Name: Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Stew (Tabeekh Ari’ Hilew)
Yield: Serves 5–6
Cuisine: Palestine
Ingredients: 2 pounds (1 kilogram) pumpkin, butternut squash, or other orange-fleshed gourd, cut into 1-inch (2½ centimeters) pieces; Extra virgin olive oil; Salt; 1 pound (500 grams) stew beef, cut into 1-inch (2½ centimeters) pieces; ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ½ cup (100 grams) dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, or one 15-ounce (425 grams) can; ¼ cup (30) grams dried sour plums or 2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses; 8 prunes (if using pomegranate molasses); ¼ cup (30 grams) golden raisins; ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Preparation info

Serves
5–6

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Gaza Kitchen

By Laila El-Haddad and Maggie Schmitt

Published 2021

About

In her never-ending quest for undocumented traditional recipes, Laila obtained this one for a sweet pumpkin stew, popular among Gaza City’s older families, from her cousin in 2013. It highlights the sweet and sour fruit-and-meat flavors so characteristic of Persian-influenced medieval Islamic cooking—a real gem.

If dried sour plums (not to be confused with the salty dried Asian ones) are unavailable in your area, substitute 2