Salta

My good friends Sophia and Nadia were kind enough to give me this recipe. They are Yemeni of course and they know how much I have been wanting to make some traditional Yemeni foods. Salata is as traditional as it gets especially being Yemen's most famous dish. Yemenis usually cook the salta in an iron stew pot (that can resist high temperatures inside and outside of an oven) and then place the hulba on top. They then place the pot covered in the layer of hulba inside the oven to get really hot. You can do that but I opted this way so everyone can choose how much hulba they get on their own.

1 pound ground lamb or beef
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 large onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large potato, finely diced
2 tomatoes, diced
salt and pepper to taste
5 cups beef broth
2 green chili's, tops removed and slit lengthwise
1 tablespoon hawaij slice blend
2 eggs, beat
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 recipe of hulba
1 recipe of shitney

1.In a 9-inch skillet on medium-high heat add meat, cook until no longer pink. Drain grease and place into a 4-quart saucepan. In the same skillet on medium heat add oil, onion, garlic, chili's and hawaij. Cook until onions are tender. Add mixture into 4-quart pan.

2.In 4-quart pan add beef broth, potatoes, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Bring to a full boil, cover and reduce to low. Simmer for one hour. Add eggs, stirring until blended and cilantro, stir.

3.Place some hulba on top of salta and shitney atop the hulba.

Yields: 12 servings