[Photograph: Jonathan Lovekin]
Before coming across this recipe for Al Halabi Style Kebabs with Potato Moutabel in Silvena Rowe’s Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume, I had never really thought about meat and potatoes existing in Eastern Mediterranean cuisine. But these skewers of ground lamb mixed with finely chopped peppers, mushrooms, and nuts served over tahini and yogurt mashed potatoes are exactly that.
This recipe adapted from Mohamed Hussien, the chef of the Al Halabi restaurant in the Four Seasons in Damascus, is a two-parter. The first: super moist lamb kebabs filled with little bits of veggies and crunchy chopped nuts spiced with lively flecks of dried mint and shreds of mozzarella.
But it’s the Potato Moutabel that really makes the plate. Instead of classical butter and cream mashed potatoes, these are made creamy with tahini and yogurt brightened up with lemon juice, cumin, and a sprinkling of hemp seeds (flax seeds also do the trick). Think of a hybrid of hummus and mashed potatoes with great background tartness that complements juicy, fatty lamb kebabs in a way that a plain old mash would never be able to.
As always with our Cook the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume to give away this week.
Reprinted with permission from Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume by Silvena Rowe, copyright © 2011. Published by Ecco.
