nuts, raisins, 11 cups onions, and stuff the animal. Sew the opening. Put the stuffed kid in a large pan. Pour melted fat over it and roast in a slow oven until meat is very tender and Gutside well browned. Baste frequently with pan drippings. ~Or, roast outdoors on a rotisserie over charcoal for best flavor. Preserved Spiced Mutton QAWWRAMA Oawwrama is a heavily fatted, spiced preserved meat which is well known in the traditional Lebanese diet. Similar preser- vation of sheep or mutton is carried out in other Arab countries. It becomes very important for it will keep at least through one winter and often into a second season. It forms the basis for winter stews, and can be combined with rice or burghul as stuffing for various kinds of mahshie or it can be boiled with kishk to make a robust winter porridge. Qawwrama adds flavor and nutrition to fried eggs and it is also relished by many as a spread for bread. The day set aside each Fall in a Lebanese village for making qawwrama is one of community feasting and festivity. A sheep which has been force-fed and fattened all summer is slaughtered and the women set to work stripping the fat from the carcass and melting it down in a large copper pan called a dist. Next the lean meat is cubed, heavily seasoned with salt and pepper and then fried in the hot fat until well cooked. The fried meat is packed into jars and the fat is poured in around it before the jars are sealed. (The old method of sealing the jars with clay is still used in many places.) The best meat goes into the qawwrama but much that is edihle and flavorful remains on the carcass to form the basis of the day's feasting. One dish that is particularly relished by all the friends and relatives who have been invited for this occasion is kroush mahshieh. It is prepared by stuffing the sheep's intestines with a well seasoned mixture of bits of meat, rice, chickpeas and onions. A delicacy called ghameh is prepared from the sheep's stomach. The stomach is cleaned well with salt, soap and water. It is rinsed and finally rubbed with flour and rinsed again several times. The stomach is cut into small squares which are wrapped around a seasoned meat and rice mixture and cooked. Fatteh. Another popular dish at this feast is put together in a deep dish. A layer of small pieces of toasted bread is spread in the bottom of the dish. Over that is laid the meat and broth mixed with crushed garlic, then laban, melted samneh, crushed dried mint and roasted pine nuts. This is a flavorful dish. Hreesi. The sheep's bones lend their flavor to a famous Lebanese dish known as hreesi which is traditionally served at the feast marking Assumption Day ('Id es Saidi) in August, but which is enjoyed any time of year when a sheep is slaughtered. The bones are cooked with large pieces of meat to make a broth. Whole wheat which has been sprinkled with water and then crushed slightly in a mortar is boiled in the broth for many hours until the whole is the consistency of cooked oatmeal. Hreesi is aptly named, for the word means "well cooked". Broiled Liver MI'LAAQ MASHWI Cut raw lamb or beef liver into squares and thread onto a skewer with its own fat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Broil. Eat with anything but laban, say the Lebanese, for the two are not compatible. Broiled Liver with Garlic MI'LAAQ MASHWI BI TOUM Crush several garlic cloves with salt. Spread this paste over squares of liver. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper and one teaspoon dried mint. Let stand for 30 minutes. Spear on skewers ~~ and broil. Or, pan-fry the liver in butter or other fat. Squeeze a little lemon juice over the liver when serving. Stuffed Baby Lamb QOUZI 1 16-20 Ibs. spring lamb 4 cups ground lamb 5 cups rice, washed and drained 2 cups mixed pistachio, pine nuts and almonds 1- tsp. black pepper 2 Tbsp. salt (or to taste) 3 cups samneh (or other shortening) Flour The question of which is better, the meat or the stuffing, has yet to be decided in this case, for both are delićous. Blanch almonds and pistachios. Slip off their skins. Fry ground meat in smoking hot samneh until no longer pink. Add all the nuts and fry with meat until ~oasted. Add rice, salt, pepper and water. Stir gently. Cover and cook over low fire until rice is tender and water is absorbed. Meanwhile, prepare lamb by rubbing it inside and out with salt and pepper. Correct seasoning of stuffing and when it is cool, stuff the lamb with it. Sew the opening with heavy thread. Tie feet together in pairs. Boil the stuffed lamb in a large kettle with enough water to cover well. Skim. When done, the meat will feel soft and tender when pressed between the fingers. This will take several hours. Remove lamb from water and place in a large roasting pan. Coat with samneh or butter and laban for a nice glaze. Roast in moderate oven until nicely browned, basting frequently with its own broth. Serve on a large platter garnishing with parsley. Pass laban and gravy made with the pan drippings, thickened with flour and water. Fresh salad and vegetables cooked in oil are usually served with qouzi. Stu~ed Neck of Lamb RAQBEH MAHSHIEH 1 neck of lamb 11, cups ground beef or lamb a cup rice 11, tsp. salt tsp. pepper -1. tsp. cinnamon .I cup chopped tomato (optional) 1 cup pine nuts 1 small cinnamon stick 1 cup chopped parsley 3 cups water Have butcher slit the lamb's neck so that it can be stuffed. Wash and drain rice. Mix together well the chopped meat, rice, seasonings, pine nuts and chopped tomato. Bind with half cup water. Stuff mixture into neck cavity and sew up with heavy thread. Place in pan with enough salted water to cover. Bring to boil and skim. The meat may now be placed in the pressure cooker with three cups of water and cooked under pressure for 45 minutes, or it may be stewed gently for several hours in the kettle. When tender, remove meat from broth. Cook an addi- tional half cup rice in the broth to make a soup to be served as a first course. Spread the boiled meat with samneh and brown in a moderate oven. Slice and arrange on a serving platter. Serve with a side dish of laban. The rice soup will be served before the meat, with chopped parsley and cinnamon sprinkled over it. The stuffing may be removed from the neck and served separately. The raqbeh could be served either way :- l ) Only stuffed and boiled is the Lebanese way and served with the soup, or -~ 2) Boiled and browned in the Syrian way.