Kebab is basically a kind of middle eastern meatball that is grilled or baked around a stick, or shaped kind of like a sausage without the skin.  It’s usually made of lamb or beef, but some prefer to use chicken, pork, goat, or other meat.  You can serve it with whatever kind of sauce you like, but it’s great with tahini (also called tehina) and hummus.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg. ground beef or lamb
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs or cooked millet or rice
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley or mint or a mixture
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• the juice of half a lemon
• 1 teaspoon gray salt
• a dash of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1/8 teaspoon fenugreek
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• a slight pinch of clove
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or animal fat
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to about 400 F or 200 C.
2. Mash everything except the oil and bay leaf together with your fingers.
3. Grease the pan with the fat, and break the bay leaf into pieces, and spread them around in the pan.  Don’t forget to pick the pieces off after.
4. Form the meat mixture into balls or sausage shapes, and arrange them on the pan.  If you like, for fun’s sake, you can form them around popsicle sticks or skewers.
5. Bake for about half an hour or until nicely browned to your liking.

Serve with pita bread and/or vegetables.

Want to know how to tie up your bento box?  Check out this page with photos and instructions by Yuki Sakuma on the art of furoshiki.

http://www.nanoda.com/en/japan/furoshiki-1000-ways-to-carry-your-bento.html

For those who don’t know already, bento is a Japanese style of arranging a lunch box.  You can learn more about it at Modern Traditional’s Bento pages.  There are also links there to bento bloggers and artists.

For some kids, tomato based chili is too strong tasting and somewhat unpleasant.  So they might prefer a milder tasting chili that is more like a Tex Mex flavored white bean stew.  This one is good with or without the wrapper.  For this recipe, you’ll need to know how to cook beans properly.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups cooked white beans with their surrounding broth
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 sweet green or red bell pepper (seeds removed), chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery with the leaves
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon animal fat, ghee, or butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• a pinch of black pepper
• a dash of paprika

Instructions:

1. Heat the fat on medium, and then sweat the onion, bell pepper, and celery together.
2. When the onions are clear and just about to brown, add the garlic.
3. When the garlic is hot, add the beans and the herbs and spices.
4. Bring it to a boil, and then turn the heat down to low.
5. Let this simmer covered for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Optionally at the end, you can add some shredded cheese and/or white raisins.

Serve wrapped in tortillas (preferably home made), with a heaping of lettuce, fine julienned cucumbers, tomatoes, and whatever else you usually have with burritos.