My earliest memories of holiday meals- especially Christmas- center around this dish. While other families were celebrating their Santa day with a ham or turkey, we were honoring our heritage with this dish. It wasn’t until I was almost 8 years old that I found out all of my friends at school did not eat Shike for Christmas. I was the odd one out with my purple vegetable and bo peep farm animal. The eggplant is the star here where most would prefer another vegetable. I can tell you from eating eggplant for many many years that it is such a versatile nightshade. It’s texture can be firm or exceptionally delicate so it’s important not to over cook it. It’s also important to find the best eggplant that is firm and very purple when in the grocery store. You DO NOT want mushy eggplant. Think of it as a Lebanese type of lasagna and you won’t go wrong.
5-6 eggplant (Japanese eggplant will not work for this)
2 lbs ground leg of lamb
1 white onion diced
1-2 tablespoons Salt
1-2 tablespoons Pepper
1- 2 tablespoons Cinnamon
1 16 oz can tomato sauce +1 can water
1 deep oblong pot/la crueset
1 heaping tablespoon of pine nuts
1 large onion
Lebanese Rice
3 cups Uncle Ben’s white rice (parboiled long grain rice CONVERTED BRAND)
1 tablespoons Salt
3 cups Boiling water
Spaghetti noodles
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or substitute butter or half butter & half olive oil)
1 medium sized kettle (4 quarts) the smaller the kettle, the faster it will cook
Wash and peel the eggplant. Cut into ½ inch thick slices lengthwise and lay on an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle generously with salt. Bake in the oven for 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes and remove to cool. Part of this is to remove the ‘gas’ out of the eggplant for a more comfortable dining experience. This step is very important, do not skip it. While the eggplant is baking, brown the ground lamb with onion and pine nuts on the stove top. Once the lamb is browned, remove the fat. Set aside. In a large & deep roasting pan, start to layer the eggplant and meat mixture, alternating eggplant and then meat (as you would lasagna). Be careful to start and end with the eggplant. Then pour the tomato sauce and can of water over the top of everything. Cover with a lid and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 3 hours. Remove from the oven and serve over lebanese rice.
Place the rice in a kettle and salt heavily. Mix with boiling water about ¼ inch above rice and cover. Do not turn on heat, rather let rice sit for 45 minutes prior to cooking. Take rice and rinse in a strainer and place rice back into the kettle. In a separate kettle, take 5-6 spaghetti noodles and break them. Add 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil and brown spaghetti noodles. Combine rice mixture with spaghetti noodles. Add 2-3 tablespoons olive oil to the rice mixture and cook until sticky on high heat. Be careful not to burn, stirring constantly. Then add boiling water on the stove top about 1 inch above the mixture and cover. Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cover for 10 minutes and check for “fish eyes” stirring once. Remove the lid and cook for 10 minutes on low.
