Orange Blossom Water

Lahmeh Bi-Karaz or Kabab Bel-Karaz is Cherry Kabab, an authentic Aleppine dish that combines sour and sweet taste. It is lamb meatballs “kabab” cooked with small sour cherries “washneh” كرز الوشنة. Served on pieces of Arabic bread cut in triangles and scattered with pine nuts and parsley.

Let’s make Lahmeh Bi-Karaz:

Cherry Sauce

1, 2. The small sour cherry used in Aleppo is called “Washneh” كرز الوشنة, it grows in Aleppo and Idilb and the dish is usually prepared with fresh “Washneh”. Fresh sour cherry “Washneh” is not available where I live, and after searching I discovered that what we know as “Washneh” is the same as “Morello Cherry”, so I used frozen morello cherry, the photo shows you the brand and the name of the cherry, it is German brand.

3,4. Measure 500 g frozen seedless Morello cherry.

5, 6, 7, 8. Let cherries thaw at room temperature.

9. Put thawed cherries in the blender.

10, 11. Run your blender few times.

13, 14. Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over your bowl and pour the juice through the strainer.

15, 16. Use a spoon and press against the strainer to extract as much pure juice as possible.

17. This is the juice in the bowl.

18, 19. When you extract juice, you will get pulp in the strainer. Do not discard the pulp.

20. Take the pulp back to the blender.

21. Add 1 cup water to the pulp.

22. Run your blender few times.

23. Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over your bowl which contains cherry juice, and pour the blended mixture of pulp and water through the strainer. Use a spoon and press against the strainer to extract as much juice as possible.

24. This time discard the pulp you get in the stainer.

25, 26. Pour cherry juice to a deep pot

27, 28. Add 5 tablespoons sugar to cherry juice, and mix to dissolve.

29, 30. Turn on heat, and keep cherry juice on medium heat.

31. Keep over medium heat until boiling.

32. Once cherry juice started to boil, reduce heat and keep it low.

33, 34. Allow to simmer over low heat, till the liquid reduces and thickened a little, check the thickness by testing on a spoon, the syrup should coat the spoon, or you may immerse a piece of bread to the sauce then remove it and it should be coated by the syrup. For me, the time of the whole process from step 29 to 34 was 60 minutes.

35, 36. Once the liquid is thickened, turn off heat and set aside.

Lamb Meatballs / Kabab

Prepare the meatballs during the time of making the cherry sauce. The meatballs are also called “kabab”.

37. Put fat free ground lamb meat in a bowl.

38. In the photo this is ground sheep/lamb tail fat “liyeh”.

39. Add ground sheep/lamb tail fat “liyeh” to ground meat.

40. Season the mixture with al-bhar al-halabi (bhar al-daqqa al-halabi), salt and black pepper.

41. Mix all the ingredients together until combined.

42, 43, 44. Divide meat mixture into balls, each ball equals to 10 grams.

Traditionally kabab is put on skewers and grilled on charcoal grill, but I used the oven.

45, 46. Grease oven dish with corn oil, and put the meatballs in the dish.

47, 48. Heat the oven at 390 – 480 °F (200 – 250 °C). Turn on the oven upper burner “broiler” and turn off the bottom burner “bake function”. Place the dish in the oven and broil the meatballs and turn them from time to time till grilled evenly in all sides.

49, 50. Take grilled meatballs out of the oven.

51. In a small bowl, put corn oil.

52. Put the bowl of corn oil inside the dish of grilled meatballs.

53, 54, 55, 56, 57. Bring coal and burn it on stove till red.

58. Use a tong to hold the coal, and put the coal in the bowl of corn oil.

59. Coal will produce smoke.

60. Immediately cover the dish with aluminum foil and keep it covered for some time. This step will give meatballs taste similar to the taste you get from grilling them on charcoal grill.

If you don’t want to grill meatballs in oven, so heat 1 teaspoon ghee in pan, add meatballs and cook on stove until evenly browned, then do the same steps (51 – 60).

61. Discard the oil and the coal.

62. Bring the cherry sauce.

63, 64, 65, 66. Add meatballs to cherry sauce.

67, 68. Turn on heat, cook meatballs in cherry sauce over low heat for 15 minutes until meatballs coated with cherry sauce and take on the cherry color.

Assembly

69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74. Cut the Arabic flat bread into small triangles and arrange in a circular pattern on the plate, with the pointy end facing out and the light side up.

75, 76. In a pan, heat ghee, and add pine nuts and keep until golden brown in color, then remove and place on paper towel and set aside.

77. Chop parsley leaves, and set aside.

78, 79.  Bring the cherry kabab and the bread.

80, 81, 82. Spoon the meatballs “kabab” and the cherry sauce.

83, 84. Sprinkle with pinch of cinnamon.

85, 86, 87, 88. Garnish with pine nuts and chopped parsley.

89. Lahmeh Bi-Karaz is eaten by hand, scooped with the pieces of bread that have absorbed the sauce. Serve and enjoy.

Lahmeh Bi-Karaz

From: Different Resources / Servings: 3 People
PDF Text Only / Print With Images

Cherry Sauce 500 g frozen seedless Morello cherry, thawed 1 cup water 5 tbsp sugar Lamb Meatballs / Kabab 250 g ground fat free lamb meat 50 g ground sheep/lamb tail fat “liyeh” 1/8 tsp al-bhar al-halabi 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper Assembly 2 loaves (each 100 g) Arabic flat bread, cut into small triangles 3/4 tsp ghee, for pine nuts 25 g pine nuts 1/4 cup medium chopped flat parsley leaves Pinch of cinnamon

Cherry Sauce The sour cherry used in Aleppo is called “Washneh” كرز الوشنة, it grows in Aleppo and Idilb and the dish is usually prepared with fresh “Washneh”. Fresh sour cherry “Washneh” is not available where I live, and after searching I discovered that what we know as “Washneh” is the same as “Morello Cherry”, so I used frozen Morello cherry, the photo shows you the brand and the name of the cherry, it is German brand. Measure 500 g frozen seedless Morello cherry. Let cherries thaw at room temperature. Put thawed cherries in the blender. Run your blender few times Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over your bowl and pour the juice through the strainer. Use a spoon and press against the strainer to extract as much pure juice as possible. When you extract juice, you will get pulp in the strainer. Do not discard the pulp. Take the pulp back to the blender. Add 1 cup water to the pulp. Run your blender few times. Place a stainless steel mesh strainer over your bowl which contains cherry juice, and pour the blended mixture of pulp and water through the strainer. Use a spoon and press against the strainer to extract as much juice as possible. This time discard the pulp you get in the strainer. Pour cherry juice to a deep pot Add 5 tablespoons sugar to cherry juice, and mix to dissolve. Turn on heat, and keep cherry juice on medium heat. Keep over medium heat until boiling. Once cherry juice started to boil, reduce heat and keep it low. Allow to simmer over low heat, till the liquid reduces and thickened a little, check the thickness by testing on a spoon, the syrup should coat the spoon, or you may immerse a piece of bread to the sauce then remove it and it should be coated by the syrup. For me, the time of the whole process from step 29 to 34 was 60 minutes. Once the liquid is thickened, turn off heat and set aside. Lamb Meatballs / Kabab Prepare the meatballs during the time of making the cherry sauce. The meatballs are also called “kabab”. Put fat free ground lamb meat in a bowl. In the photo this is ground sheep/lamb tail fat “liyeh”. Add ground sheep/lamb tail fat “liyeh” to ground meat. Season the mixture with al-bhar al-halabi (bhar al-daqqa al-halabi), salt and black pepper. Mix all the ingredients together until combined. Divide meat mixture into balls, each ball equals to 10 grams. Traditionally kabab is grilled on charcoal grill, but I used the oven. Grease oven dish with corn oil, and put the meatballs in the dish. Heat the oven at 390 – 480 °F (200 – 250 °C). Turn on the oven upper burner “broiler” and turn off the bottom burner “bake function”. Place the dish in the oven and broil the meatballs and turn them from time to time till grilled evenly in all sides. Take grilled meatballs out of the oven. In a small bowl, put corn oil. Put the bowl of corn oil inside the dish of grilled meatballs. Bring coal and burn it on stove till red. Use a tong to hold the coal, and put the coal in the bowl of corn oil. Coal will produce smoke. Immediately cover the dish with aluminum foil and keep it covered for some time. This step will give meatballs taste similar to the taste you get from grilling them on charcoal grill. If you don’t want to grill meatballs in oven, so heat 1 teaspoon ghee in pan, add meatballs and cook on stove until evenly browned, then do the same steps (51 – 60). Discard the oil and the coal. Bring the cherry sauce. Add meatballs to cherry sauce. Turn on heat, cook meatballs in cherry sauce over low heat for 15 minutes until meatballs coated with cherry sauce and take on the cherry color. Assembly Cut the Arabic flat bread into small triangles and arrange in a circular pattern on the plate, with the pointy end facing out and the light side up. In a pan, heat ghee, and add pine nuts and keep until golden brown in color, then remove and place on paper towel and set aside. Chop parsley leaves, and set aside. Bring the cherry kabab and the bread. Spoon the meatballs “kabab” and the cherry sauce. Sprinkle with pinch of cinnamon. Garnish with pine nuts and chopped parsley. Lahmeh Bi-Karaz is eaten by hand, scooped with the pieces of bread that have absorbed the sauce. Serve and enjoy.

Notes and Tips

The small sour cherry used in Aleppo is called “Washneh” كرز الوشنة, it grows in Aleppo and Idilb and the dish is usually prepared with fresh “Washneh”. Fresh sour cherry “Washneh” is not available where I live, and after searching I discovered that what we know as “Washneh” is the same as “Morello Cherry”, so I used frozen morello cherry

500 g is the weight of cherry without seeds. When using fresh cherry, use more quantity to get 500 g seedless cherry. Here is larger photo for the bag of Morello cherry I used.

My oven is gas oven and it has two functions:
The oven upper burner “broiler”.
The oven bottom burner “bake function”.
I can turn on both of them together, and I can turn off one of them and keep the other on.

Click here for the recipe of Al-Bhar Al-Halabi.

I used two plates for serving Lahmeh Bi-Karaz “Cherry Kabab”, each plate of 8 inch (22 cm) diameter, and for each plate I used one loaf of Arabic flat bread (each loaf is 100 g), cut into small triangles.

Here is larger photo for the arrangement of bread triangles.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 13th, 2015 at 9:25 PM and is filed under Syrian Cooking, To Aleppo With Love. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.