In the Kitchen with: Aisha Marie; Lamb stew
Stew was a staple during the winter months all through Aisha Marie’s childhood in Coeur d’Alene. Though she now lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the thick and hearty mixture of meat and vegetables remains a centerpiece – and not only in winter.
“It’s a real comfort food,” she said. “Any soup or stew, to me, is a comfort.”
Long, cold nights almost ache for warming, stick-to-your-ribs dinners, like stew. But Aisha Marie doesn’t make it the same way her mother did decades ago in North Idaho.
Lamb is the star of her stew.
The distinctly fragrant meat is underappreciated in America, where per capita lamb consumption is less than a pound per person per year.
“We didn’t grow up eating lamb here,” Aisha Marie said. But, “I had an uncle who raised sheep – for wool.”
Her adopted homeland of Saudi Arabia is one of the world’s top lamb-consuming countries. There, people eat about 27 pounds of lamb – high in protein, B vitamins, zinc and iron – each per year.
Aisha Marie, 54, still appreciates her mom’s stew. It gave her a strong base. “My mother always made the same stew. She always used beef. Hers was a very basic stew, but well made,” she said.
Aisha Marie adapted it, adding more spices and vegetables.
“I use whatever’s available at the time,” she said. “Sometimes, I use potatoes. Sometimes, I don’t want anything starchy.”
She adds tomatoes, carrots, green beans, zucchini, parsley. She spices it up with a combination of cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom.
“Overseas, I probably would put more cinnamon,” she said.
In Saudi Arabia – or at the international market on East Mission Avenue in Spokane – Aisha Marie buys Middle Eastern spice blends, like Baharat, which often also includes allspice, black peppercorns, cassia bark, cloves, nutmeg and red chili peppers or paprika.
She always browns the onions and garlic, burning a candle in the kitchen while doing the chopping to help relieve the stinging in her eyes.
A jewelry designer and painter, Aisha Marie moved to Saudi Arabia – where her husband is from – in 1988 when she was 28. He never cooks, Aisha Marie said. “He has absolutely no interest.”
So cooking stew fell to her. In her submission to “In the Kitchen with … ” she wrote: “In the early days of my marriage, it would sometimes turn out too watery or too salty. Other times it would be too thick, and there were days when I would get busy with something else and it would scorch to the bottom of the pan, rendering my stew inedible. Now, after many years of making this stew, it is one of my go-to, fail-proof recipes.”
She plans to include it in the “part memoir, part cookbook” she’s hoping to finish mid-year. The working title is “In Aisha’s Kitchen.”
“I started off just wanting to document some recipes for my kids,” she said. “It’s almost a timeline of people you meet as well as the recipes you gathered over the years.”
Aisha Marie prepared her savory lamb stew with her daughter during her last visit to Spokane. Nejela Almohanna, 30, graduated last year from Whitworth University.
“It’s so satisfying,” Almohanna said of the warming staple. “It’s kind of like happiness in your belly, especially when it’s cold outside and you want to snuggle up. It’s comfort food. Of course, Mom’s food is always comfort food.”
Aisha Marie’s five children – one son, four daughters – are spread from Spokane and San Francisco to Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur. She travels back and forth to visit them.
“I doubt I will ever be back (in America) permanently,” she said. “I really love living overseas. I love being in the midst of different cultures.”
Her lamb stew represents a blending of her American roots and current life in Saudi Arabia.
“Remember, it takes time to make a great stew, and a great life,” she wrote in her submission. “Slow down and savor the moments. Relax. Let it gently simmer. The best part of our lives is the being together. The sharing, not only of a meal, but of ourselves.”
Savory Lamb Stew
From Aisha Marie
2 to 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 pound boneless lamb, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes (most of the fat removed)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tomatoes, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 bouillon cube (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon tomato paste
2 carrots, sliced
2 potatoes, cubed
Handful of green beans, trimmed
2 zucchini, sliced in half, then chopped in large pieces
3 to 4 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Put a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pot and, over medium heat, sauté onions until they begin to turn golden, then add garlic and sauté for another 1 to 2 minutes until it becomes soft and aromatic. Add lamb cubes, and brown them on all sides. Mix in spices. Then add tomatoes and stir “to loosen everything up.” Add tomato paste and about 8 cups of boiling water. Bring mixture to a fast boil, then turn the heat down and allow to simmer for 1 ½ hours and until the lamb is tender. Add carrots, potatoes and green beans, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Add zucchini, parsley, salt and pepper, and cook for another 30 to 35 minutes. Add small amounts of water, if needed, while mixture simmers. Transfer to a tureen and serve with basmati rice or a baguette.
Note: “I might use a half of a can of tomato paste for a thicker stew in winter,” Aisha Marie said.