and gently toss to evenly coat the butter with the spices. Prepare a bowl of lightly salted cold water and have it to hand.
Divide the ½ quantity of kibbeh into 12 pieces and roll them into balls, each the size of a walnut. Lightly moisten your hands in the salted water and place one kibbeh ball in the palm of one hand. With the index finger of your other hand burrow a hole into the ball while rotating it – this makes the hollowing out easier and more even – taking care not to pierce the bottom or sides of the kibbeh shell.
Place a cube of seasoned butter into the kibbeh shell and seal the meat around the butter. Gently roll the kibbeh to create a round ball a little smaller than a ping-pong ball. Finish making the kibbeh balls and refrigerate to firm them up.
Put the lamb in another saucepan and cover with water. Place over a medium heat and bring to the boil. As the water is coming to the boil, skim any scum that rises to the surface. Add the spices, onion and some salt and simmer, covered with a lid, for 1 hour. Strain the meat, onion and spices, reserving the cooking broth, and discard the spices and onion.
Place the cooked lamb in a clean pan, add the strained stock with the cooked quinces and their juice, and place over a medium-low heat. When the cooking broth is simmering, carefully drop in the kibbeh balls and taste the broth, adding more sugar if it is too sour. Adjust the salt, if needed, and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve very hot in soup plates, making sure each diner gets equal amounts of lamb, quince and kibbeh.
Chicken Fatteh
FATTET DJEJ
Fatta means ‘to break into pieces’ in Arabic, and fatteh (also known as fatta depending on the country or the accent) describes a composite dish made up of pieces of toasted pita topped with meat, vegetables and/or pulses, covered with yoghurt and garnished with toasted pine nuts. The dish is a typical street breakfast in Lebanon, although it is eaten at other times of day too, and there are many variations depending on the time it is served, the region or the family. Here I give a version of the dish using chicken, but you can easily make it with lamb instead. Replace the chicken with a shoulder of lamb, skinned and trimmed of fat, or 1kg (2lb 2oz) neck fillets, and prepare in the same way, bearing in mind that you may have to cook the lamb for a little longer. The traditional method is to use dried chickpeas that you soak and then cook with the meat, but I like to simplify things if I can and I now use ready-cooked chickpeas that are preserved in brine in a jar without any preservatives. All I do is rinse them well before adding them to the stock and cooked meat to heat them through. In that time, they absorb the taste of the stock and you won’t know the difference between chickpeas you’ve cooked from scratch and ready-cooked ones.
Serves 4
1 medium-sized chicken (about 1.5kg/3lb 5oz)
1 cinnamon stick
Coarse sea salt
1 large round pita bread, opened at the seams
100g (3½oz) pine nuts
1 × 675g jar of chickpeas preserved in salted water (475g/16½oz drained weight), rinsed under cold water and drained
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
Handful of mint leaves, crushed with the garlic (optional)
1kg (2lb 2oz) plain yoghurt
Put the chicken in a large saucepan, add 1.25 litres (2¼ pints) of water and place over a medium heat. As the water comes to the boil, skim any scum that rises to the surface. Once it has come to the boil, reduce the heat, then add the cinnamon stick and 1 tablespoon of salt and cover the pan with a lid. Let the stock bubble gently for 45 minutes or until the chicken is done.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F), gas mark 7.
Toast the bread in the oven until golden brown, then remove and allow to cool. Spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven at the same time for 5–7 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove the chicken from the saucepan and strain the stock into a clean pan. Then skin the chicken and take the meat off the bone before cutting it into bite-sized pieces. Add these to the stock together with the chickpeas and place over a low heat.
Mix the crushed garlic (and mint, if using) into the yoghurt and add salt to taste.
Break the toasted bread into bite-sized pieces and spread over the bottom of a serving dish. Spread the hot chicken pieces and chickpeas over the bread. (You can at this stage add a little stock, although I prefer not to because I like the bread to stay crisp.) Cover with the yoghurt and garnish with the toasted pine nuts, then serve immediately.
Lentil Kibbeh
MERCIMEKLI KÖFTE
Here is a very simple vegetarian version of kibbeh that is claimed by both Turks and Armenians, which is not surprising given that south-eastern Turkey had a sizeable Armenian community until they were deported and subsequently killed at the beginning of the twentieth century. The dish remains, though, and you will also find it in Lebanon and Syria among the Armenian community in those countries, where it is very much part of the culinary repertoire. I was given the following recipe by a wonderful Turkish home cook, Belgin, who does cookery demonstrations for groups that I bring to her house. We start in her kitchen before moving to her dining room for a lavish and exquisite lunch. I always ask her to start with this köfte (the term the Turks use for kibbeh, while the Lebanese use the word kafta to describe a particular mixture of minced meat, herbs and onions that is either grilled, stewed or baked or even eaten raw). I love snacking on the patties, eating them with my hand while waiting for the other dishes to be ready.
Serves 4–6
200g (7oz) red lentils, rinsed under cold water and drained
175g (6oz) fine burghul, rinsed under cold water and drained
80ml (3fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
2 medium-sized onions (about 200g/7oz total weight), peeled and finely chopped
100g (3½oz) pepper paste
100g (3½oz) organic tomato paste
1 tsp ground cumin
Sea salt
To serve
Little Gem lettuce leaves
Few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, most of the stalk discarded, finely chopped
Put the lentils in a saucepan, add 500ml (18fl oz) of water and place over a medium heat. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are mushy and the water has almost evaporated. Add the burghul and mix in well, then cover the pan with a lid and let it sit while you fry the onion.
Put the olive oil and chopped onions in a frying pan and cook over a medium heat, stirring regularly, until the onions are golden and very soft. Add the pepper paste and tomato paste and mix in well.
Transfer the lentils and burghul mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the onion mixture and mix to a smooth paste with your hand (wearing a glove as the mixture may dye your hand red). Add the cumin and a little salt and mix again, adding a little water if the mixture is too stiff. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Then, just as you would for the kibbeh balls, pinch off pieces to make medium-sized oval patties, which you indent by gently squeezing the patties with your fingers.
Arrange the lettuce leaves on a round platter and place a piece of kibbeh on each. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with parsley and serve immediately.
Raw Kibbeh with a Spicy Burghul and Herb