Banquets (Continued)-Assyrians and Chaldeans

Ancient Banquets

So far, we had the story of Egyptian Banquets and a recipe for famous sesame seeds bread rings. 
Now we have the story of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and the recipe of the Iraqi Assyrian meat stew, kipteh.  It is delicious and excellent food for cold weather based on Mabel Yonadam's.
I cooked this dish, and loving it, it is so aromatic, flavoursome and light.  I served the dish with tomato rice and yoghurt.  I think it is good to be served with flatbread and leafy green salad afterwards.

Kipteh-Meat Stew

Iraqi Assyrian Saucy Meatball

The Cooking Process

The ingredients: Onions, fresh parsley and thyme,

Spices: paprika, black and red pepper, salt

The meat is mince lamb

Chopped onions, fresh herbs, mixed spices and salt

with lamb mince and soaked rice in a large bowl

Mix all ingredients together and thoroughly

until all combined

Shaping the meat balls out of the meat mixture

The meat balls are ready to braise, keep aside

while doing the sauce

Frying the chopped onions with olive oil until caramelised

then add in the paprika, and stir cook for a few seconds

Add in the chopped tomatoes, and cook a bit longer

then add the tomato paste

Add hot water about 5 cups or more, and braise

for 10 minutes

Make sure that the sauce is halfway in the pot,  add in

the meat balls, one by one and braise for 25-35minutes

The meat balls are cooked and ready to serve

after 35 minutes

I have been cooking a lot of varieties of meat balls; from Javanese, Italian, to Chinese meat balls, they are all delicious, but they have different flavours. 

I love kipteh the meat stew,  as I am very fond of cooking with herbs.  I found that kipteh is a light sauce, and the herbs give the fresh taste. The lightness is from the cooking technique - poaching the meatballs in plenty of tomato sauce,   then braised.  Oil is used but only very little.

The credit is to Mable Yonadam for sharing the recipe.

The banquets of the Hebrews and The banquets of the Persians are next.  Hopefully, it is going to be interesting recipes that we can cook.  Stay Tuned

Thank You For Visiting My Blog

Until Next Post

Susy