Hamam Mahshi bil Burghul

• 1 large onion
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 6 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon allspice
• 6 baby Mediterranean pigeons, squabs, or small poussins
• 4 1/2 cups chicken stock (page 143) (or you may use 2 chicken bouillon cubes)
• 1 pound coarse-ground bulgur (cracked wheat)
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2/3 cup pine nuts
• 5 tablespoons butter or vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup black or golden raisins, soaked in water for 15 minutes

1. For the marinade, put the onion, cut in pieces, the lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, and allspice in a blender or food processor and liquidize.
2. Marinate the birds in this mixture for 1/2 hour.
3. For the stuffing, bring the stock to the boil in a pan, then add the bulgur, salt, pepper, and cinnamon.
4. Stir and cook, covered, over very low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed and the grain is tender.
5. Fry the pine nuts in 1 tablespoon of the butter or oil, stirring and turning them, until lightly browned.
6. Add the pine nuts, the drained raisins, and the remaining butter or oil to the cracked wheat in the pan, and mix well.
7. Spoon some of the stuffing into each of the birds so that the cavity is only three-quarters full, leaving room for the bulgur to expand.
8. Secure the openings with toothpicks.
9. Spread each bird with some of the marinade mixture and arrange in a baking dish, breast side down.
10. Roast in a preheated 350F oven for 25 minutes, then turn over and roast for 20 minutes more, or until they are golden brown and the juices no longer run pink when you cut in the thick part of a thigh.
11. At the same time, reheat the remaining bulgur stuffing in a baking dish in the oven, covered with foil, for 1520 minutes.
12. For a Turkish stuffing, have 1 fried chopped onion and 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts instead of raisins and pine nuts, and flavor the bulgur with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon allspice.

onion, lemon, sunflower, salt, ground cardamom, cinnamon, allspice, baby mediterranean pigeons, chicken stock, salt, cinnamon, pine nuts, butter, black

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hamam-mahshi-bil-burghul-373366 (may not work)