This dish is made on Good Friday only, because it is not supposed to eat fancy food on that day. It is a simple “poor” dish, using few basic ingredients, yet it is nourishing. In other regions, it is called Monk’s Kebbeh. We call it “zenkoul” in Arabic, I think it means, mini balls, and also ”Za’aleet” in Arabic. The recipe differ, from region to another, by few ingredients. In this recipe below, we use chickpeas, but in our village they omit it.
Zenkoul
- 1 cup boiled chickpeas
- garlic, finely chopped ( 2-3 cloves)
- small onion, finely chopped
-sumac
- vegetable oil
For the balls:
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup burghul
- 1 onion, finely minced
- 1 tsp marjoram, dried
- 1 tsp mint, dried
- salt
- 1/2 cup water
Mix all the dough balls ingredients together and form with your hand palms small balls. In a large skilet, fry the onion and garlic together for a couple of minutes, then add the chickpeas then the dough balls and some water to cover it and let it boil for a while until the sauce is thick. Season. At the end, sprinkle some sumac.
Enjoy.
