Post by curmudgeon on Mar 13, 2006 3:23:43 GMT -5
Strictly speaking, what is sold as "lamb" in American supermarkets is really mutton, but you know what I mean. This is a variation on a Turkish dish, with one very non-Islamic ingredient: a bottle of Heinekin. Seriously. If the alcohol truly offends you, I'll have an alternative for you at the end of this recipe.
In the old days, you'd make this kind of thing with chicken broth as your cooking medium, and it was pretty good. You'd get that homey, soothing quality that a lot of us associate with Middle Eastern home cooking. But then along came the buffalo wing fad, and the cost of chicken wings went up through the ceiling, and you can't get decent beef stockbones anymore, so good, homemade meat broth is turning into rich people's food. What can you do?
You adapt. Heinekin I liked, and not just the color was right.
When you mix it with water, half and half, you get a cooking medium that's great at picking up and enriching the flavor of the meat, and the cooking is going to take so long that nobody could possibly be intoxicated by the results. It's not halal, hence the name of the dish.
We start with about 4 tbsp. of butter, melted in a pot. We toss in a pound of diced lamb (yes, yes, it's mutton, go away), another pound of diced onions, two crushed and coarsely chopped cloves of garlic and a light sprinking of crushed red pepper. How light? Maybe a teaspoon and a half. You toss all of this lightly, just coating it with the butter and then cover it immediately.
That was not a misprint. Western Europeans, as they make a stew, start out dry and then go wet; Middle Easterners reverse that, you might say. You drop the heat to medium low and simmer for maybe another 40 minutes. At this point, you're glad that your "lamb" is really mutton; baby lamb would have dried out.
The onion is essential; without it, the meat will burn. The onion, as you cook slowly, releases its juices, and the meat cooks in these. While this is going on, you take a head of cabbage, shred it finely and then chop it up. Some people like to leave the shreds whole, but I think that's a lot of work for the diner. You cook it until soft in more butter. How much butter? I don't know, however much makes you feel right with the world. I'm guessing that 3 tbsp. of inner peace is probably plenty for anybody at this point.
You cook the cabbage over medium heat, stirring often, until it is very soft, but not browned - and then you set it to one side. At this point, the 40 minutes on your lamb should soon be over. Lift the lid, and you'll see water. Don't be fooled, it's not strong enough to be a broth, but we're on our way.
We take the lid off, and increase the heat to medium, cooking until the moisture is absorbed and the meat and onion are gently, just gently sizzling in the released butterfat. As the moisture nears the point at which it has evaporated, you want to be stirring this dish often, otherwise the onion will stick.
Continue for just a few minutes, until the onion feels soft and has absorbed some of the fat. Put in some finely chopped up tomatoes - maybe half a pound of them, I'm guessing - and cook some more until the tomatoes have released their juices and reabsorbed them, and softened. Put in the cabbage, and mix with everything else throughly. This is why we chopped it - the cabbage will become part of the sauce.
Put in the beer and water, equal amounts of each, enough to just cover the meat, along with a pinch of thyme and a few pinches of fresh dill leaf, and maybe the juice of one lemon, if you wish. (This will give you a tarter, stronger flavored dish; leaving it out you get something gentler). Simmer all of this until the liquid in the pan has been reduced to the point of becoming a gravy. I usually like to toss in a little extra dill and fresh thyme toward the end to perk up the results.
Islam frowns on the use of alcohol, but as is so often the case in so many places, limitations become a spur to creativity. In Western cooking, one has a very familiar procedure of braising meat in an acidic medium (wine) to produce a gravy. Muslim cooks, not being able to use the wine, found that other acids worked too, each giving their own unique characters to a dish - pomegranate molasses, vinegar, yogurt and of course, lemon juice, which is the nonalcoholic substitute I spoke of, above.
Try the juice of two (maybe three) lemons in water, in place of the diluted beer. What you'll end up with will still be a gravy and it won't, despite your expectations, taste of lemon in an overpowering way. Either way, I often enjoy this over rice, for a one-dish meal, or without when I'm in a mood for something a little more aggressive. To drink? Club soda, or something tart.
In the old days, you'd make this kind of thing with chicken broth as your cooking medium, and it was pretty good. You'd get that homey, soothing quality that a lot of us associate with Middle Eastern home cooking. But then along came the buffalo wing fad, and the cost of chicken wings went up through the ceiling, and you can't get decent beef stockbones anymore, so good, homemade meat broth is turning into rich people's food. What can you do?
You adapt. Heinekin I liked, and not just the color was right.
When you mix it with water, half and half, you get a cooking medium that's great at picking up and enriching the flavor of the meat, and the cooking is going to take so long that nobody could possibly be intoxicated by the results. It's not halal, hence the name of the dish. We start with about 4 tbsp. of butter, melted in a pot. We toss in a pound of diced lamb (yes, yes, it's mutton, go away), another pound of diced onions, two crushed and coarsely chopped cloves of garlic and a light sprinking of crushed red pepper. How light? Maybe a teaspoon and a half. You toss all of this lightly, just coating it with the butter and then cover it immediately.
That was not a misprint. Western Europeans, as they make a stew, start out dry and then go wet; Middle Easterners reverse that, you might say. You drop the heat to medium low and simmer for maybe another 40 minutes. At this point, you're glad that your "lamb" is really mutton; baby lamb would have dried out.
The onion is essential; without it, the meat will burn. The onion, as you cook slowly, releases its juices, and the meat cooks in these. While this is going on, you take a head of cabbage, shred it finely and then chop it up. Some people like to leave the shreds whole, but I think that's a lot of work for the diner. You cook it until soft in more butter. How much butter? I don't know, however much makes you feel right with the world. I'm guessing that 3 tbsp. of inner peace is probably plenty for anybody at this point.
You cook the cabbage over medium heat, stirring often, until it is very soft, but not browned - and then you set it to one side. At this point, the 40 minutes on your lamb should soon be over. Lift the lid, and you'll see water. Don't be fooled, it's not strong enough to be a broth, but we're on our way.
We take the lid off, and increase the heat to medium, cooking until the moisture is absorbed and the meat and onion are gently, just gently sizzling in the released butterfat. As the moisture nears the point at which it has evaporated, you want to be stirring this dish often, otherwise the onion will stick.
Continue for just a few minutes, until the onion feels soft and has absorbed some of the fat. Put in some finely chopped up tomatoes - maybe half a pound of them, I'm guessing - and cook some more until the tomatoes have released their juices and reabsorbed them, and softened. Put in the cabbage, and mix with everything else throughly. This is why we chopped it - the cabbage will become part of the sauce.
Put in the beer and water, equal amounts of each, enough to just cover the meat, along with a pinch of thyme and a few pinches of fresh dill leaf, and maybe the juice of one lemon, if you wish. (This will give you a tarter, stronger flavored dish; leaving it out you get something gentler). Simmer all of this until the liquid in the pan has been reduced to the point of becoming a gravy. I usually like to toss in a little extra dill and fresh thyme toward the end to perk up the results.
Islam frowns on the use of alcohol, but as is so often the case in so many places, limitations become a spur to creativity. In Western cooking, one has a very familiar procedure of braising meat in an acidic medium (wine) to produce a gravy. Muslim cooks, not being able to use the wine, found that other acids worked too, each giving their own unique characters to a dish - pomegranate molasses, vinegar, yogurt and of course, lemon juice, which is the nonalcoholic substitute I spoke of, above.
Try the juice of two (maybe three) lemons in water, in place of the diluted beer. What you'll end up with will still be a gravy and it won't, despite your expectations, taste of lemon in an overpowering way. Either way, I often enjoy this over rice, for a one-dish meal, or without when I'm in a mood for something a little more aggressive. To drink? Club soda, or something tart.
