I enjoy giving tradition a new twist so when a Vietnamese friend served me some vegetables in a lettuce cup I thought I would try that idea on Somali food. Combining meat and salad seemed like a good way to go and my suqaar lettuce cup recipe was born.
Suqaar is Somali diced stir-fry beef or lamb made simply with onion, tomato and sometimes a bit of spice. It is usually eaten with canjeero (a sourdough flat bread or sabaayad, a wheat flatbread).
The suqaar lettuce cups were a great success in my Somali kitchen. My family said that the combination of spicy meat and the crunch and freshness of the lettuce leaves made for a memorable entrée dish. I guess you will have to try it out for yourself to see if you agree!
Ingredients
- 500g lamb or beef, finely diced into small cubes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, diced finely
- 2 tablespoons tomato puree
- ½ teaspoon of ground cumin (optional)
- ½ red capsicum, chopped into small pieces (leave some for garnish)
- Salt to taste (about ¼ teaspoon should be enough)
- 4 – 6 lettuce leaves, folded into cups
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat.
- Add the lamb and a pinch of salt
- Add the onion, ground cumin, tomato puree and capsicum. Stir fry the meat for 3 – 4 minutes or until just cooked. Remove from heat.
- Spoon the meat onto the lettuce cups and garnish with a sprinkle of the diced capsicum.
INFO
Author : Abderazzaq Noor
Recipe by : Abderazzaq Noor