calves heel

Ingredients for 4 calves heels (10 to 12 people) :

* 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) of coarsely ground wheat rubbed vigorously and freed from its husks (sold ready prepared in Arab markets)

* 1 bowl of chick-peas soaked overnight * 1 large grated onion * 1 heaped soupspoonful of paprika

* 1 teaspoonful of ground chilli * 2 Soupspoonfuls of oil * enough salt to season

Preparation:

Buy the calves’heels already cleaned and scraped. Divide into 3 and wash well. Put in a large thick-bottomed saucepan. Add the paprika, chilli, oil, grated onion and sufficient salt. Cover with water and boil for half and hour. Then add the chickpeas and the wheat. Fill the saucepan 3/4 full of water and leave tc boil a further 15 minutes.

Then leave to cook very slowly with the lid on, either over the charcoal embers or in a very slow oven without ever stirring. They need 8 ir 9 hours’cooking. Usually they are prepared in the evening so that they can cook right through the night.

After this time if the wheat and the chick-peas have absorbed all the liquid and the sauce is thick and creamy, check the asoning, remove the saucepan from the heat and only re-heat in time for the meal. If, however, the sauce is a little too thin, pour it into another saucepan and boil down until it reaches the proper consistency. If the calves’heels are too fat and they make the sauce too greasey, skim the fat off before re-heating. Serve piping hot.