Qabawat

Qabawat is made by filling the small intestine of a sheep with rice and minced meat. The casing is cleaned at length, the stuffing goes in, the end is sewn shut with thread, and the whole thing is boiled and then fried in clarified butter or finished in the oven. In Aleppo it is one of the heavy plates of the family table, and because the preparation runs close to half a day it counts as food for an occasion rather than for a weekday.

Why the name changes at every border

The same dish is mombar in Egypt, osban in Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, and qabawat or sandawanat in Syria. The word itself comes from Ottoman Turkish bumbar, which in turn comes from Persian. Turkey still calls it bumbar dolmasi, so the plate crosses borders more easily than its name does.

What goes into the stuffing

Rice, minced meat, onion and spice. The Damascus version adds almonds and pine nuts, which pushes the dish towards a faintly sweet register. The casing shrinks as it cooks, so the stuffing is packed loosely; filled tight, the intestine bursts in the pot and the rice scatters into the water. The sewing is the part that needs care.

Its place in the Ottoman record

The dish is written down with its recipe in the 19th century Ottoman cookbook Melceu’t-tabbahin. Priscilla Mary Isin notes that bumbar dolmasi was associated in particular with Ramadan, and the occasions on which it still appears bear that out. The name has a trail that runs back further, to the medieval Turkic dictionary Divanu Lugati’t-Turk.

When and where to find it

On Ramadan and feast tables, and through the winter as heavy food. It rarely appears on a restaurant menu. Ask for it at the offal stalls in the souk and at home-style kitchens that cook in pots, and it turns up. Plain rice or yoghurt comes with it.