Lebanese Kibbeh
KIBBEH
2 1/2 cups cubed tender lamb
2 cups burghul (crushed wheat)
2 medium sized onions
2 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. pepper
Ice water
Kibbeh is virtually the national dish of Lebanon and to call it a meat loaf does not quite raise it to the heights it deserves. Its traditional preparation is dramatic. It requires a stone mortar and a heavy pestle called the jorn and modaqqa. The meat is pounded with rhythmic motions until it is smooth and pasty. All the neighborhood knows the sound of kibbeh in the making.
Fried or Broiled Kibbeh
KIBBEH QRASS MASHWIEH or MAQLIEH
There are various sorts of kibbeh, and here is another favorite. Sometimes this kibbeh is molded into two pieces stuffed with lumps of lard, formed like a tea cup and broiled over charcoal on the grill which Lebanese call a manqal, or made into one round piece like a biscuit and fried.
Prepare a recipe of basic kibbeh and one of stuffing as described in Kibbeh bi Ssanieh. Or, work a cup of lard with salt, pepper and cinnamon for the stuffing material.
Form kibbeh into balls the size of a walnut. Smooth the meat ball with fingers dipped in cold water. With the thumb, form a hole in the meatball. Fill it with half a teaspoon of the meat stuffing, push meat into place, closing the opening, and pat the meatball into an egg shape. Fry in hot fat. Or stuff with the same quantity of seasoned lard and broil in the oven or over charcoal fire. If they are broiled, they are usually dipped in sizzling fat just before serving. This is the Syrian way. They are often served with a salad, laban or with the cucumber-laban mixture called Laban bi khyaar.
Kibbeh in a Tray
KIBBEH BI SSANIEH
Grease a shallow 12 x 18 inch baking pan. Pat a layer of basic kibbeh smoothly and firmly over the bottom of the pan to the depth of one inch. Cover this evenly with with a layer of stuffing. Top with a second layer of kibbeh slightly thicker than the first. Score into diamond shapes with a sharp knife. Pour one cup melted samneh or butter over all. Bake in moderate oven about 20 minutes, or until well browned. Serve hot or cold. Serves 8 persons.

Stuffing:
1 cup ground meat
1 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 Cup cooking fat
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
Heat fat. Fry chopped onions in it until soft. Add meat and fry until lightly browned. Add pine nuts and continue frying until they are slightly browned and the meat has lost its pink color entirely. Season with salt, pepper and cinnamon. Pour off excess fat.

Kibbeh in Laban (yoghurt)
KIBBEH BI LABAN

Prepare one recipe of Kibbeh 'Qrass Mashwieh and one of cooked laban. Form kibbeh into 18 balls the size of an egg. Boil one cup of rice until tender. Combine meat balls, rice, laban and half teaspoon each of crushed garlic, salt and dried mint which have been fried lightly in samneh. Simmer gently first on medium fire and later on a low fire as the sauce thickens. Add salt to taste. Serve with rice. Serves 6.
Meat Loaf in Tray

KAFTA BI SSANIEH
2 1/2 Ibs. Iamb or beef
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 Cup samneh (or other shortening)
1 cup fresh tomato juice, or
1 tsp. tomato paste diluted in one cup water
1 cup chopped onions
1 egg white
Kafta is classical in the Lebanese cuisine. This is an old recipe but its appeal is the same today as yesterday.
Grind meat through the fine blade of meat grinder several times until it is almost pasty. (In Lebanon the meat is pounded to a pasty consistency in a mortar and pestle). Now pass the ground meat through the food chopper several times with the chopped onions until thoroughly blended. Add salt and pepper. Spread meat mixture evenly about one inch thick on a large baking pan. Bake in moderate oven until lightly browned. Spread the samneh (or other shortening) over the meat and continue baking until well browned. Add tomato juice and bake until half the juice is absorbed. At this point Lebanese cooks place the pan on top of the stove to finish cooking. The sauce must be almost entirely absorbed. Cut into squares to serve. Accompany with fried or mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables and a green salad.

Meat Loaf with Potatoes
KAFTA U BATAATA BI SSANIEH
For a one dish meal try this combination of meat loaf baked with sliced, boiled potatoes.
Prepare meat as for Kafta in a Tray. Spread the meat on an oiled tin or baking pan. Cover with a layer of thickly sliced boiled potatoes topped with a layer of sliced tomatoes. Combine a cup of tomato juice with salt and pepper to taste and pour over the vegetables. Bake in a moderate oven until the meat is well cooked and the sauce has thickened like gravy.
Fried Meat Patties
KAFTA 'QRASS MAQLIEH
Combine one pound of ground lamb with an unbeaten egg white and salt and pepper to taste. Form into patties the size of biscuits. Dip in flour and pan fry in hot fat. Serve with salad and potato chips.
Meat Balls on a Skewer
KAFTA 'ALA SHEESH
1 Ib. Iamb neck meat
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 Cup finely chopped onions
1/2 Cup chopped parsley
These are best when broiled over charcoal. The Lebanese eat them hamburger fashion inside a loaf of Arabic bread which catches all the well flavored meat juices.
Grind meat several times through fine blade of the meat grinder. Mix well with other ingredient, and form into balls the size of an egg. Thread the meat balls onto skewers for broiling. If the meat balls are to be broiled in an oven they should be sprinkled lightly vwith olive oil. Broil until rare, medium or well-done, according to taste. Serve with laban and green salad.
Vary these meat balls by adding an unbeaten egg white to the mixture. Form into patties, dip in flour and pan-fry in hot fat. Serve with potato chips and salad, or a sauteed vegetable such as green beans, carrots or peas.

Meat Balls in Tomato Sauce
KAFTA 'QRASS BI SAALSIT EL BANADOURA
Make a sauce by diluting a tablespoon of tomato paste in 11/2 Cups water. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Drop fried kafta cakes into the boiling sauce and simmer for 40 minutes (or cook under pressure for 15 minutes). Serve these meat balls with mashed potatoes and a cooked green vegetable.

Meat Loaf in Tray
KAFTA BI SSANIEH
2 1/2 Ibs. Iamb or beef
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
3/4 Cup samneh (or other shortening)
1 cup fresh tomato juice, or
1 tsp. tomato paste diluted in one cup water
1 cup chopped onions
1 egg white
Kafta is classical in the Lebanese cuisine. This is an old recipe but its appeal is the same today as yesterday.
Grind meat through the fine blade of meat grinder several times until it is almost pasty. (In Lebanon the meat is pounded to a pasty consistency in a mortar and pestle). Now pass the ground meat through the food chopper several times with the chopped onions until thoroughly blended. Add salt and pepper. Spread meat mixture evenly about one inch thick on a large baking pan. Bake in moderate oven until lightly browned. Spread the samneh (or other shortening) over the meat and continue baking until well browned. Add tomato juice and bake until half the juice is absorbed. At this point Lebanese cooks place the pan on top of the stove to finish cooking. The sauce must be almost entirely absorbed. Cut into squares to serve. Accompany with fried or mashed potatoes, cooked vegetables and a green salad.

Broiled Lamb
LAHM MASHWI
1 lb. smaiskeh (baby lamb fillet)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
12 small onions (optional)
Foreigners call this dish shish kebab. It tastes best when made with very young spring lamb. Lebanese cooks broil the skewered meat over charcoal on their braziers called manqals. The juices which drip during the broiling are caught inside a loaf of Arabic bread. When the meat is done, it is slipped off the skewer into the bread. In Turkey the meat is marinated in olive oil before broiling.
Chop meat into one-inch cubes. Season with salt and pepper and let stand for an hour. Spear on to skewers, allowing six pieces of meat per person. Alternate lean and fatty meat with onions. Broil under a very hot flame, or over charcoal until outside is well browned and sizzling. If broiled in the oven, sprinkle a little olive oil over meat before broiling so that it will not dry out. Excellent accompaniments to this meat are laban and the savory Arabic sauces called hummus bi taheeni and baba ghannouj.
Pounded Meat Patties
'QRASS LAHMI MADQOUQA
2 lbs. boneless lamb
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
Pound meat in a mortar until pasty or grind it several times through the meat grinder. Add salt and pepper. Form into patties two inches in diameter and about three-quarters inch-thick. Pan-fry in samneh or other melted shortening. Or place on baking sheet, dot each with shortening and bake in moderate oven until Brown
Savoury Meat Balls
DAWWD BASHA
2 lbs. ground, beef or lamb
1 1/2 cups sliced onions
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 Cup samneh (or other shortening)
1/4 Cup pine nuts
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 1/2 CupS water
This dish carries to posterity the name of a Turkish Pasha who lived in Lebanon and who was very fond of these well seasoned meat balls.
Grind meat several times through fine blade of meat grinder. (In Lebanon the meat is struck in a mortar with a pestle until it becomes quite pasty.) Mix meat and seasonings together well, using the hands to achieve a smooth blend. Form the meat into small balls the size of marbles. Fry until brown in the hot samneh or other fat. Add sliced onions and pine nuts. continue to fry gently until well sauteed. Add tomato paste diluted with the water. Simmer until meat is well done. Serve with rice. Serves 8 persons.
Ground Meat Rolls
ROSTO MADQOUQA MARTADELLA
2 1/2 lbs lean meat (beef or mutton)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup vinegar
1 tsp. tomato paste
1 stick cinnamon
2 bay leaves
Pound meat in a mortar until pasty or grind several times through fine blade of meat grinder. Mix well with seasonings and egg whites. Form into rolls about two inches in diameter and four inches long. (A hard boiled, shelled egg may be placed inside each roll.) Dip in slightly beaten egg white, then in toasted bread crumbs and brown well in hot samneh or other shortening. Make a sauce with one cup water, the wine, vinegar, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and tomato paste. Cook meat rolls in sauce until meat is done and sauce thickened. Lift meat from sauce. Cool. Slice. Serve hot or cold. Thin slices are good appetizers with cocktails. Hot, the meat may be served as a main course, accompanied by its own sauce, and fried potatoes, vegetables and salad.

Laban with Meat
LABAN IMMO *
2 cups leg of lamb cut in one-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
2 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Several lamb bones
Bring meat to a boil with water and salt. Skim off foam. Add onions (small whole white onions may be used). Cook under pressure for 30 minutes. Open pressure cooker and let simmer until liquid is reduced to less than one-half cup. Cool. Add laban which has been prepared according to the recipe for cooking laban (see p. 119). Simmer over a low fire until the sauce thickens. Crushed garlic and crushed dried coriander seeds should be fried quickly in fat and added. Serve tepid with riz mufalfal. Serves six.
Roast Stuffed Kid (Saudi Arabia)
KHAROOF MAHSHI
1 15-lb. kid or baby lamb
4 cups cooked rice
2 cups chopped pistachio nuts
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1 1/2 cups sultana raisins
1 cup ghee or butter
2 cups sliced onions
3 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. kizbara (coriander)
1/2 tsp- coarsely ground pepper
1 tsp. candied ginger, ground
Stuffed kid or baby lamb or sheep is so typical of Saudi Arabian food that no feast, whether a royal affair or a family gathering, will be without it. The meat, surrounded by masses of rice and garnished with hard boiled eggs, is presented to the gathering on a huge tray.
The following recipe is adapted to modern cooking devices. It might be cooked most successfully at an outdoor barbecue, although with careful attention and constant basting, the meat can be satisfactorily roasted in the oven. The seasonings which are listed are authentic and all must be used to achieve the correct flavor.
Have butcher prepare kid for roasting. Rinse inside and out. Wipe dry. Rub carcass both inside and out with mixture of 1/2 a cup of the onions and the seasonings. Mix rice with nuts, raisins, 1 1/2 cups onions, and stuff the animal. Sew the opening. Put the stuffed kid in a large pan. Pour melted fat over it and roast in a slow oven until meat is very tender and outside well browned. Baste frequently with pan drippings. Or, roast outdoors on a rotisserie over charcoal for best flavor.
Preserved Spiced Mutton
QAWWRAMA
Oawwrama is a heavily fatted, spiced preserved meat which is well known in the traditional Lebanese diet. Similar preservation of sheep or mutton is carried out in other Arab countries. It becomes very important for it will keep at least through one winter and often into a second season.
It forms the basis for winter stews, and can be combined with rice or burghul as stuffing for various kinds of mahshie or it can be boiled with kishk to make a robust winter porridge. Qawwrama adds flavor and nutrition to fried eggs and it is also relished by many as a spread for bread.
The day set aside each Fall in a Lebanese village for making qawwrama is one of community feasting and festivity. A sheep which has been force-fed and fattened all summer is slaughtered and the women set to work stripping the fat from the carcass and melting it down in a large copper pan called a dist. Next the lean meat is cubed, heavily seasoned with salt and pepper and then fried in the hot fat until well cooked. The fried meat is packed into jars and the fat is poured in around it before the jars are sealed. (The old method of sealing the jars with clay is still used in many places.)
The best meat goes into the qawwrama but much that is edihle and flavorful remains on the carcass to form the basis of the day's feasting. One dish that is particularly relished by all the friends and relatives who have been invited for this occasion is kroush mahshieh. It is prepared by stuffing the sheep's intestines with a well seasoned mixture of bits of meat, rice, chickpeas and onions.
A delicacy called ghameh is prepared from the sheep's stomach. The stomach is cleaned well with salt, soap and water. It is rinsed and finally rubbed with flour and rinsed again several times. The stomach is cut into small squares which are wrapped around a seasoned meat and rice mixture and cooked.
Fatteh. Another popular dish at this feast is put together in a deep dish. A layer of small pieces of toasted bread is spread in the bottom of the dish. Over that is laid the meat and broth mixed with crushed garlic, then laban, melted samneh, crushed dried mint and roasted pine nuts. This is a flavorful dish.
Hreesi. The sheep's bones lend their flavor to a famous Lebanese dish known as hreesi which is traditionally served at the feast marking Assumption Day ('Id es Saidi) in August, but which is enjoyed any time of year when a sheep is slaughtered. The bones are cooked with large pieces of meat to make a broth. Whole wheat which has been sprinkled with water and then crushed slightly in a mortar is boiled in the broth for many hours until the whole is the consistency of cooked oatmeal. Hreesi is aptly named, for the word means "well cooked".