Yakhnat Laham fi al-Yaq'tin

Autumn and Winter seem to cry out for a warming soup or stew, and this is really great for that. If you have an instant pot or another pressure cooker, it is really quick, too. If not, just simmer on the stove for a couple hours, until the meat is tender, and the rice is cooked. You can halve this amount, if you like, but you will want around a 4 pound squash to hold it, still.

olive oil
6 pound winter squash, top cut off and insides scooped out
salt and pepper
4 pounds beef or lamb stew meat
4 onions, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup Saudi Seven Spice Blend
1 tablespoon Aleppo pepper flakes (or half that amount of red pepper flakes)
10 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
7 cups beef or chicken stock
28 ounce canned, diced tomatoes with their juices
3/4 cup dry basmati rice (or other long grain rice)
1 pound frozen (or fresh, if you are making this in the summer) peas
1 bunch flat leafed parsley, trimmed and finely minced

Salt and pepper the inside of the squash and coat it with a couple tablespoons of olive oil before roasting the whole squash (including the lid, on the underside) at about 400° for about 20 to 25 minutes.

Using the sauté feature of the pressure cooker, heat olive oil to brown the meat, well salted and peppered, then remove from the pot. Add onions and sauté, scraping up the browned bits from the meat as they cook. Put the meat back in, along with the spices and stir to heat and release the fragrance, add garlic, and cook a minute more.

Pour in stock, seal pressure cooker, and cook on high pressure for 25 minutes, release the pressure. If the meat was on the bone, remove the meat to chop it off the bones. If not, simply continue. Pour in diced tomatoes with their juices, and basmati rice. Put the meat back in, if you took it out to bone it, pressure cook on high for four minutes. Manually release the pressure.

Taste for salt and pepper, and add a little bit of each, if needed. Add the frozen peas to the stew, then fill the squash with the stew, leaving any extra in the pot, cover it with the lid/stem and bake it at about 375° for 25 to 30 minutes.

When ready to serve, sprinkle the parsley into the stew. Serve the stew with a scoop of the squash from the inside of the skin.

Labels: Homemaking, Recipes, Tales from the Kitchen

// posted by Ranee @ Arabian Knits @ 11:06 AM