I can’t imagine going dawn-to-dusk without a morsel. My respect for those who do is immense.

I found myself thinking a lot about that in the past month, as I bookended Ramadan with two meals from the Muslim world, Harees Laham from Oman and Nihari from Pakistan. I also thought about it quite a bit in July, as I spent two weeks traveling around Spain, France and Belgium.

I’ll elaborate more on the Europeans later, but suffice to say, I found the big-lunch small-late-dinner routine pretty great.

I digress. I’ve never cooked with wheatberries before, and I wasn’t thrilled with the notion of making a porridge for dinner. But this turned out surprisingly good – even though the lamb didn’t quite blend well. Still, the marinade was fantastic and the lamb had a great flavor.

My suggestion is to blend the wheatberries first, then add the lamb.

Ingredients:

Marinade

• 1 lb lamb
• 1 Cup yogurt
• 3 Tb minced garlic
• 2 Tb lemon juice
• 1 ts cumin
• 1 ts coriander
• 1/4 cup mint leaves

Harees

• 

  Wheatberries and lamb before blending.

  1 lb wheatberries

• 2/3 cup ghee
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 1 Tb cumin
• salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• water, as needed
• Bullion cube

Directions:

1. Soak wheatberries overnight.
2. Marinate the meat for 6-8 hours. Drain and rinse the meat.
3. Boil the meat until tender, and drain.
4. 

   The wheatberries did not blend very well. Perhaps not enough liquid?

   In a large pot, add wheatberries, meat, spices, and a bullion cube. Cover the mixture by a couple inches.

5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, stirring every 5-10 minutes.
6. After about an hour, remove from heat. Let cool a little, then blend with a hand-mixer or other tool. Note – This did not work very well for me. Perhaps separate the lamb and then blend.
7. Serve in a bowl, topped with ghee.