curiouser and curiouser was the house that Alice built

fragrant ground beef, yellow rice, fried eggplant and tomatoes

ingredients

• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 Eggplant, sliced into 1/4-inch slices
• 1 Onion, minced
• 1 pound Ground lamb or beef
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (for yellow color)
• 1 teaspoon Allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
• Nutmeg — big pinch (about 1/4 tsp)
• Salt and pepper — to taste
• 1 Tomato, sliced into 1/4-inch slices, and take out the seeds
• 2 cups Water or stock, well seasoned with salt
• 1 1/2 cups Rice, rinsed well (let sit in strainer to dry until ready to use)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the eggplant slices on each side to lightly brown. Remove to a plate.
2. Add more oil to the skillet and sauté the onions until translucent and golden. Add the ground lamb or beef, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and pepper and sauté, breaking up the meat, until cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and drain off excess oil.
3. Grease a 3-quart heavy bottomed saucepan well with oil. Put in the rice, and turmeric, fry for a minute. take rice out onto a plate and place tomato slices to cover the bottom of the saucepan. Let the tomatoes sit and fry in the oil for two minutes. Sprinkle about 1/2 cup of the rice over the tomatoes. Spoon the meat mixture over the rice. Lay the eggplant slices to cover the meat and press down well to compact all the ingredients. Add the rest of the rice and the seasoned water or stock.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high flame, then quickly reduce heat to low, cover tightly and simmer for 45-50 minutes. Toward the end of the cooking time, check to see if more water needs to be added. Cut this cooking time by 15 minutes if you are using half the amount of ground meat and less rice.
5. Remove from heat and let rest for 15 minutes. Remove lid and invert a serving platter over the saucepan. Turn upside-down and carefully slip the saucepan off the rice. Serve hot.

Variations

• Use cubed meat or chicken pieces (or shredded chicken) instead of ground meat if you like.
• For a vegetarian version, eliminate the meat and substitute a layer of sliced potato. Or double the amount of eggplant.

Notes

• Despite greasing the pot with oil, the rice sometimes sticks to the bottom of the pot. you can cover the bottom with a round of greased parchment paper to eliminate this problem.

traditional Arabic casserole

**Note: I usually cut down to half a package of ground meat and 1 cup rice and half all the rest of the ingredients and spices as well, when I make this dish because I’m only cooking for me and my husband, and it’s more than enough for us. It’s a bit odd to make because of the Method, but very delicious. 🙂