Yimkin

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A recipe book archive of my Palestinian family’s traces, dislocations, and memories in ingredients; of emotional eating and bittersweetness; of food as a translator and cooking as practice for everything else. I’ve collected around 140 of my recipes, and my family’s recipes, that have been cooked over our three generations of being displaced from Palestine.

Inherited and altered recipes are treated as a site of Palestinian survival, grief, and world-making. In every recipe, there are presences, absences, threads of what has made it to me, and negative space that admits to my family’s removal. Every meal we make holds evidence of our celebrations, separations, longings, and care.


Yimkin is pieces of living between California and Jordan, bits of my mom’s recipe binder, things I’ve grown in gardens, pictures of plants and landscapes, recipe dictations from my family members, scanned receipts, some family photos, and a lot about the shape grief takes in the kitchen. It’s about cooking how my ancestors did: according to the season or whatever’s in the pantry, with gratitude and sometimes frustration, before and during and after crisis, without a real recipe, and for the people there with me.

Yimkin means maybe/probably/possibly, and in the present tense verb form, yimakkin, it means “to make [something] possible”. If nothing else, this is an archive for whoever asks later, a love letter to the people and lands that have fed me, and an offering of memories that can’t be put in words.





3 Generations of Kofta Bi Tahini TETA’S VERSION

1lb ground lamb + 1lb ground beef
1 large onion
1 small bunch parsley
1 jalapeno, deseeded
1 tbs allspice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

2 potatoes
2 tsp canola oil

4 tbs tahini
1 c water
1/2 lemon, juiced, or 1 tsp vinegar

White rice
Green onion



Preheat oven, fairly hot. Finely chop onion and parsley. Add to a mixing bowl with the meat and spices, and knead everything together with your hands until fully mixed.

Grease a deep baking pan with canola oil. Make koftas by squeezing small amounts of the mix between the soft heel of your hand and your fingers. They should look like long, indented ovals. Arrange kofta in rows in the dish. Slice potatoes into small chunks and place on top of the koftas. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until both are just cooked through.

While kofta bakes, make tahini sauce. In a medium pot, combine tahini sauce ingredients. Heat almost to boiling, stirring very often. When thickened, smooth, and a little reduced, take off the heat. Pour tahini sauce over kofta and potatoes, swirling the pan to get it to the corners. Bake until toasted but still saucy, about 30 minutes. Broil 1-2 minutes for more toast.

Serve with rice. Take bites of green onion between bites of kofta. BABA’S VERSION    

2lbs ground beef
1 large onion
1 small bunch parsley
1 jalapeno, deseeded
1 tbs allspice
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

2 potatoes (optional)
2 tsp canola oil

4 tbs tahini
1 c water
1/2 lemon, juiced

White rice
Jalapeno



Preheat oven to 350F. Finely chop onion and parsley. Add to a mixing bowl with the meat and spices, and knead everything together with your hands until fully mixed.

Grease a 9”x13” baking dish with the canola oil. Press kofta mix into the baking dish, shaping into a thin rectangle. If using, slice the two potatoes into thin slices and place on top of the kofta. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until just cooked through. Remove from the oven and prepare tahini sauce.

In a medium bowl, combine tahini sauce ingredients. Whisk until smooth.  Pour tahini sauce over kofta and potatoes, swirling the pan to get it to the corners. Bake until toasted but still saucy, about 30 minutes. Broil 1-2 minutes for more toast on the tahini.

Serve with rice. Take bites of jalapeno between bites of kofta. MY VERSION

1lb ground lamb + 1lb ground beef
1 large onion
1 small bunch parsley
1 tbs allspice
1 tsp Aleppo pepper
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

2 potatoes
3 tsp olive oil, divided

6 tbs tahini
2/3 c water
1/2 lemon, juiced

White rice
Green onion



Preheat oven to 350F. Finely chop onion and parsley. Add to a mixing bowl with the meat and spices, and knead everything together with your hands until fully mixed.

Grease a deep baking pan with 1 tsp of olive oil. Slice potatoes into thick wedges and toss in remanining olive oil with a sprinkle of salt. Arrange in a single layer and bake 15 - 18 minutes, flipping halfway through. They should be starting to soften.

In the meantime, make koftas by squeezing small amounts of the mix between the soft heel of your hand and your fingers. They should look like long, indented ovals. Remove potatoes from the oven, arrange kofta around them. Place back into the oven and cook for 20 minutes, or until kofta is just cooked through.

While kofta bakes, make tahini sauce. In a medium bowl, combine tahini sauce ingredients. Whisk until smooth. Pour tahini sauce over kofta and potatoes, swirling the pan to get it to the corners. Bake until toasted and puffed, about 35 minutes.

Serve with rice. Take bites of green onion between bites of kofta.