Mahshi Bassal bel Tamarhendi

Name: Mahshi Bassal bel Tamarhendi
Yield: serves 4-6
Ingredients: 2 large mild onions; 1 pound lean ground lamb or beef; Salt and pepper; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/2 teaspoon allspice; 3 tablespoons finely chopped flat-leaf parsley; 1 1/2 tablespoons tamarind paste (page 46); 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar; 3 tablespoons sunflower oil

December 9, 2011

This elegant dish with an exquisite sweet-and-sour caramelized flavor is a specialty of Aleppo in Syria. The onion layers are used to make little rolls around a filling. In Egypt we soaked the tamarind pods and used the filtered juice. Now I find that the Indian tamarind paste obtainable from Middle Eastern stores is perfectly good to use.

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