Recipes

This recipe for Lamb & Cherry Kebabs comes from Anissa Helou. She says "If there is a dish that symbolises the cooking of Aleppo, this has to be it. There are several versions. Maria grinds the cherries before cooking them while my friends Lena Toutounji, who has one of the best tables in Aleppo, and May Mamarbachi, the creator of the first boutique hotel in Damascus, the wonderful Beit Mamlouka, both leave the cherries whole. Maya very kindly gave me cherries from her frozen stock so that I could test the recipe. I am not sure if fresh sour cherries are available in the US but Jeffrey Steingarten, who was with me on a previous trip to Syria when Maria demonstrated the dish, declared that the Syrian sour cherries were the same as those you buy dried in the states. If you can’t get them fresh, simply soak dried ones as indicated below and use as with fresh ones."

Serves 4

For the meatballs (kabab)

    1 lb minced lamb
    ½ tbsp sea salt
    ½ teaspoon 7-spice mixture (or allspice)
    1 tbsp unsalted butter

For the cherry sauce

    2 lb fresh sour cherries, pitted (or 1 lb dried sour cherries soaked overnight in 2 cups water)
    1 tbsp sugar
    1 tbsp pomegranate syrup

To finish
   
    2 tbsp unsalted butter,
    2 to 3 pita breads, opened at the seams and cut into medium sized triangles
    ground allspice
    3 tbsp finely chopped parsley
    4 tbsp pine nuts

Mix the meat with the salt and spice mixture (or allspice) and shape into small balls, the size of large marbles. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat and sauté the meatballs until lightly browned.

Put the cherries, sugar and pomegranate syrup in a saucepan large enough to eventually take the meatballs and place over medium heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the meatballs and simmer for another 15 minutes.

Melt half the butter in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the pine nuts and sauté, stirring constantly, until lightly golden. Be sure not to burn them.

To assemble the dish: spread the pita bread all over the serving platter, coarse side up and making sure the pointed ends are nicely arranged on the outside. Melt the remaining butter and drizzle all over the bread. Sprinkle with a little allspice. Spoon the meat and sauce all over the bread. Sprinkle the chopped parsley all over, then the sautéed pine nuts. Serve immediately.