"Ok, this dish takes a little bit longer to make than the other stuff, but it is really easy," wrote Iraqi "girl blogger" Riverbend in December of 2003 under the category "Is Something Burning?" While we find her political arguments unconvincing and derivative -- a sort of reflexive Marx-lite with generous helpings of Bush bashing -- her recipe for a classic Iraqi dish sounds authentic and appetizing. We blogged about Riverbend last September:
Other Iraqi bloggers, like Riverbend, blame not the thugs and terrorists but the US for their troubles. While we can't imagine the horror of living under constant bombardment and wouldn't dream of judging another's reaction in that respect, her arguments and even her exact word choices . . . echo our own Democratic party's talking points.
She's bitter at living conditions in Baghdad -- who can blame her? -- and still bashing us and Allawi to this day. "Isn't there some 'idiots guide to being a good Vichy government?'" she wrote just last Thursday. But tomorrow's the big election, and we're laying down our rhetorical sword today in anticipation of feasting in honor of the Iraqi people -- all of them, on whatever side of whatever "aisle" -- who are going to exercise their franchise. We wish them well. Here's our own adaptation of Riverbend's recipe, combined with another similar recipe we found online for Lis-san el qua-thi (Tongue of the Judge), plus our own fine tuning (of course):
Eggplant-Wrapped Meat for two
1 large eggplant
1 tsp salt, 2 tbsp corn oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 pound ground beef
1 sweet sausage
1 cup tomato sauce, homemade or bottled
1 tsp turmeric
4 slices mozzarella (That's Italian!)Peel eggplant, cut off stem and cut lengthwise into 1/8-inch ovals. Sprinkle with salt and drain in a collander for an hour. Rinse off salt, dry with paper towels and brown eggplant in batches with corn oil in a large frying pan.
Mix together garlic, beef and sausage and form into sausage-shaped portions. Place portions on one end of eggplant slices and roll up.
Place in casserole dish and cover with stock and tomato sauce. Stir in turmeric and bake, covered, at 450o for one hour. Remove cover, place slices of mozzarella on top to cover and broil 5 minutes.
Serve on a bed of perfect rice.
How do you say "mangia" in Arabic?
Update: This week's "Carnival of the Recipes" is being hosted by Kinayda of Kin's Kouch, who claims to have organized things "in a manner appropriate for us manly types."
What can I say. Sometimes things need a man's touch. I must say, I do like the name of this dish.
Posted by: Kin | January 30, 2005 at 09:39 AM
Am making it today for our Iraqi Many-Happy-Returns-of-the-Day feast. Will see if it passes muster. :)
Posted by: Sissy Willis | January 30, 2005 at 09:59 AM