Allayah (Palestinian tomatoe beef concoction) recipe!

allayahAllayah ingredients
1.5 tbsp olive oil
Super finely chopped onion (you should cry; if you don’t, you’re not human)
330 g lean ground beef
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cinnamon
9 (not ten, and not eight) large very ripe tomatoes
Salt + pepper to taste

Allayah toppings, beneath-ings, and accoutrements
1 c white rice, short grain
2 c water
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c pine nuts
Dill pickles (I am partial to Bubbies because I am at my best when an insufferable asshole)

Your orders
1) Heat up the 1.5 tbsp olive oil, add the onion, then simmer on medium / low heat.
2) When onion is golden, add the ground beef, allspice, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Sautee until brown.
3) Purée the hell out of the tomatoes until they look like this:

IMG-20130226-02118

4) Place tomatoes into a large pot, add the cooked beef, the additional 1/2 tsp allspice and 1/2 tsp cinnamon, then simmer on medium / low for 90 minutes.

In related news, and while the above is simmering…
5) Make the rice. 1 cup rice to 2 cups water. If you need instructions on what you actually need to do, you’re my hero.
6) Heat the additional 1 tbsp olive oil in a small pan. Add the pine nuts and golden them (By the way, is there a verb for “golden them”?), usually no more than a minute. Not that I have ever burnt them to a crisp and needed to start from scratch but not before I had to stand on a chair and fan my fire alarm which was set off by the smoke. I’m just here intuiting a general ‘one minute’ intuit.)

Serve as such…
Layer the rice, then the allayah, and sprinkle with pine nuts. Serve with a side of pickles (I can’t resist Bubbies and had already eaten 3 by the time I took this photo), and fresh green chili pepper (or sprinkle with dried chili, as I have done here because I am a nobhead who forgot to buy the fresh green kind).

Bon Appetit! Or, as the Arabs say: Sahteen!