An Homage to My Beloved Aleppo, Kebab Bil Karaz.
I believe that cuisine is an essential aspect of culture. During my research on tangible and intangible heritage during my work as a vice-chair of the special projects at International Organization of Folk Art, I realized that the high-quality content of photos about the Aleppo cuisine is rare. So, I took the initiative by hiring my photography skills and my great grandmother’s recipes to enrich the visual and written content about the cuisine of my gorgeous city “Aleppo.”
Aleppian cuisine is famous for spice and bold flavors. Aleppians are proud of their unique mixture of species called “Bharat”, which contains seven kinds of spices and is used as a replacement of paper. During history, Aleppo was a culinary destination well before France and Italy were even on the culinary map.
I will start with the Aleppo authentic special plate “Lahmeh bi Karaz,” or “Kebab bil Karaz,” is the sour cherry sauce lamb meatballs. We used to have this plate during our summer vacations with the big family gatherings especially when we have barbecue parties. This plate is so dear to my heart and many others from Aleppo, especially children. This authentic Aleppian dish is a combination of sweet and sour taste. The cherry which used in this plate is named “Wishna,” and planted in Aleppo and Idlib and it is special with its sour flavor. The sour cherry juice cooked with grilled lamb meatballs “Kebab pieces” served on small triangle pieces of Arabic bread “Pita bread” and garnished with parsley, pine nuts and a pinch of ground cinnamon.
RECIPE
Serves: 4
Prep: 30 mins
Cook: 40 mins
Total: 1 hour 10 mins
INGREDIENTS
500 gr ground lamb meat
Sugar
Paper “Bharat” (The seven spices)
1 Kilo Sour cherry (Wishna) Morello cherry
Salt
Cinnamon
Olive oil or ghee
Parsley
Pine nuts
PREPARATION
1) In Aleppo we use fresh sour cherries “known as Wishna” or you can use the frozen seedless Morello cherries. Traditionally they used to take out the seeds and the sticks and gather the cherries inside a piece of cloth and juice the cherries by hands. Recently people started to use the blender to grind the cherries and get the sauce. Afterwards, you pure the sauce using a fine strainer.
2) Put the pureed cherry sauce into a pot on the stove till it boils.
3) Add a pinch of salt, and two tablespoons of sugar.
4) Leave the sauce on the stove for 10 mins after boiling.
5) Usually, as I mentioned earlier, we use the grilled kebab with this plate, but you can prepare it at home by mixing salt and Bharat with the ground lamb meat.
6) Start shaping the ground meat with your hands as little balls.
7) In a pan, put some olive oil or ghee and heat it for a bit.
8) Add the meatballs to the pan and cook them till their color becomes darker.
9) Add the fried meatballs to the cherry sauce on the stove and leave it for around 10 mins.
10) Cut some bread (two loaves) into small triangles and spread them on a plate.
11) Pour the cherry sauce, and meat balls mister over the triangle bread pieces.
12) Chop some parsley and pine nut for garnish on the top.
13) Add a pinch of cinnamon to the top.
Now it is ready for serving. Please enjoy!
