Tabak Rohoo: A Damascene Dish
Syria is heavy on our hearts, and in our helplessness, we honor our Syrian friends by trying a Damascus dish, Tabak Rohoo.
Although we did not manage to empty the cooking pot by sliding the completed dish out still in layers (a challenge for the future), this dish was so delicious that we plan to have it often. AdventureMan was amazed; he doesn’t even like lamb, but this lamb is delicious.
It is hard to imagine that this dish might be even better if made with ghee. We substituted a very good olive oil. 🙂
The recipe is from allrecipes.com, where I find some of the best recipes ever 🙂
A Vegetable Stew – Tabakh Rohoo
SUBMITTED BY: ALMALOU
“This is an Arabic vegetable stew made in layers and served with steamed rice or bulgur. My Damascene sister in law recently showed me how to make this. It is delicious. The addition of ghee or rendered butter at the end of the cooking is a traditional Damascene style of cooking; however, these days these dishes are made without the extra fat.”
PREP TIME
20 Min
COOK TIME
1 Hr 15 Min
READY IN
1 Hr 35 Min
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)
• 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
• 1 pound lamb meat, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 pinch ground cardamom
• 2 onions, sliced
• 1 potato, peeled and sliced
• 1 pound eggplant, peeled and cubed
• 1 pound zucchini, thickly sliced
• 2 pounds tomatoes, cubed
• 1 chile pepper, chopped
• salt to taste
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/4 cup water
• 6 cloves garlic
• salt to taste
• 3 tablespoons dried mint
DIRECTIONS
1. Heat the ghee in a large pot over medium heat. Place the lamb meat in the pot, and cook until evenly brown. Season with allspice, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cardamom.
2. Place a layer of onion on top of the lamb in the pot, followed by layers of potato, eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes. Do not stir. Place the chile pepper in the center of the vegetables. Season with salt. Mix the tomato paste and water, and pour over the vegetables. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 1 hour, until vegetables are tender.
3. With a mortar and pestle, crush together the garlic, salt, and mint. Mix with 2 tablespoons of liquid from the pot, and pour over ingredients in pot. (I used a mini-jar on my blender. I tried the mortor and pestle, but there was a lot of stuff and it was messy and unsuccessful. The blender did just fine, and this mixture is essential to the delicious nature of the dish – Intlxpatr)
When removing the mixture to the serving dish – a fairly open or wide bowl – tip the pot and let it slide out the side so that it stays in the layers.
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The dish’s name in Arabic means” it cooked itself”
No kidding! No, I didn’t know that, Daggero 🙂 It takes about 20 minutes of prep time, and then, it really does cook itself. And it is DELICIOUS. We’re going to have this again. I just want to know how it is supposed to slide out of the pan and stay in layers?
I’ve only seen this dish served as a vegetable mixture, no layers. But I would think that if you want to keep your layers intact you’d have to flip the pot, like when you make stuffed vine leaves, or Palestinian maqloobeh (upside down rice dish). However, make sure to drain off any remaining liquid so you don’t end up with big splatters, and bigger burns!
After draining (and reserving) the liquid, place your serving dish upside down on top of the pot, and with oven mitts keep both tightly together (holding onto pot handles, with thumbs holding plate tight), and with a very quick flip of the wrist, flip the pot upside down on top of the serving dish. Then slowly lift off the pot.
If you’re interested in making the maqloobeh (it is delicious!), you can find a video recipe here (with English subtitles):
Also, the flipping bit is at the end of the video of course 🙂
Husseini, thank you! Thank you! We adore Maqloobeh! We had it first in Jordan, about 30 years ago. I’ve been trying to make it ever since! It seems so easy for our Palestinian/Jordanian/Syrian friends, and so complicated for us. I like your hint about draining the excess liquid and putting the large platter over the top, then flipping. We’ll give that a try. Thanks, too, for the video demonstration 🙂 I love maqloobeh with cauliflower!
PS I love Najat’s Kitchen and all her videos! I also watched the one on Machboos; she makes everything so clear! One thing 😦 now I know that Maqloobeh is so delicious because the cauliflower is DEEP FRIED, oh no! I thought I could eat all I want, it’s a vegetable, right? Yep. Like potato chips and french fries are vegetables . . .
Najat’s kitchen is a wonderful resource. I find I always keep referring to her recipes, even if they are already part of my repertoire.
It’s true that frying the vegetables is traditional, but to make things healthier what you could do is just brush the cauliflower (or eggplant) with olive oil, and roast in the oven till golden. That’s what my mother does and her maqloobeh is supremely delicious!
Aha! That is a GREAT idea! I’ll have to try that. Thank you. 🙂