Kofta bil wara (Kofta wrapped in grapevine leaves) is a traditional Palestinian delicacy that hails from our beloved Jerusalem.
The use of grape leaves as a wrapping adds a refreshing sour and herbal note to the spicy meat and it makes for an elegant presentation.

This recipe goes by many names in different areas of the Levant كوسا مغشي/ مخشي/ ابلما/كوسا بلبن Kousa Maghshi /Makhshi /Shaikh al mahshi /ablama. There might be no consensus on the name, but we all agree that it is a delicacy worth the trouble of preparing it.

For most people, the word okra conjures up one of three images:
Gumbo
Indian food
Slime (and not the fun slime that seems to be everywhere you look nowadays)

Well for today, I want to add another picture to that group. One that is just as tasty as the first two yet has nothing to do with the third.

 

The part I love the most about exploring any cuisine is trying recipes that I would have never tried or would have never associated with that particular cuisine had it not been for this whole blogging adventure.

Today’s recipe is a great example of that.

Some call it Saudi Pizza, others called aysh abu laham (which literally means meat bread,you see, aysh is bread in the Saudi dialect and laham means meat). A recipe popular in the Hijaz area of Saudi Arabia, particularly in Mecca. This recipe was our Arabic flavor assignment for the month of June.

When Salma (this month’s  host ) revealed the recipe, I honestly had my doubts. Pizza and the traditional Saudi cuisine seemed like an odd mix (I expected a rice based main meal or a date based dessert or a cardamom scented drink) But it turns out that there is so much more to the Saudi cuisine than that just like there is so much more than pizza and pasta in the Italian cuisine

Saudi pizza (meat, tahini and chives galette)