Too Many Sour Cherries? Make This Aleppan Classic

If you’re like me, you both love and loathe your sour cherry tree. On one hand, it’s a beautiful thing to have in your yard — hardy, generous and quick to mature. But when those cherries ripen, they do it fast, and there’s only so much jam a person can make (or consume).

I have a solution for you — a recipe that’s different, delicious, beautiful to serve and, perhaps best of all, it requires so many cherries that you’ll never have a surplus again.

I discovered the dish a few years ago, while researching a book in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit sometimes called the “Middle Eastern capital of America.” There, I came across a traditional Syrian restaurant and ordered a plate of kebab karaz, or sour cherry kebabs. It was tangy, sweet and rich with spiced lamb — and I’ve craved it ever since.

Despite the name, it’s not a grilled kebab, but a stew-like dish of kafta-style meatballs simmered in sour cherry sauce. It hails from Aleppo, once the gourmet capital of the Ottoman Empire, and is considered a signature of its cuisine. The true version uses St. Lucie cherries native to the Levant, but Edmonton’s own Evans cherries work beautifully.

This recipe, adapted from Maria Gaspard Samra and Anissa Helou, is hearty and vibrant — best made with fresh cherries, but frozen ones will do the trick. After all, it’s a comforting dish fit for all seasons. Fair warning though: pitting tiny fruits is time-intensive, especially if you don’t have a pitter, so find a good audiobook or better yet, stream the latest episode of Edify Unfiltered while you pit.

Sour Cherry Kebab (Kebab Karaz) Recipe

Time: 60 minutes (not counting cherry pitting)

Kofta Ingredients

• 225 g lean ground lamb
• 225 g lean ground beef
• 2 minced or grated garlic cloves
• ½ grated or pulsed white onion
• ¾ tsp salt
• ½ tsp allspice
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Kofta Instructions

1. Combine the ground beef and lamb in a bowl
2. Mix in the grated garlic, onions, salt, and allspice
3. Roll into 1.5-inch balls.
4. In a large pan, melt the butter over medium heat
5. Sauté the meatballs until they start to brown.
6. Take them off the heat and set aside.

Cherry Sauce Ingredients

• 1 kg pitted sour cherries
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Cherry Sauce Instructions

1. Combine the cherries, sugar and pomegranate molasses in a big pot
2. Bring it to a gentle boil over medium heat.
3. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let it simmer, stirring now and then, for 30 to 45 minutes until the sauce thickens.
4. Add the meatballs to the pot and cook for another 15 minutes, until they’re tender.

Kebab Plating Ingredients

• 2 to 3 pita breads cut into triangles
• 1 tbsp melted butter
• Handful of finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 25 g toasted pine nuts
• 25 g toasted almond slivers

Kebab Plating Instructions

1. Spread the pita triangles on a serving platter, coarse side up, with the pointed tips fanned out around the edge.
2. Drizzle the melted butter over the bread.
3. Ladle the meat and sauce on top.
4. Finish with a shower of chopped parsley and toasted nuts.
5. Serve right away.

Method by Omar Mouallem, adapted from recipes by Maria Gaspard Samra and Anissa Helou