FRAKEH
All the time I lived in Lebanon, I never knew about many regional dishes eaten elsewhere that are very different from the ones we ate at home or in restaurants. Every now and then my mother would mention a dish and say that she didn’t know how to make it because it was not from where her mother’s family came from, the Chouf Mountains. She hardly ever cooked outside of her region’s repertoire, which was basically classic mountain cookery. It wasn’t until I met Nayla Audi, one of my great friends in Lebanon whose family comes from the south, that I started to find out more about southern specialities, including this very particular way of preparing raw kibbeh. But even in the south, people have their own family or village variation on frakeh (basically the same as kibbeh in its raw state, but the burghul is mixed with wild herbs and spices), as I later found out from another friend, Hammoude Jouni, whose family is from Saida, whereas Nayla’s father’s family is from Kfar Rumman, very close to the Israeli border. The house is a lovely old square stone structure built around an inner courtyard, and next to it is the family cemetery where all her relatives are buried. Seeing the cemetery reminded me of my aunt Zahiyeh’s mausoleum for her husband which was behind her house. Sunday lunches in Kfar Rumman are wonderful affairs with the whole family tucking into a mezze of different types of kibbeh, including frakeh. For the following recipe, you can also spread the mixture of burghul, herbs and spices over the raw meat without pre-mixing. The taste is different and meatier, which I prefer.
Serves 4–6
1 small onion, peeled and quartered
50g (2oz) flat-leaf parsley, most of the stalk discarded
30g (1oz) marjoram, leaves picked from the stalks
Small handful of basil leaves, plus extra to serve
2 dried rosebuds
Zest of ½ unwaxed lemon
Zest of ½ unwaxed orange
100g (3½oz) fine burghul, rinsed under cold water and drained
Sea salt
Finely ground black pepper
300g (11oz) freshly minced lean lamb, from the top part of the leg (either ask your butcher to mince the lamb or do it yourself using the fine attachment on a meat grinder)
Extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
Put the onion, herbs and rosebuds in a food processor and process until very fine. Transfer to a large bowl, then add the lemon and orange zest and burghul. Season with salt and pepper to taste and mix well.
Pour some cold water into a medium-sized bowl, add a little salt and stir to dissolve. You will use this for dipping your hands in as you combine the meat with the burghul and herb mixture or tahwicheh (which means ‘foraging’ in Arabic).
Add the minced meat to the herb mixture and mix well, using your hand and dipping it every now and then in the bowl of salted water. Divide the meat into 16 pieces and form each into a torpedo-shaped patty with your hands. Squeeze each patty slightly to make indentations in the mixture with your fingers.
Arrange the patties in a circle on a serving platter, piling the basil leaves in the middle of the plate. Serve immediately with olive oil for those who would like to drizzle some over their kibbeh.
Lamb Cooked in its Mother’s Milk
LABAN EMMOH
I love the name of this dish, which in Arabic means the milk of its mother, although it is not entirely accurate because the lamb is actually cooked in yoghurt and not in milk! I am guessing that the name derives from the traditional practice of making yoghurt from sheep’s milk before using it in a number of dishes where meat or vegetables or even eggs are cooked in yoghurt, or served topped with yoghurt. This group of dishes is a real favourite of mine, especially in summer when you can serve them just warm, which is perfect on hot days.
Serves 4
4 lamb shanks
Coarse sea salt
400g (14oz) baby onions (about 16 in total), peeled
For the yoghurt sauce
25g (1oz) unsalted butter
100g (3½oz) fresh coriander (about ½ bunch), most of the stalk discarded, finely chopped
7 large garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1kg (2lb 2oz) plain yoghurt (preferably goat’s)
1 medium-sized organic egg, whisked
Put the shanks in a large saucepan, add 1.25 litres (2¼ pints) of water and place over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, skimming away any scum that rises to the surface, and add 1 tablespoon of salt. Reduce the heat, cover the pan and let it bubble gently for 45 minutes. Add the peeled onions and simmer for another 15 minutes or until both onions and meat are done.
Meanwhile, make the yoghurt sauce. First melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped coriander and crushed garlic and sauté for 1 minute or until the mixture becomes aromatic, then remove from the heat, cover with a clean tea towel and set aside.
Put the yoghurt in a large heavy-based saucepan. Add the whisked egg and a little salt. Mix well and place over a medium heat. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly to help prevent the yoghurt from curdling. When the yoghurt has come to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes, still stirring.
Use tongs to remove the shanks from the broth and slide them into the yoghurt. Then use a slotted spoon to transfer the onions from the broth into the yoghurt sauce. Add the sautéd coriander and garlic and simmer, stirring very regularly to stop the yoghurt from curdling, for another 10 minutes. Serve hot with vermicelli rice or good bread.
Stuffed Breast of Lamb
DOLE’ MEHSHI
My mother always changed the menu for our Christmas meals. One year she would make turkey, using the same stuffing as the one below, which also goes well with chicken. Another year she would make kibbeh bil-saniyeh and another year she would make breast of lamb. This is the bit of meat that covers the ribs and as a result is quite fatty. It tends to be large (if the lamb is quite old, which is how it is sold in Lebanon) and triangular in shape, and there are two ways of stuffing it. One is to fold it in half and sew it all around the edges, leaving a large enough opening through which you insert the rice, meat and nut stuffing before sewing the opening shut; the other method (the one given here) is to make a pocket between the skin and the meat that you then stuff with the rice mixture and sew shut. The presentation is probably more appealing if you keep the breast as it is and don’t fold it. In either case, stuffed breast is a great variation on the more classic stuffed turkey. You could also use a neck fillet or a boned shoulder. Both will have a lot more meat on them.
Serves 8
1 side of a breast of lamb (ask your butcher to slice off the rib bones and to make the pocket between the skin and the meat)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
1 medium-sized onion, peeled and studded with 8 cloves
For the stuffing
100g (3½oz) pine nuts
100g (3½oz) blanched almond halves
300g (11oz) freshly minced lean lamb, from the shoulder or shanks (either ask your butcher to mince the lamb or do it yourself using the fine attachment on a meat grinder)
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