Upside-Down Rice

Take 3 uqiyyas of lean meat and chop it like meat for grilling, or even smaller, and chop an onion fine. In a pot on the fire put an uqiyya of ghee and throw in the onion until it wilts; then put the meat on top, and add salt and allspice and half an uqiyya of soaked chickpeas. Fry all this together, then add a glass of water to the meat and let it boil until it dries. Then rinse an oka of rice and add it to the meat without water. Then take a second pot and put in it a little water and salt; when it has come to a good boil, pour it over the rice that you have laid over the meat, and let the pot boil until it dries. When the rice is done, take it down off the fire and do not stir it; then turn it out onto a tray, which you set over a low fire until the rice sets, the pot staying over the tray until serving time.

Rice with Spring Chickens

Take the spring chicken and cut it into four pieces after slaughtering and cleaning it. Heat a little ghee in a pot and fry the chicken until it browns; then put water, salt, and allspice over it, and cook until it is done. Then take 3 uqiyyas of rice, rinse it, and drop it over the chicken; put in a sufficient quantity of water and cook. When the rice is done, take it off the fire and stir it, then set it over a low fire; and at serving time serve it with a lettuce salad alongside.

Rice with Small Birds

Take the birds, pluck and dress them, and wipe each one with a clean cloth, without water. Put the ghee in a pot and heat it, fry the birds in it, and put a little water over them; when it boils, add the salt and allspice. Then rinse 3 uqiyyas of rice and drop it into the pot, putting in a sufficient quantity of water. When it is done, take it off the fire and stir it, then set it over a low fire so that it stays hot until serving time.

Fish Tagine

Clean the fish and fry it a little, then arrange it in the baking dish and add onion chopped in slivers and peeled tomato cut in slivers; add butter or ghee, salt, allspice, and cinnamon, and a few sour qarasiya plums; then bake it in the oven until it is done.

Useful hint: In place of the qarasiya you may use sour

pomegranate syrup, or sumac, or bitter wine.

Baked Fish with Tahini

Peel the onion and cut it in slivers, then fry it in the oil in which you fried the fish. Then beat the tahini with lemon juice and salt and two pounded cloves of garlic. Put the fish in the middle of the dish, pour the onion and the tahini over it, and bake it in the oven. After baking, garnish it with sprigs of parsley and boiled potatoes.

Stuffed Fish

After cleaning the fish well, split it carefully and remove its bones; then stuff it with pieces of

Dassam Samn — Al-Zoubi

The best samn is Dassam —

nourishment in it, and richness in it.

Al-Zoubi

dassam