Tomorrow is the first day of Kurban Bayrami, the most important holiday in the Islamic calendar. Now, the p urpose of this blog was originally to feature foods for Pagan days of celebration and foods for magical purposes, but now that I am living in a predominately Muslim country, I have decided to also include foods for their important celebrations as well.
Kurban Bayrami commemorates Ibrahim's near-sacrifice of his son. Muslims sacrifice a goat or sheep in remembrance of the ram that replaced Isaac/Ismail. Tomorrow these animals will be sacrificed and their meat shared with family and with the less fortunate.
Some Americans eat lamb, but few have tasted mutton or goat. Lamb has a much stronger flavor than beef, and mutton (older sheep) and goat taste stronger still. It's an acquired taste, much as elk or venison is to our palate. You could take these recipes and adapt them for beef and serve them at Lammas, Mabon, Samhain, or even Imbolc, but I would probably use lamb for Imbolc.
The following recipes are from a Turkish recipe site, yemek-taifi.info. They are simple in their preparation and do not include many ingredients.
Etli Kuru Fasulye (White beans with meat)
Ingredients
400 grams butter beans (cannellini beans)
15 grams tomato paste
2 onions
salt
250 grams diced lamb
40 grams margarine or vegetable oil
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
Directions
1- Soak beans in plenty of cold water overnight. Drain and rinse under water. (or you can buy these in a can from your local store, which is what I do)
2- Cook beans in water until tender.
3- Brown meat and onions in margarine or oil. Allow any juices to evaporate.
4- Add tomato paste and stir through. Add chopped tomatoes and cook for three minutes.
5- Place enough water to cover meat, cover and cook meat until tender.
6- Rinse beans again and add to meat. Stir. If water is low add a little more.
7- Add salt to taste and simmer until cooked.
Ankara Tava (Ankara lamb roast)
Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter
5 cups water or meat stock
1 onion, chopped fine
1 cup peas
2 cups plain yogurt
salt and ground black pepper
1 egg
2 lb boned leg of lamb, cut into 4 pieces
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
Directions
1 Melt the butter in a pan and fry the lamb pieces until evenly browned. Add the water or stock, the onion, carrot, and peas, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
2 Preheat a 375 F oven. Transfer the lamb and vegetables to an ovenproof dish, reserving the cooking liquid. Mix 2-1/2 cups of the liquid with the yogurt, flour, and seasoning to taste. Pour this sauce over the lamb and vegetables.
3 Beat the egg lightly and pour evenly over the dish. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with the paprika and serve.
Keskek (hulled wheat and mutton neck puree)
Ingredients
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1/4 tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons margarine
2 large onions
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1000 gr. mutton neck
1000 gr. soft, white wheat
Soak wheat in cold water and allow to stand for 8 hours.
Put the wheat, the mutton neck cut into 4-5 pieces, and enough water to cover, into a saucepan, and boil till the wheat and meat become tender. Strain the necks and bone them.
After straining the wheat, add the meat and salt and blend well with a wooden spoon.
Dice the onions and saute in sunflower oil till golden. Drain the onions and add to the meat and wheat, and blend with a wooden spoon till the mixture becomes pasty.
Top with melted butter and cinnamon before serving.
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