Foodscape was asked to participate in a fundraising day at the A.M. Qattan Foundation in London to help raise funds for 'Bait Al Karama' the first international cookery school project launched by 3 fantastic Italian women opening in Nablus, Palestine (more details to come). In order to get my Middle Eastern food repertoire back on track, I recently purchased a cookbook of classical Palestinian cuisine and have been obsessing about it for the past few weeks. It must be nostalgia because as I flip through the pages, each recipe takes me back to my childhood years when my sisters and I used to spend our summers in the scorching hot Jordanian capital. Needless to say all my aunts are excellent cooks and we were fed like queens, daily.
I didn't particularly enjoy meat when I was younger but I specifically remember loving one dish, Malfoof, literally meaning 'rolled' cabbage leaves with lamb and rice stuffing. This dish is best served with a fresh 'baladi' salad (which comes from 'country' in Arabic and usually refers to locally grown produce) made of chopped cucumbers and tomatoes. Add to this some plain yoghurt on the side and you're set for a full meal.... Well you'll have to cook the Malfoof first which can be long and tedious so I recommend cooking this dish on a weekend.
Malfoof (serves 5-6 people)
1 large white cabbage (2kgs)
400g minced lamb (or beef, or half of each)
1.5 cup of short grain rice
1 onion (finely chopped)
8 garlic cloves (5 crushed + 3 whole)
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp seven spices
1 tsp butter
Salt & pepper
Instructions:
Carefully cut the cabbage heart out using a sharp knife and place in a large pot of boiling water (with a dash of ground cumin) until the leaves become slightly translucent. This should take about 15-20mins depending on the size. The leaves should be soft but be careful not to over cook them as they will break when folding them later.
While this is cooking, prepare the mince: mix the meat, rice, chopped onion, crushed garlic, butter and spices together. Make sure to clean the rice before mixing it all. Set aside.
Remove the cabbage from the pot and run under cold water for a few seconds. Gently peel the leaves off one by one and cool on a rack (try not to stack them). As you get closer to the core, if the leaves are still too hard, put the cabbage back into the water and cook for another few minutes.
Folding: on a flat surface, take each cabbage leaf and gently scrape the end bit to get an even thickness. You have to do this with each leaf - otherwise you'll have a hard time folding them because the end bit will break off and you'll end up very frustrated (that's precisely what happened the first time I tried to make it).
Place 1 tsp of mince at the edge of the leaf. Fold once over, then over from each side, then roll all the way like a cigar. Repeat this step for each leaf. Stack the rolls as tightly as possible in a large pot - make sure to put any bits of left over cabbage at the bottom of the pot so the rolls won't stick to it - and cover 3/4 with water. Toss in the garlic cloves, cover and cook on high heat until it starts to boil, then lower heat and cook for another 30 minutes.
Serve with a Baladi salad (chopped cucumber and tomatoes, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil) and plain yoghurt on the side. Slice a few lemon wedges and serve all together.
Sahtein!
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