Damascus-Style Cold Cuts Platter

Ingredients

• 1 kilo rice
• half a kilo meat
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp cumin
• half a tbsp pepper
• 3 tbsp ghee
• 1 scalded or skinned sheep’s head
• as available fresh local sausages
• 1 tripe
• 1 sheep’s foreleg
• as available abwat (sheep intestines for stuffing)
• 150 g fat
• 1 tsp pepper
• as available lemon
• as needed needle
• as needed hot water
• as available onion
• as available bay leaves
• 2 sticks cinnamon

Instructions

1. Soak the rice in a bowl for one full hour before preparing the stuffing.
2. Wash the head in a sink or bathtub using water only, running water through the inside until it reaches the throat.
3. Scrub the foreleg in a sink with water; if it is very scorched, scrub it with a scouring pad until clean.
4. Wash the tripe inside and out in a sink with water, then turn it over and run water through it until it comes out the other side.
5. Soak the tripe in a bowl with salt and lemon for 15 minutes.
6. Scrape the outside of the tripe with a knife on a work surface until it is white as snow, then wash it thoroughly inside and out.
7. After cleaning, soak the tripe in a bowl with salt and lemon, then drain it.
8. Open the abwat on the work surface after cleaning them so they are ready for stuffing.
9. Prepare the stuffing in a large bowl by combining the soaked rice with the meat and fat.
10. Add the pepper, cumin, salt, and ghee to the stuffing bowl, then mix the ingredients thoroughly by hand.
11. Turn the sausages inside out by hand while stuffing them on the work surface, then fill them using a finger or stuffing tool to the amount of one finger, leaving their openings unfastened.
12. Stuff the abwat on the work surface with a handful of rice and meat, then distribute the stuffing from one end to the other. Sew them closed with thread and needle.
13. Divide the tripe into suitable pieces for stuffing on the work surface, then place a small amount of stuffing in each piece.
14. Fold each piece of tripe over itself on the work surface until it resembles a small bundle, then sew it closed with thread.
15. Arrange the stuffed components in the pot, placing the heads first, then the forelegs, then the abwat, then the sausages, then the remaining pieces.
16. Add hot water to the pot until it covers the components, then place the pot on the stove or heat.
17. Skim off the scum from the surface of the pot after the first boil.
18. Add the onion, bay leaves, cinnamon, and salt to the pot after removing the scum.
19. Cover the pot and leave it over the heat until cooked, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours if the pieces are tender.
20. Leave the pot over the heat for 4 to 5 hours if the pieces are not tender and need longer.