SOUP BASE
On Sundays in South Africa, you can smell these curried lamb skewers cooking over live fires throughout every neighborhood as families gather around the braai, an Afrikaans word that describes both the social event and the actual technique of grilling over a live fire. These sweet and savory skewers can be made with pork, beef, or lamb and are displayed in almost every South African butcher’s counter or grocery store, already prepped and marinated for convenience. Stateside, I make my own sosaties with boneless lamb and marinate them overnight when time permits. We love serving these to guests who visit our home for a braai, with a round of Springbokkie (a traditional peppermint liqueur shot)—the best conversation starter!
Make the labneh: Line a medium sieve with muslin or finely woven cheesecloth and place atop a container large enough to catch any drips. Transfer the yogurt to the muslin and place the whole thing in the refrigerator overnight. The liquid that separates is whey and can be saved for another use, such as baking sourdough, adding to salad dressings, or fermenting. Store the labneh refrigerated in a sealed container for up to 10 days.
Though our family served this only on special holidays such as Christmas or Easter, this is comfort food all the way. I usually use small or medium potatoes, as they take less time to cook than larger ones. Ground beef can be substituted for lamb.
What the Turks don’t know about making kebabs just isn’t worth knowing. Tepsi is the Turkish word for “tray,” which is what this recipe is traditionally cooked in, and kebap is the Turkish word for “kebab.” I visited a butcher’s shop attached to a restaurant in Antakya in Turkey and was roped into hand-mincing the ingredients for this recipe using a giant machete-like knife. The mixture was then pressed into a baking pan and baked in a wood-fired oven. The results were spectacular, and the flavor so memorable I came back home and created a version in a shallow casserole dish. If any one recipe changes the way you cook, this may just be it. The meat is juicy, tender, and charred on top, and the ease of pressing the meat into the dish makes this a super-simple way to cook a kebab.
Seasoned with herbs and warm spices, pressed between pita rounds, and grilled, these lamb sandwiches inspired by Middle Eastern arayes offer a flavorful, juicy, street food–style alternative to the everyday burger on a bun.
This mullah, or stew, is a classic Sudanese dish. In Arabic, robe is the word for yogurt. During the Ottoman Empire, Syrian traders and Arab settlers heavily influenced the regional cuisine with the introduction of garlic and red pepper, among other seasonings. Dried okra is often used as a thickener in mullah, but many Sudanese, like Rasha [Ed. Note: Rasha is pictured above making this dish at a refugee camp in Calais, France], also favor peanut butter. Back in her home country, she would have prepared this stew with dried lamb jerky; as a substitute, she used minced lamb while cooking in The Jungle.
My trip to Marrakech was intense and overwhelming. The sights, smells, and sounds were sensory overload. Crimson reds, burnt oranges, and cerulean blues filled our days. We wandered the bustling market, ate from stalls at the Jemaa el-Fnaa, and got lost many, many times; it was an exploration and test of wills like none other. This recipe brings back memories of the flavors we experienced and the time spent in this mysterious place.