1 pound ground lamb or lean beef
1/4 cup dried split peas
1/2 medium onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 whole cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
2 whole cloves
3 dried red chilies
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
1 egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
deep fryer

1. Combine meat, split peas, onion, garlic, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, chilies, salt and water in a large pot over medium-high heat. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered until all of the water has evaporated and split peas are cooked.
2. Remove meat mixture from the heat and allow to cool enough to handle. Transfer to a food processor and process until smooth and soft.
3. Transfer mixture to a bowl and combine with egg, lemon juice and cilantro. Form meat into patties about 2" wide.
4. Heat deep fryer to 350 degrees. Fry patties in small batches, flipping once, until the outside is crisp and brown.
5. Serve with pita bread, Raita, tomatoes and onions.

Makes 4 servings

2 cups dried chickpeas, soaked in water overnight
5 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin seed
1 large onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 teaspoons cayenne
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
salt

1. Drain and rinse chickpeas and place in a saucepan over medium-high heat with fresh water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook uncovered until tender, about 2 hours. Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add oil. Lightly fry cumin seed until they just begin to sizzle, being careful not to brown.
3. Add onions and fry, stirring occasionally, until they turn a deep brown. Stir in garlic, tomatoes, cayenne and ground cumin and simmer until the sauce thickens.
4. Stir the chickpeas into the sauce with the cilantro. Allow to heat through, then plate garnished with sliced tomatoes and/or slices of raw white onion and additional chopped cilantro.

Makes 8 servings

I'm not Muslim, but apparently it is Ramadan, so I decided to scout out some Ramadan recipes. Pretty much everything I found appeals to me, but I made to narrow it down to something, so I picked Shami Kebabs. To me a kebab is a skewer of basically anything, but this kebabs are actually more of a deep-fried patty, like a Falafel. I had a bit of a problem cooking the split peas in this recipe, which acts as a binding agent for the meat patties. I had all of them forced into these pretty diamond shapes and then I had to have half them and watch them sort of fall apart when I was frying them. If I had a food processor and had cooked the split peas longer, I don't think this would've been a problem. They have a nice spicy curried flavor and go great with some Raita on pita bread.

As a side to the pitas, I asked Shannon if she thought she'd like a recipe called Cholay, some spiced chickpeas in tomato sauce. She said that she was sure that I'd made something similar to this already. This stands to reason, because I did make a chickpea and tomato dish, but it wasn't cholay, it was a Chickpea Curry. This was surprisingly different, despite having some similar ingredients. The sauce is incredibly simple, but intensely flavorful. Browning onions can add so much to a dish, just compare French Onion Soup to a bowl of pureed sautéed onions. If it weren't for browning the onions and frying the cumin seeds, this dish would just sort of be a watery, flavorless mess, I think. Instead, it was something I enjoyed for dinner, as well as cold as leftovers.