Breakfast in Syria is an event in itself. There’s no concept of a “quick bite” – that is a horrid Western innovation. Blasphemy, really. Breakfast is meant to be enjoyed, eaten slowly, in the company of family and friends, and then extended for at least two hours with cup after cup of hot, sweet tea.

I had my first experience with a full Syrian breakfast when my family and I went to Syria in May 2006, when Ameir and I had our Nikah.

There’s an art to it. The whole family sits together, most often on the floor with a medda (spread) laid out before them. There are no plates. Breakfast is eaten communally – everyone has a piece of bread and dips it into the various items. Thus, each dish must be laid out in a pattern, such that each person can reach each plate with their little chunks of bread. If there are a lot of people, there are two or three or four iterations of each dish, and the pattern is spread symmetrically all the way down the medda.

The symmetry is not to be taken lightly, as I learned. As a new bride at my in-laws for the first time, I naturally tried to make myself useful around the house. So, as Fatimah plated all the dishes, I helped Ameir and Maryam’s cousins carry them to the medda. Once I got there, I just set them down sporadically. They’d smile and say “Shukran.” I’d say “Afwan” and walk away for another plate, happy that I helped. When I came back with another, I noticed that the plate I had put down earlier had been moved. I thought nothing of it, and put down the new plates. “Shukran!” “Afwan!” Third sets of plates in hand, I noticed that the second set had been rearranged. Finally, I got it. I just laughed, and then just started handing the plates to the cousins to let them arrange them symmetrically. They laughed too – because of the language barrier, they couldn’t really explain what I was doing wrong, but they politely let me keep doing it without making me feel bad.

Every morning, Fatimah would lead the production of a kingly spread of cooked and fresh plates. Served hot or warm were baid – scrambled eggs; fool – warm, cumin-spiced fava beans topped with fresh tomato, onions, and parsley; tis’iyyah – yesterday’s hummus and bread cooked together with a tangy tahini sauce; mana’eesh, flatbreads topped with zaatar, ground beef, or feta and cheese; and falafel, fresh from the shop on the street corner. Everything got a healthy drizzle of fruity extra virgin olive oil, maybe even from Jiddo’s (Ameir’s grandfather) farm.

The morning after Ameir and I got married, Ammo (my father in law) made fried liver as a special hot plate. I am not a big red meat eater, and I especially have trouble with organs. My father in law is extremely hospitable and generous, and he naturally offered me the plate. I declined, and he thought I was just being shy. “Ameir!” he said, “Give her a bite!” Ameir knew I didn’t like liver, but out of respect for his father, he couldn’t say no. I gave Ameir the “please, no” look, but he had to do it – he tore a piece of bread, picked up a piece of liver, and put it in my mouth. “How is it?” asked Ammo eagerly. Without chewing, I smiled and nodded. “Wonderful!” he said, and turned back to talk to my father.

Meanwhile, I jabbed Ameir in the leg, motioning him to give me a napkin. I carefully released the liver into said receptacle. A few minutes later, Ammo turned back to me and Ameir. “Ameir, give her another bite!” But instead of watching this time, he turned back to laugh with my dad. Spared! It really was a hilarious scene, even at that time. Now, don’t get me wrong – he’s an expert at fried liver. But I just couldn’t do it. Thanks anyway, Ammo!

Cold plates include all kinds of fresh vegetables, sliced and served separately – radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, whole green and black oil-cured olives, scallions, flai-flai (a peppery green similar to alfalfa), and an interesting little thing called ajoor. Ajoor are kind of dwarf watermelons; they’re light green with ridges. Inside, they’re about the color and taste of a cucumber, but are crispier than cucumbers.

Alongside all the vegetables are laban - thick yogurt sprinkled with dried mint and drizzled with olive oil; hummus drizzled with olive oil and topped with olives and chickpeas; slices of a mild-flavored Syrian cheese similar to mozarella, and a creamier cheese topped with tangy apricot or peach jam or sweet honey.

Next to each person sits a small, never-empty glass of shai, hot sweet tea. It’s a lighter brew, a golden amber color, so that the flavor of any fresh herbs – usually miramiyya (sage), na’na (mint) – comes through (and so you can drink as many cups as desired). The host will keep fill your cup the second it’s empty, needlessly asking “Soobik shai kaman?” – Should I pour you more tea? – as the cup is automatically refilled.

Also ever-flowing are the praises to the cook. Yaslamo eidaiki! May your hands be blessed! call out the breakfasters. Sahtain! Allah yasalmik! replies the chef – May you have two healths, and may God bless you.

An hour later, the plates are mostly empty. Leaning back against the sofa, you spend another hour nipping at the edges of the laban to pair with the four more cups of hot tea, reminiscing with your family about happy memories.

Every once in a while, a family should have a good Syrian breakfast. Leave the bowls of cereal or the pop tart. Forget the plates, spoons and forks. Spread a medda, sit on the floor and enjoy the food and family.

I’ve always wanted to master the simple chicken-and-rice dish that almost every food culture has. Murgh pilau, Dajjaj wa ruz, Arroz con Pollo, etc. So, after years of watching my mom do it, plus a lot of self-reassuring and instructional phone calls from my mom, i finally decided to attempt it.

Success! This was the most yummy one pot meal I’ve ever made. For the chicken, I used skinless chicken drumstick pieces. For the vegetables, I used eggplant, peas, and carrots. I guess this one was more Arab style then desi style because I put vegetables in it and toasted nuts on top. With some raisins and shredded carrots, it could be an Afghani murgh pilau. The possiblities are endless!

Ingredients: these are all variables. You just need one of each thing. it’s about proportions. the directions will tell you how.

Bone-in chicken breast or chicken pieces
Basmati Rice
Vegetables: Eggplant (fried), Carrots, frozen peas
Base flavoring: Onions and garlic
Spice mixture: cumin, turmeric, garlic powder, paprika/cayenne, black pepper
Cooking Liquid: Water (or stock, or water + Chicken bullion cubes)
Garnish: Cucumber-Mint yogurt and nuts toasted in oil

Directions
1. Chop and pan fry the eggplant until golden brown on the edges. Lightly sautee chopped carrots, if desired.

2. Chop and sautee onions and garlic in some olive oil; add some tomato paste if desired.

3. Rinse chicken and pat dry. Sprinkle very strongly with spice mixture and put, seasoned side down, into the hot onion/garlic pan to sear. No matter how many chicken pieces are being used, only sear the chicken in one layer.

4. While the chicken is searing, season the other side. Turn to brown both sides.

5. Add in the amount of chicken stock (water + bullion) needed to cook the rice (1:2 ratio rice to liquid) plus 1/2 cup extra stock per cup of rice to compensate for the chicken. (e.g. for two cups of rice, use 4 + 1 cup stock)

6. Add all the chicken to the liquid. Taste the stock and adjust spices and salt as needed. Bring the liquid to a boil, then let it simmer rapidly for 30 minutes.

7. Add washed rice, eggplant, diced carrots, and frozen peas to the pot. Stir well to distribute everything evenly.

8. Bring the pot to a boil. Let it boil until the liquid is almost dried out. Cover and lower the heat almost all the way down. Let it “steep” until the liquid is all dry.

Serve with yogurt with mint and cucumbers.

To serve Arab style: Lightly sautee/toast almonds and/or pine nuts in a pan with olive oil. Spread the rice in a large dish and top with chicken. When the nuts are golden brown and crunchy, pour the nuts and oil all over the top of the rice.

For Kebsa, an Arab chicken with tomatoey-rice dish: No eggplants, but shredded carrots and/or chickpeas if desired. For the cooking liquid, mix one part tomato sauce with one part stock. Add chopped tomatoes before cooking the rice. Serve with a tomato-jalapeno-onion relish.

Afghani Palau: brown the onions very well before adding the chicken. No eggplant, but shred the carrots and add raisins before boiling and steeping the rice.

Arroz con Pollo: use sofrito (onions, garlic, green peppers) as a base for searing the chicken instead of just onions and garlic. Carrots and peas are the usual vegetables for this dish.

For an Asian variation: Use white and green onions, garlic, and ginger as base to sear chicken. Season the chicken with soy sauce, allspice, garlic, ginger, black pepper. Add mushrooms, shredded cabbage, and shredded carrots before cooking the rice.

Koshari is Egyptian street food – and, really, isn’t street food always the best part of any cuisine? It’s based on kitchery – a very simple rice and lentil mixture served in Pakistan and India. When Desi workers came to Egypt, they brought kitchery with them, and I really have to say that the Egyptians perfected it.

It’s really very simple. Lentils are cooked in a savory tomato sauce, and then the dish is served in layers: rice, tomato-y lentils, then caramelized or fried onions on top. It’s eaten spicy, so hot sauce is served alongside. Fancier versions have chickpeas and other legumes too. I added extra veggies by putting eggplant in the rice.

I made this over at Amy Aziza’s house at a mini housewarming party to break in her new kitchen. Angela made empanadas, because she’s Puerto Rican and awesome like that. Natasha brought Charlie Chaplain. Emilie was beautiful and smiling. It was great!

Koshari

2 cups lentils (I like brown lentils Koshari, the same as for this Eggplant and Lentil Stew)
1 large can tomato sauce (28 oz I think?)
2 cups rice + 4 cups broth or water to cook it in
1 eggplant
A lot of garlic (a lot)
A lot of onions (a lot)
Salt, pepper, hot sauce
Paprika or cayenne, depending on your heat tolerance
Cinnamon
Olive oil
Hot sauce to serve

1. (before you do anything else, start this, because onion caramelization is best if it is done over a long period of time. If you forget, cheat and add sugar). Dice or slice a lot of onions and put it on a medium low heat with a bit of olive oil. Let it go. Keep coming back and stirring it. Add some sugar if you want to help the onions along. At the end, before you serve, turn up the heat so the onions get crispy on the edges.

2. Chop one or two onions and a bunch of garlic and saute in some olive oil until soft-ish. Add the lentils and an equal part of water and boil until the lentils are almost soft. Drain any excess water, and then add more garlic and the tomato sauce. Simmer until lentils are soft. Salt and pepper it.

2. Cut the eggplant into chunks and put it in a colander. Salt it and let it drain for 15 min at least (this gets the bitterness out). Pat dry, sprinkle with cayenne, black pepper, and cinnamon, and fry in batches.

3. Sautee an onion and garlic until soft. Add the eggplant, stir. Add the rice and stir. Add some cinnamon (this is a Magrebi – Moroccan – touch that I really like, but the cinnamon is entirely optional) and black pepper. Add the liquid (water or broth) and cook the rice normally.

To serve: Put down a layer of rice, then a layer of tomato lentils, then top with caramelized onions. Add hot sauce to taste!

This is a traditional Syrian dish of zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with cooked ground beef, then baked with a tomato sauce. The filling I used here is the same thing I used for making kibbe, and it really turned out well.

Kousa Mahshi

1 to 1/2 lb ground beef (whatever one package is)
2 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced or minced
1/4 or 1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 to 1 tsp cumin
Salt, pepper
Dry or fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1 16 oz can tomato sauce
1 or 2 cups of broth (i don’t like to mix chicken broth with beef, so I used veggie broth)
7 green zucchini

1. Slice the zucchini lengthwise into two boats. Score the center and scoop out the flesh, leaving a rim around the edge. Try to get the ones with the bigger brown, round spot on the butt – these have more flesh, and you can use the zucchini you scoop out for other yummy things (or, you could make this feta stuffed zucchini by Veggie Venture)

2. Saute one onion and three cloves of garlic until soft. Add the ground beef and break it up so it cooks evenly. Add the walnuts, parsley, allspice, cumin, salt, and pepper. Mix in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the tomato sauce. (I also added a good chunk of garlic-herb butter I had in the freezer. Shh….don’t tell).

3. Remove all that from the pan. Sautee one sliced onion and three cloves of garlic and add the rest of the tomato sauce. Let it simmer to flavor. Add the broth so it’s more liquidy, enough to pour into the pan and kind of braise the zucchini.

4. In two large 13×9 pans, divide the tomato sauce evenly. Lay the zucchini boats in the pan (I cut them in half so it was four little half-boats per zucchini – easier to serve).

5. Put about 1 tablespoon of filling into each boat (each full boat). If there is extra ground beef, let it fall into the sauce.

6. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or until zucchini is tender. To serve, put a few piece of stuffed zucchini into a plate and spoon the tomato sauce on top.

Dates are a staple of every Ramadan iftar. It just doesn’t feel like Ramadan unless you eat one of these soft, chewy, super sweet fruits. (I don’t consider those icky dry, pitted things you get in a plastic container from the grocery store to be real dates. Real dates are the big thick Medjool ones.)

Now, if you have dates like the ones we got as a gift this Ramadan, fresh on the vine, you want to just sit back and eat five or six of them with a cup of tea. These have a fragrance and texture unlike anything I’ve ever eaten – soft and perfumy, candy-sweet without being overpowering. Delicious, Subhanallah! (Thanks 3mmo and Fatimah!)

But the normal date eating can get a little boring, or at least too sweet after a while. Enter my friend Amna Baloch, who suggested filling the dates with Cool Whip. Oh. My. God. Long live Amna and may she be happy and healthy all her days InshAllah. The Cool Whip cuts tempers the sweetness of the dates a little bit with a pleasing creamy texture and it’s a surprising change from the regular iftar staple. My father in law especially loved these.

Before I introduce the recipe, I have to tell you about the Cool Whip trick.

The Cool Whip Trick: I’m sorry to say that I learned this trick from Sandra Lee, the terrifyingly annoying Stepford Wife Food Network TV Show host – but it’s an amazing trick. Giving credit where credit is due. Into 8 oz (one small container of Cool Whip) pour in two to three capfuls of vanilla extract and fold it in gently, taking care not to break the Cool Whip. Taste it – doesn’t it taste like you stood there and whipped some heavy whipping cream into soft peaks and softly folded in some sugar and vanilla? Use this wherever you’d use whipping cream – there’s no plasticy-artificial flavor that Cool Whip can sometimes get.

8 oz Cool Whip, defrosted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Medjool dates (the big fat ones)

Pitting the dates – Using a sharp knife, make a lengthwise incision in a date. Don’t cut all the way through – you might actually be able to feel the pit as you cut. The date will quite obligingly split open. Remove the pit with your fingers and kind of open the date, making sure you don’t split it from the back.

Mix the Cool Whip with the vanilla and fold in some toasted chopped walnuts. (I used about 1/4 cup for half a Cool Whip container).

Fill it into a plastic ziptop bag and snip off the top. (fold the top down about 1 or 2 inches, then scoop in the cream. Fold the top back up and zip closed – see? no mess! Push all the cream to one corner of the bag. Snip off a very little bit from the tip and hold the cone gently in your cupped palm).

Take the pitted, split date in one hand and very gently squeeze some Cool Whip mixture into each (it only needs about a teaspoon).

Refrigerate until iftar time! You can make these an hour or so ahead of serving.

Mr. Malik is a king of shawarma sandwiches. His kingdom is a number of shawarma shops across Damascus, and I had the priviledge of visiting one of the Malik Shawarma shops in the Jami’a Abu Noor district for a late night snack.

Shawarma is a very simple and very delicious meal – chicken marinated in special house spices and roasted vertically on a spit, then sliced and wrapped into hot pita bread. That’s it!

There’s not much more stuffed into a shawarma sandwich than the chicken – it’s really all about the slow-roasted, savory, tender chicken. Sometimes there is a layer of french fries and/or spicy sauce and/or a tahini garlic yogurt sauce, but the chicken is the star.

Mr. Malik, like most chefs, would not tell me anything about his secret house blend of spices, or how he gets the hundreds of pieces of chicken in perfect layers on the spit. “That’s the secret of the trade!” he told me.

When you ask for a sandwich, the guy will slice chicken off of the spit in thin slices. And do you know what he does next? Do you? Next, he lets the chicken slices sit….in the juices….that have been dribbling….off of the spit….all day long. The chicken gets all soaked and yummy and moist in the savory juices. And then, when he wraps the chicken into the pita bread, the bread soaks up all the juices from the chicken.

Midnight run to shawarma shop + strawberry milk from a classic Damascus juice shop (pictures below) + good Kung Fu move + family = awesome.

BUT. There is one kind of chickpea food that I really do enjoy, almost every time.

“Wait, Cup of Tea,” you say. “Those look like donuts.” Well, authentic falafel like you can get in Syria have holes in the middle so that the little patty cooks evenly. Plus, you can also stick them on your index finger and eat around it (come on, you were thinking it. I also used to do that with Bugles. Remember those?)

Falafel is the plural of “filfil,” which means “pepper” in Arabic. The little golden brown, crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-and-savory-on-the-inside patties are popular at breakfast by themselves, or for other meals/snacks wrapped into a pita. The hearty, earthy taste and crunch of the little falafel rounds is highlighted by the fresh cucumber, tomato, and sour-sweet pickled radishes. Top it all off with a special sauce and….oh my…..you’ll miss it as soon as you walk away.

(All the pretty pictures won’t fit on the main page, so click for the rest of the post!)

While Ameir and I were in Syria, we stayed with my friend Maryam (who also happens to be Ameir’s sister, but she was my friend before she was my sister-in-law). She took me to the corner falafel shop, called “Falafel An-Noor,” The Falafel of Light (yeah. that was really the name. See the sign?). There’s usually a falafel shop on every street corner, churning out thousands of these little yummies per day.

I asked the two cousins who were working at the family shop if I could take some pictures and if they’d tell me how they make the falafel. With classic Syrian hospitality, they obliged, repeating “Ahlan wa Sahlan” (“You’re our family, welcome!”) the whole way through.

Mohamad, the falafel maker, told me that he soaks dried chickpeas in water overnight, then grinds them into a paste with garlic, parsley, salt, and cilantro. Then, he fills the paste into a little falafel mold and pushes the patty into oil to fry. When they float to the top and get golden brown, he takes them out and passes them to his cousin Ahmed.

Ahmed puts the fresh, hot falafel onto big rounds of thin pita bread, mashing down the falafel a little to spread them evenly. He adds layer by layer of colorful garnishes: cucumber, tomato, and hot-pink pickled radishes. (These are also the things that come packed in little bags when you buy falafel for breakfast). He adds a sprinkle of sumak, shattah (a spicy chili sauce), and then tops the whole thing off with a generous drizzle of garlicky tahini yogurt sauce.
Ahmed wraps up the pita and hands it to you with an icy-cold Master Cola. (It tastes just like Coke!) Ahhh…icy cold. Can’t get any better than this!

Ackawi is an Arab cheese packed in water; it has a texture very similar to buffalo mozarella (maybe a little saltier) but it doesn’t melt as readily. It’s a classic part of an Arab breakfast, wrapped in bread and dipped in honey or jam. This was an experiment in making something like mozarella sticks with an Arab flair, and I think it was a success! Ackawi doesn’t get gooey and melty when you fry it – it holds its shape, but is still soft. The za’atar-breadcrumb crust adds an extra crisp and an herby-savory tang, but is totally optional. You could fry it without the crust and then sprinkle with za’atar or even honey for a sweet snack.

Wait. What is this za’atar of which you speak? I’ll leave this one to Desert Candy. And she’s right about the best way to eat za’atar: dip bread in olive oil, then za’atar, consume. Repeat.

Recipe hiding in the link below. Also check out Fried Haloumi with Basil by Too Many Chefs.

1 pack Ackawi cheese, cut into slices
1 cup bread crumbs
2 or 3 heaping tablespoons za’atar
olive oil
1 egg, beaten (preferably an egg. i only had milk, so i used that)
bread to serve

1. Pat the cheese dry after you slice it. It’s packed in water, so it needs to be dried of that so you can put whatever flavor you want on it.
2. Mix the bread crumbs and za’atar. Dip the cheese in the egg, shake off excess. Coat in the breadcrumb mixture.
3. Freeze the cheese for at least 2 hours. Giada said so. (keeps it from melting too fast when you fry it)
4. Pour just a bit of olive oil into a pan and fry cheese on both sides until the outside is crispy and golden brown. Serve with bread.

Think back to your idea of a traditional kitchen, filled with a bunch of women, sharing stories over big bowls of food while they prepare a big meal for their family. Kibbe is that kind of food. There’s a big pot of meat, a big pot of dough, and a bunch of hands rolling and filling and frying while the kitchen echos with laughter and stories.

My friend/mother-in-law, Fatimah, tells me that being able to make kibbe is considered the mark of a great cook in Syria. I’m definitely not there, but it was very fun spending an afternoon learning how to make this classic dish.

Everyone has their own recipe for kibbe (also called kubbe). There are two main ways to prepare it – in bars or in stuffed lemon-shaped dumplings. People from Shaam, especially Syrians, make the dumpling style. These can either be fried and dipped in plain yogurt to eat, or made with a cooked yogurt sauce called shakriya. You can also make them in a patty style and slow-cook them in a barbeque, then serve them with plain yogurt for dipping. I’ll show all three of these styles in this post. The hardest thing to do is stuff and shape the dumplings into the traditional lemon form. I’ll try to show as step-by-step of a process as I can, but really, it just takes a lot and lot and a lot of patience and practice to get it right – but it’s worth it!

Other great Kibbe posts

Kibbi Mihshiyya at Arabic Bites
Kubbe in Broth at Desert Candy

Recipe (and lots more pictures) here:

Dough

1/4 pound ground beef
1 pound dry ground wheat (you can mix white and whole wheat)
1/4 tsp each: cumin, turmeric, allspice, salt, pepper
Water, enough to cover wheat
1/2 small onion, pureed

1. Soften the wheat by soaking in water – put the wheat in a bowl and pour enough water on top so that it covers the wheat by one centimeter. Soak it until the grains are soft.
2. Mix the meat, spices, onion, and wheat. The spices are not very strong so as to allow the flavor of the wheat to dominate the dough.
3. In batches, grind the meat/wheat mixture in a food processor until thoroughly incorporated. The resulting dough should be thick, soft, yet strong, the consistency of a thick play dough. It should hold its shape when you do anything to it. (look at the pictures above to see how it holds its shape) Do not add any water or oil, because the moisture will result in cracks/tears/craters in the dough when it is fried. This is also why you do not add a lot of onion.
4. Kneed the dough to make sure everything is well incorporated. Let it sit for at least 30 min until it is at room temperature. It may have to be mixed again to bring the warmer dough from the bottom to the top.

Meat filling

1 to 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 cup well-diced walnuts
Spices (approximate): 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 to 1 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp allspice, dash of cinnamon

1. Sautee the onion in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes.
2. Add the ground beef, using your spoon to break it into small pieces and stir well. You do not want big chunks of meat.
3. Add the spices, stir well. Taste and adjust seasonings. The allspice and cinnamon give a lot of great flavor.
4. Add the walnuts and stir well.
5. Let the stuffing cool to room temperature. This will give you more than enough stuffing (you may only want to make 1/2 lb meat) but the stuffing is great by itself or over rice or with nachos or eggs, so it’s okay to have extra.

Making the dumplings

Part 1: Making the shell

1. Roll up your sleeves, take off any hand/wrist jewelry. Breathe. Be patient. No one makes it the first time, not even Neo. (cheesy Matrix reference. come on. I had to.). Make sure your hands are very clean, but not wet. The perfect amount of moisture on your palms is the “just-washed-and-dried-hands” amount. To achieve this, you might want to wash your hands a few times during the process to get the dough off your hands and start anew.
2. Make an oval of dough about the length of your palm and the 1/2 to 1/3 the thickness of your palm. Work it a bit so the surface is smooth. Flatten one edge just a little, but do not lose the ovular shape. You just need a working surface for Step 3.
3. Dampen your index finger just a little bit. Slowly, push it into the flat part of the oval to make a dent.
4. Ready? Here comes the hard part that will take me years to master.
5. Moving your entire finger in a circle (not just stirring with the tip of your finger), slowly and gently work to create a shell. Do not thin the entire length of the shell – leave about 1/4 inch of dough at the other end of the oval. Thin the dough all around (you may have to rotate the dough also to make sure you’re doing this evenly) just by moving your finger, trying not to flatten it by pressing down. Try for about a 1/8 inch thickness (I just made up this number – you’ll have to experiment. The best kibbe has a thin, light crust, but if it’s too light, it’ll fall apart when you fry it.)
6. Check for gaps, thinner spots and fill them in with more dough (or, better yet, just collapse that one and start over. The dough is very forgiving).

Part 2: Stuffing, Sealing, and Shaping

1. Holding the shell very gently in your cupped palm, put in two or three spoonfulls of the meat stuffing. Leave about 1/4 inch of room at the top to seal. (About the same amount you left un-opened on the other end of the shell).
2. Moisten the entire length of your index finger and thumb with water (Make an OK sign – the inside of that circle should be moist).
3. Hold the now-stuffed shell in a cupped palm. With the other hand (moistened OK sign), make a circular pinching motion to seal the top of the shell.
4. Open you palm and kind of half-cup your hands like you would if someone was pouring water into your hands. Hold the kibbe in the curve of your palm and just gently roll it around to fix the shape. With your fingers, fashion the ends of the shells into points. The completed dumpling should look like a lemon.

As you’re working with the dough, keep it covered to prevent it from drying out. Also, as you make the dumplings, lay them on a wax-paper lined platter and keep them covered until you’re done with all the dough and are ready to cook them. You can also freeze the stuffed-but-not-cooked shells. Put them into the freezer in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Once they’re frozen, you can take them off the sheet andp ut them into a ziptop bag.

Cooking the dumplings

Method 1: Fried Kibbe

This is the traditional and easiest way to make kibbe. Fried kibbe are dipped in yogurt to eat. Simple yogurt is great, but you can also get fancy and add grated cucumber or something. A lentil soup as a great accompaniment, as are freshly sliced salad veggies like cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes. Arabs also like to eat pickles with everything – so have a plate of sour pickles ready as a great contrast to the mellow flavors of the kibbe and yogurt.

1. Heat Canola oil over high heat in a deep pot. The oil is hot and ready to fry when you put a wooden spoon into the oil and bubbles form around the wood.
2. *Gently* (please, very gently) drop the kibbe dumplings into the hot oil – a few at a time, so the oil doesn’t lose heat too quickly.
3. Don’t touch the dumplings themselves as they cook. To move them to ensure they’re cooking evenly, just kind of move a spoon along the bottom of the pan, gently unsticking any dumplings that may be stuck to the bottom.
4. Fry until they are dark brown and crispy. Drain the cooked ones on paper towels until ready to serve.

Method 2: Barbequed kibbe

This kind of kibbe is a specialty that usually only restaurants in Syria serve. They are not as crispy as the fried ones, but still very good.

1. Instead of shaping the kibbe into lemon-shaped dumplings, make them a bit larger and shape them into patties.
2. Wrap each patty in an oiled piece of aluminum foil.
3. Grill (still wrapped) over low heat until done.
4. Eat dipped in yogurt.

Method 3: Kibbe bit Shakriya

This is my favorite way to have kibbe. Shakriya is a tangy cooked yogurt sauce that lends itself to many cooking options. It is a work-intensive sauce, since you have to stir continuously so that the yogurt will not curdle, but the taste is very well worth it. Once the sauce boils, the yogurt has stabilized and will not curdle. Then, you can add cooked lamb, beef, chicken, any vegetables, or these kibbe. This is especially great on the second day, when leftover fried kibbe are not as crispy as they are when made fresh.

Serve kibbe bit shakriya drizzled over big bowls of tomato rice (made with tomato broth instead of water).

A labaniyya (aka shakriya) with chicken recipe at Desert Candy

Shakriya sauce

1 large container yogurt
1 egg
2 tbs. cornstarch
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chicken broth
salt, pepper
Chopped coriander or parsley

1. In a bowl, mix together the yogurt, egg, and cornstarch. It should be mixed very well until glossy (no chunks of yogurt, please). Let it sit for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, while you work with the garlic.
2. In a pot, heat a very little bit of olive oil and cook the garlic until barely golden brown. Pull the pan off of the heat and turn the stove off. (this may be a needless precaution, but adding yogurt to a hot pan just didn’t seem smart to me).
3. Use the bathroom, blow your nose, do anything else you need to do. Chop the cilantro and have all your ingredients near you. Once this sauce gets cooking, you can’t move away from the stove.
4. Pour the yogurt into the pot. Put it back on the stove. Have the stove just below medium-high heat (mine was on 6 out of 9).
5. Stir. stir. stir. stir. Keep stirring. Do not stop stirring.
6. The cornstarch and egg are at this point stabilizing and thickening the yogurt. Stirring it thusly keeps the yogurt from curdling. If you want, you can stop stirring for no more than 5 seconds to see if it’s boiling, but you’ll be able to tell when it starts to boil even through the stir. Enjoy the smell, too. It smells like a rich cheese.
7. Once you see bubbles appear, keep stirring for about 3 or 4 more minutes, just to make sure it’s done. Now that it has stabilized, it can be reheated like uncooked yogurt cannot be.
8. Stir in the chicken broth. Add more or less to achieve your desired liquidy-ness.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste. You may not even need any salt since the yogurt has concentrated.
10. Add in the kibbe and chopped cilantro, stir to coat all the kibbe. The kibbe should be cooked and hot already because they aren’t going to cook inside the sauce.
11. Let it sit a few minutes to let the kibbe absorb some of the sauce. Serve over rice.

Finish the meal with a cup of arabic tea, flavored with mint or rosemary (or both!)

This is a beautiful dish with colorful layers of meat, vegetables, and rice. My mother-in-law made it for dinner a few nights ago and I was inspired to try it myself. It may look complicated, but if you can make biryani or arroz con pollo, you can make Makloobah!

“Makloobah” means “upside down” in Arabic – the dish is so named because you cook everything separately, then layer the ingredients into a large pot, then flip it upside down to serve.

Recipe after the link.

Ingredients
1 large or 2 small eggplant
1 medium cauliflower
1 large bag of frozen chopped spinach
1 whole chicken, cut into parts
2 cups of rice
4 cups chicken stock (or beef stock if you want to make this dish with beef, lamb, or goat)
garlic
onions
cumin
cayenne
salt
pepper
olive oil

Preparation

Step 1: Make the vegetables

Slice the eggplant into quarter inch slices and salt the slices on both sides. Let them sit in a strainer for an hour or so. Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray and spray the top of the slices with cooking spray. Bake in the oven at 450 for about 10 or 15 minutes until they’re pretty much cooked through, then broil on high on both sides until brown. Before you do this, you can sprinkle with paprika or cayenne for some color and flavor.

Cut the cauliflower into florets. Roast with some crushed garlic, salt, and pepper at 450 F for about 30 minutes until tender but not mushy.

Microwave the spinach a little to defrost it and squeeze out the extra moisture. Sautee with garlic, salt, and pepper. Pour a little chicken broth into it, about a half cup (or more if needed). The spinach will absorb some of it – put in enough to make it kind of come together. Not enough to be soupy, just soft.

Step 2: Make the chicken

In a large pot, heat some olive oil and sweat some onions and garlic (or use a few tablespoons of pureed onions and minced garlic). When soft, mix in at least a heaping teaspoon of powdered cumin and a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste. Mix until combined together.

Place the chicken pieces into the pot and mix to get the tomato-onion-garlic mixture to coat. Sear the chicken, then lower the heat and cover, letting the chicken cook. It’ll make its own sauce this way. Salt and pepper to taste.

Step 3: Make the rice

Wash two or three cups of rice with water. For two cups of rice, mix together one and a half cup of chicken stock and one cup of tomato sauce. Add a little more stock if this mixture looks to thick to cook rice. Cook the tomato rice mixture in a rice cooker or a pot as you normally would. You can also just use stock instead of mixing in tomato sauce. I also had some leftover chickpeas that I mixed into the rice before cooking. Put more liquid if you think it needs more – the rice should be a liiiitle bit softer than normal so that when you press it together it will keep its shape.

Step 4: Assemble

In a large round oven-safe pot, place the chicken and any of the sauce down first. Then, lay down the slices of eggplant to create as much of a cover as much as possible. Layer slices of tomato next, then the cauliflower florets, and then the spinach. (I forgot to put the tomato and had to put it in after a layer of rice. Still turned out fine). Press down to make everything stick together, but not too much so as not to break the cauliflower florets. Add about a third or half of the cooked rice. Press down to meld everything together. Add the rest of the rice and press down again.

Place this pot in a 250 or 300 oven for about half an hour to an hour. Make a salad.

Step 5: Serve and Eat!

Fry some almonds and/or pine nuts in olive oil until light brown and crunchy.

Very, very carefully, place a large platter or a bowl with a relatively flat bowl on top of the pot. Holding the pot from both sides, flip it over onto the platter. Slowly lift off the pot. Ta dah! Look at all the beautiful layers! Sprinkle the fried nuts on top and serve with yogurt, salad, and a fresh tomato relish. It looks pretty solid and keeps its shape when you serve it, but once you attack it with a spoon to serve it, your portion just falls apart in your plate like rice with chicken and vegetables.

Okay, so it fell apart a *little* while I was taking pictures – but look at the color on that chicken!