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1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp finely ground black pepper
Sea salt
400g (14oz) short-grain white rice (bomba, Calasparra or Egyptian), rinsed under cold water and drained
First make the stuffing. Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F), gas mark 7.
Spread the pine nuts and almonds on separate baking sheets and toast in the oven, 5–6 minutes for the pine nuts and 7–8 minutes for the almonds, until they turn golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Put the mince in a non-stick saucepan large enough for cooking the rice, and sauté over a medium heat until the meat has lost all traces of pink. Add the spices and some salt, then add the toasted nuts (reserving a little for garnish) and the rice. Mix well, then pour in 650ml (just over 1 pint) of water and a little more salt. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Start sewing one side of the opening of the pocket in the lamb breast and stuff the pocket with the rice mixture. You want to use about one-third of the rice, reserving the rest for serving with the lamb. Spread the rice evenly inside the pocket, align the edges of the breast and sew the opening shut.
Heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Delicately transfer the stuffed breast to the pan and brown on both sides. Pour in 1.5 litres (2½ pints) of water and add the cinnamon stick, bay leaf and the clove-studded onion. Bring to the boil, skimming away any scum that rises to the surface, then reduce the heat, cover the pan with a lid and let it bubble gently for about 1½ hours.
Remove the breast from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving. Alternatively, if you want the meat to have a more golden colour, you can transfer it to a baking dish and bake it in the oven (preheated to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6) for 10–15 minutes or until golden. Leave to rest for 5 minutes once cooked.
Meanwhile, add a little broth from cooking the lamb to the remaining rice mixture, and cook over a low heat until the rice is completely done and very hot. Slice the breast into thick slices, being careful not to break up the rice stuffing, and serve with the remaining rice on the side.
Dumplings in Yoghurt Sauce
SHISH BARAK
There is a recipe for this dish, also known as shushbarak, in a fifteenth-century Syrian cookery book called Kitab al-Tibakhah (The Book of Cookery), written by Ibn al-Mabrad or Ibn al-Mubarrad, a legal scholar from Damascus. The author gives these instructions: ‘You take minced meat and stuff it in dough rolled out like cut tutmaj [unfilled dumplings cooked in yoghurt]. It is cooked in water until done. Then take [it] off the fire and put yoghurt, garlic and mint in it.’ This is more like the Turkish or Armenian manti, in which the dumplings are either poached or baked before being dressed with the yoghurt sauce, whereas in the Lebanese version they are cooked in the yoghurt. Shish barak is a rather elaborate dish and my mother always reserved it for special occasions. That said, it freezes very well and you can make the dumplings ahead of time and keep them in the freezer until you are ready to serve, at which point all you will have left to do is to prepare the yoghurt sauce.
Serves 4–6
For the dough
175g (6oz) unbleached plain flour, plus extra for dusting
Sea salt
For the stuffing
1 small onion, peeled and very finely chopped
Pinch of ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice or Lebanese seven-spice mixture
⅛ tsp finely ground black pepper
150g (5oz) 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)
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
5cm (2in) diameter pastry cutter
Tip the flour into a mixing bowl, add 100ml (3½fl oz) of water and a pinch of salt and knead with your hands for 3 minutes or until you have a rather firm dough. Invert the bowl over the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. Then knead the dough for another 3 minutes or until it is smooth and malleable. Cover with a clean, damp tea towel and let it rest for another 15 minutes.
Next make the stuffing. Put the chopped onion in another mixing bowl, sprinkle with the spices and a little salt and firmly rub the seasonings in with your fingers to soften the onion. Add the minced meat and mix with your hands until the meat and onion are well blended. Pinch off a little of the mixture and sear in a hot pan to taste, then adjust the seasoning if necessary. Cover the mixture in the bowl with a clean tea towel.
Sprinkle a large freezerproof platter with a little flour and have it ready to put the dumplings on. Divide the dough into two, rolling each piece into a ball and putting one back under the damp tea towel. Flatten the other slightly, dip both surfaces in flour, shake the excess off and roll out into a large circle, about 2mm (1⁄16in) thick. Using the pastry cutter, cut the dough into as many circles as you can, starting from the very edge and working your way inwards. Knead the excess dough into a small ball and slip under the damp tea towel to let it rest.
Turn the circles over, then take one and lay it across the fingers of one hand. Place ¼ teaspoon of stuffing in the middle. Fold the dough over the filling, aligning the edges together to make a half circle. With your free thumb and index finger pinch the edges tightly together into a thin flat wedge. Fold the dumpling until the two ends meet. Pinch them well together and set the curled dumpling on the flour-dusted platter, with the fat part facing down – the finished dumpling should look like a mini tortellini but with a narrower uncurled rim. Continue making the dumplings and arranging them neatly on the platter until you have used up both dough – including the remaining balls of dough under the tea towel – and filling.
Put the dumplings in the freezer while you make the yoghurt sauce. This will firm them up and stop them becoming misshapen as you drop them into the sauce. If you are freezing them for later use, wait until they have frozen before covering them with cling film or slipping them into a freezer bag to avoid squashing them.
To make the yoghurt sauce, 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.
Take the dumplings out of the freezer and carefully drop them into the simmering yoghurt. Bring back to a simmer and stir in the sautéd coriander and garlic. Simmer for another 5 minutes or until the dumplings are cooked. Serve hot with vermicelli rice or good bread.
Aubergine and Rice Cake
MAQLUBEH
You need to cook maqlubeh in a pan with straight sides that are not too high. This will allow you to turn it over (maqlubeh means ‘turned over’ in Arabic)