What’s cooking in Petra

“I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill a sheep or something,” says Chris on our way to a cooking class at the Petra Kitchen on Sunday (November 6, 2011). “If there’s any day that I would have to, it would be today.”

He’s referring to Eid al-Adha, also called the Festival of Sacrifice, an important Muslim holiday that commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice one of his sons as an act of obedience to God. He didn’t have to do it in the end because God intervened and gave him a sheep to sacrifice instead.

All over the Muslim world, those that can afford it sacrifice their best domesticated animals, whether sheep, camel, cow or goat on the Sunday of the Eid holiday. It is estimated that nearly 100 million animals are slaughtered. No one, not even the poor, goes hungry since a third of what is prepared is shared with extended family and another third goes to the needy.

Though we’ve been told that we don’t have to sacrifice a lamb, we won’t be going without a good Jordanian meal during the Eid. At the Petra Kitchen, we are preparing a grand feast with our new extended family that includes visitors from Ireland, Australia, Turkey, South Korea, China, Austria and the United States.

After a round of introductions and a description of the menu (see below), the group is divided in thirds and we are ushered to our prep stations. Chris and I are paired up with Michael and Elisabeth from Melbourne, Australia. One a side note, I met Elisabeth the week before in Dubai during an excursion sponsored by the International Bar Association, where Chris and Michael were both attending sessions. It was completely coincidental that we had booked trips to Petra at the same time, were staying at the same hotel and had reservations at the Petra Kitchen on the same night.

The four of us set to the task of preparing two dishes under the watchful eye of a local Jordanian woman. The dishes we prepare include a cold appetizer called Salatat Khya, a yoghurt dipping sauce with cucumber and mint; and Araies Lahma, which is a hot oven-baked appetizer similar to a Sloppy Joe, made with a mixture of ground lamb, garlic, tomatoes and onion. Other groups were set to the task of making soup, other appetizers and a main course.

When each group had finished preparing the dishes they were given, we toasted to our accomplishment. Then, the feasting began. We could barely put a dent in everything before us.

“I hope it doesn’t go to waste,” Elisabeth says.

Not tonight, it won’t. Not during Eid al-Adha. The leftovers are already accounted for.

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MENU:
Shourbat Freekeh (green wheat soup)
Baba Ganuj (eggplant dip)
Bagdonesiah (parsley salad)
Fattoush (cucumber and tomato salad)
Salatat Khyar (cucumber and yoghurt with mint)
Araies Lahma (bedouin pizza)
Galaya Bandura (hot tomato sauce)
Musakhan (roasted chicken in shiraq bread)

INFO: A cooking class at Petra Kitchen costs 35 JOD ($47) per person. Participants take home a packet with all the recipes made in the class. Reservations are highly recommended.