This was the 30 minute meal before Rachael Ray’s 30 minute meals were a thing. My mom would come home from work and be able to whip this up as a meal for the whole family. I loved having this dish. It is so simple, yet has such a nice balance of flavor from the bahar, ground beef and tomato sauce.

Of course, like many other of the Arabic dishes we share, this was not my mom’s original recipe. She received this recipe from Auntie Nazhat. There are so many wonderful dishes from Auntie Nazhat that my mom has adapted as well. It was always a treat to go over to her and Ummu Hazim’s house as they would always be cooking up so many amazing flavors in the kitchen. And of course it was always a treat to enjoy a cup of tea at their house as well; they always brewed their tea to perfection.

Thank you Auntie Nazhat and Ummu Hazim and their daughter, Zina, for helping me put together this recipe! We also discovered that all these years my mom and I have been making it incorrectly. They quickly informed us that you have to cook the meat before adding it to the sauce… and there is no onion. Goes to show that even a pro in the kitchen like my mom has some things to learn now and then!