The Marketplace : MARKETS : Al Tayebet’s Wonderful Things: Sour Cherries and Sujuk

Al-Tayebat Middle Eastern Grocery, 1217 S. Brookhurst St . , Anaheim, (714) 520-4723. Open Monday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.

In Arabic, Al-Tayebat means wonderful things. It’s a fitting name for a market with butchers who make lamb sausages studded with pine nuts and hand-cut shish kebabs to order from fresh sides of halal lamb.

“We don’t buy precut meat,” says Al-Tayebat’s owner, Sami Khouraki, who comes from a family of Syrian merchants.

Al-Tayebat carries the fresh seasonal herbs, fruits and vegetables used in Middle Eastern cooking: eggplants the size of your thumb, 2-foot-long pale-green English butter gourd and the tart, unripe grapes and sour red cherries used for flavoring Iranian meat dishes.

But you don’t have to cook Syrian, Lebanese or Iranian food to appreciate the store’s conventional produce. I found Spanish saffron, shimmering green Lebanese extra-virgin olive oil and sour cherry preserves from a Belgian company, thick with whole fruit. And on the day I was there, five kinds of pears were displayed. One flaming scarlet variety was fully ripe and juicy--a rare occurrence these days. There were also huge red grapes the size of walnuts and pencil-thin yellow wax beans.

Each morning at 3:30, Khouraki, a former manager for the K mart Corp., drives downtown to the Los Angeles Central Produce Market, although his store is located in Anaheim. He prefers to select the produce himself rather than having it delivered sight unseen.

And he has the butchers in Al-Tayebat’s modest meat department prepare kufta to each customer’s specifications.

“Some people like their kufta seasoned with hot pepper, others prefer sweet pepper or cinnamon,” Khouraki says. “And though lamb is traditional, we also get calls to make it with beef.”

Culinarily speaking, the Middle East begins in the Balkans and extends right up to the edge of India, dipping down to Northern Africa. And though each country has its distinct cuisine, Al-Tayebat caters to them all. These countries use similar ingredients, and their tables have long been a product of cultural exchange prompted by the comings and goings of pilgrims, trade caravans and invaders. Certain staples are widespread, such as lamb, wheat, rice, eggplant and olives.

So the plump, fresh walnut halves behind Al-Tayebat’s counter might end up in Lebanese baklava or a Georgian satsivi (cold chicken with a spicy walnut sauce); the filo dough may wrap Greek tiropita or Yugoslavia’s meat borek , and the small eggplants could be stuffed with walnuts and then pickled to make Syrian beitinjan makbus or sauteed for a Turkish rice pilaf.

When you shop at Al-Tayebat, take a shopping basket rather than try to manipulate a cart through the store’s narrow aisles--although carts won’t be a problem much longer. Khouraki has acquired the adjoining property, and the remodeled store will nearly double the space for Al-Tayebat’s wonderful things.

SHOPPING LIST:

Halal lamb: The fine-quality lamb carried at Al-Tayebat is halal-- which means it has been butchered according to Islamic religious prescriptions. You can purchase whole or half lambs for roasting and perhaps to stuff in the traditional Greek or Armenian way.

If you need less meat, the butcher will bone a leg of lamb with a pocket to hold stuffing. Each country has its own stuffing recipes. In Syria and Lebanon it’s likely to be a simple combination of garlic and herbs or a more elaborate one of chopped figs, raisins and prunes (about 2 ounces each) with 1/2 teaspoon each of dried thyme and sage and sprinkled with a little melted butter. The stuffed pocket must be tied shut before the meat is roasted.

Another specialty Al-Tayebat’s customers might have the butchers prepare is meat for Chelo Kebab : lamb cut into wide strips, to be marinated in yogurt or lemon juice and olive oil. After a charcoal grilling, the meat may be served with rice that has been cooked so that it has a crisp crust at the bottom.

Lamb is also the main ingredient in many of the famous Iranian stews known as khoresh. The ingredients in a khoresh, which can include fruit and nuts or pomegranate juice, make a lush sauce. And the khoresh is always served over a huge mound of fragrant basmati-style rice to absorb it.

Ma’ani: These lamb sausages are made in Egypt and the Fertile Crescent (the pronunciation of the name varies from region to region--in written Arabic it’s naqaniq ). Khouraki is justifiably proud of the shop’s small, finger-length ma’ani scented with a seasoning that includes allspice, cloves and pine nuts.

Sujuk: This is the Turkish- and Armenian-style cured beef sausage. Most Armenian-Middle Eastern delis sell commercially made sujuk. Al-Tayebat’s butchers prepare their own, which is not cured as long. As a result, the sausage is pleasantly moist. Saute chunks of the sujuk and toss it with cut tomatoes for an appetizer, or use it in scrambled eggs and omelets.

SPECIALTY PRODUCE:

Before the days of hydroponic gardening and international fruit imports, the seasons dictated what was put on the table. This seasonality still rules Al-Tayebat’s produce department. Items come and go according to their growing time. Off-season, just as in the Middle East, you’ll find some fruits and vegetables dried.

Fresh dates: If you’ve eaten only dried dates, the subtle perfume-like flavor of the fresh ones will surprise you. Fresh dates come to market in September for only about 10 days, and Al-Tayebat sells them in bunches just as they come from the tree.

Green almonds: These are picked while the outer shell is still green and before the nut has ripened. The immature almond is a faintly flavored jelly. Green almonds are available in June.

Young fava beans: The mature and dry fava beans so often called for in Middle Eastern recipes need to be shelled and then have the skin of each bean removed. But in the fall, when young favas are in season, cooks rejoice for they can serve the tender beans unpeeled either raw as mezzeh (appetizers), or lightly cooked.

Molukhia: This exotic green leafy vegetable gives its name to an Egyptian soup. “Similar to spinach,” is how some describe molukhia , but its properties are quite different. The leaves release a viscous liquid as they cook, rather like okra, which thickens soups and stews. Fresh molukhia is only available in the summer, but it is always dried for winter cooking. In Egypt the molukhia soup, which some families eat every day, is served sprinkled with ta’leya, a paste of crushed garlic and coriander fried in clarified butter. The soup is always consumed with lots of rice on the side.

Quinces: Golden in color and shaped like lumpy, slightly elongated apples, quinces are a mainstay in Middle Eastern confectionary and a popular ingredient in Iranian meat stews. Because they yield abundant pectin, the fruit can easily be cooked up into the conserves, fruit leather and the jellied confections so popular there. The fruit isn’t sweet enough to eat raw, but when cooked slowly, as in a Moroccan tajine , it develops a delectable fruity taste.

Fresh sour cherries: Also known as alubalu , these are another fruit often cooked with meat. Until recently, they’ve only been available dried or as a preserve, but now Al-Tayebat carries this particular type of cherry fresh during the summer. Iranians stew them with lamb and lentils or use them in their famous alubalu polo , a cherry-studded rice dish cooked with chicken. The cherries make a superlative jam that is served with thick cream for dessert. It also makes a delicious drink mixed with ice water; you eat the cherries from the bottom of the glass when you’ve finished drinking.

Unripe grapes: The sour liquid pressed from unripe grapes is available all year long in bottled form, but for a few weeks in the late summer, the unripe grapes themselves are available at Al-Tayebat. The taste of their juice is much sharper and more astringent than lemon or lime juice. It adds sparkle to rich meat and cooked fruit dishes such as an Iranian khoresh.

Karg: In her book “The Cuisine of Armenia,” Sonia Uvezian observes, “the Armenian enthusiasm for stuffing foods reaches its zenith with vegetables and fruits that can be hollowed out.” The long, narrow karg, also known as opo or English butter gourd, is a perfect vehicle for those famous Armenian stuffings. These are elegantly seasoned mixtures of ground meats with rice or bulgur and sometimes nuts.

Traditional cooks simmer the stuffed vegetables in broth with lemon juice and a little olive oil, but you can also microwave them in a lightly covered glass dish. The broth, when poured into the cooking implement should reach about three-quarters of the way up the side of the squash.

Butter gourd is also delicious simply steamed and buttered or mixed into stewed dishes or soups.

Kusa: Another squash good for stuffing or just eating plain. It resembles a pudgy green and white pin-striped zucchini with wavy stripes.

Middle Eastern cucumbers: These are so good that they are often eaten like fruit. They inevitably turn up in the ever-present bowl of salad vegetables that is placed unadorned on the Middle Eastern mealtime table; everyone simply slices off pieces to munch.

When you taste the pale green moqti (the cucumber with raised lengthwise ridges also known as Armenian cucumber or ghoota ), you’ll understand the appeal of this custom. Moqti is one of the most delicate and fruit-like cucumbers I have ever tasted. Another delicious cucumber sold at Al-Tayebat is the midget, dark green khiar.

Fresh herbs: Al-Tayebat has wonderful bushy bunches of fresh tarragon, various mints, dill, tarragon, cilantro, chives and the garlic greens known as garlic chives.

STAPLES:

Middle Eastern olives: The importance of olives in the Middle East is summed up with the Lebanese saying, “Wheat and oil are pillars of the house and olives are the sultan of the table.” The Syrians, who grow an astounding variety of olives, cure them at all stages of ripeness to produce an even larger variety. Unfortunately, most are only sold domestically.

Al-Tayebat, however, carries Aleppo and Kura olives, two seldom-seen varieties from the region. The black, dry-cured Aleppos seem mostly pit but their intense flavor is habit-forming. They resemble somewhat the wrinkly dry-cured Moroccan olives which the store also carries. A popular way to serve Aleppos , Khouraki says, is to marinate them in lemon juice with a little olive oil, a hint of Middle Eastern cumin and Aleppo pepper. The Aleppo olives are in the dairy cooler case sealed in plastic, not with the other olives in the butcher’s case.

The green, cracked Kura olives look almost identical to Greek nafplion olives, but have a crisp, slightly bitter taste, different from the tart lemony flavor of the Greek olives. Al-Tayebat also carries Greek kalamata olives.

Remember that when a dish calls for cooking with olives, it’s best to add them at the end of the cooking time so they will just warm through.

Pickles: Even in the modern Middle East, torshi (all kinds of pickles) are made and sold in old-fashioned specialty shops. These places are full of color and you can always smell the aroma of curing turnips, eggplants and other vegetables amid the lively banter of bargaining in process. At Al-Tayebat there is a long, well-stocked pickle shelf. There are the ridged moqti cucumbers, hot red pickled peppers, leeks, whole baby eggplants and even Italian giardinera.

Pomegranate molasses: This unsweetened concentrate of pomegranate juice is used when a dish needs the flavor of the fruit, but not too much liquid. Muhammara , a spicy dip for mezzeh , is an example. Many recipes call for pomegranate juice instead, however, which is also available bottled.

Jibna Khadra: The name of this fresh, bland cheese literally means green (that is, uncured) cheese. It isn’t an eating cheese but rather a basic ingredient in dessert pastry fillings and savory pies. Jibna khadra can also be made into string cheese by heating and kneading it--the longer the kneading, the stringier the cheese. For Aleppo- style cheese it is kneaded with black caraway seeds and mahleb , the fragrant kernels of cherry pits, and then formed into patties and stored in brine. Al-Tayebet also sells Aleppo-style cheese ready made. You’ll find it in jars in the cooler case.

Licorice ramzy: This dried licorice plant is made into a popular iced tea-like drink. You simply let it steep, strain it and chill the infusion.

Baba ghannouj: Anyone who has ever prepared this creamy puree of roasted eggplant pulp knows what a tedious chore roasting and peeling the charred eggplants can be. At Al-Tayebat I came across a brand of canned baba ghannouj imported from Lebanon. Al-Wadi baba ghann o uj has a nice smoky flavor that many commercially prepared brands lack. When you add fresh garlic and olive oil to this puree, as the label suggests, your baba ghannouj will taste almost homemade.

Sumac: This staple in all Middle Eastern cooking is made from dried, crushed sumac berries. You often see in shakers on the tables in Middle Eastern restaurants, where it is used to add a tart flavor.

Middle Eastern cumin: Basically the same variety that we see in supermarkets, this has a stronger flavor. It comes ground and packaged in plastic bags in Al-Tayebat’s spice section.

Like hummus and baba ghannouj, this spicy mixture is designed to be eaten with plenty of pita bread and many other small appetizers of the mezzeh table.

For hot red pepper paste Khouraki uses Indo-European brand, for sweet red pepper paste use Adriatic brand.

KHOURAKI’S MUHAMMARA

(Syrian Appetizer)

2 cups hot or sweet red pepper paste

1 cup pomegranate molasses

1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground Middle Eastern cumin

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup olive oil

Combine pepper paste, pomegranate molasses, bread crumbs, sugar, cumin and 3/4 cup walnuts in large bowl. Blend well and place in wide shallow serving dish or on platter with rim.

Make shallow well in center of muhammara and pour in 3 tablespoons olive oil. Drizzle remaining oil over dish and sprinkle with remaining walnuts. Makes about 6 servings.

KHOURAKI’S SYRIAN SAFARJALIYA (Quince and Lamb Stew)

2 pounds lamb shank, cut into cubes

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

6 to 8 unpeeled quince, cored and quartered

4 cups pomegranate juice

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar

4 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons dry mint leaves

6 ounces tomato paste

Rice or kibbeh

Place lamb, water and salt in heavy pot. Simmer uncovered 1 hour. Add quince, pomegranate juice, sugar, garlic, mint leaves and tomato paste. Simmer 1 hour longer until meat breaks apart easily with fork. (Stew will be quite soupy.) Serve over rice or kibbeh. Makes 6 servings.

CHELO KEBAB

2 1/4 pounds lamb cut for Chelo Kebab

Marinade No. 1 or Marinade No. 2

Hot cooked rice

Butter, optional

6 egg yolks, optional

Sumac

1 onion, cut into rings, optional

Yogurt

Salads

Place meat strips in shallow dish. Add marinade. Turn meat strips until well-coated. Cover and refrigerate at least 24 hours.

Grill meat over very hot coals fairly quickly, turning frequently to prevent drying.

Serve each portion with large mound cooked rice accompanied by pat of butter and 1 egg yolk. Serve sumac in shaker or small bowl and onion rings for garnish in side dish.

To eat, mix rice, butter, egg yolk and sumac. Garnish with onion rings and serve with yogurt and choice of salads. Makes 6 servings.

Marinade No. 1

1/4 cup oil

1 large onion, finely chopped or grated

1/4 cup lemon juice

Salt, pepper

Mix oil, onion and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Makes about 1 cup.

Marinade No. 2

1 cup yogurt

Salt, pepper

1 large onion, finely chopped or grated

Combine yogurt, salt, pepper and onion. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.