My mother used to make kebba and make…the chicken, stuff it…and rice, and put it (in) this tbeet, and put it in the oven. And the next day, it (would) be red and tasty, and we’d eat it like that. My mother would cook kichri, and cook chicken, and cook tbeet, and cook bamya, and cook beans, and all the vegetables (that were) available in Iraq… all the vegetables (that were) available in Iraq, my mother would make them. In Arabic, we say she ’makes it” […]

The rice…I take three…three cups of rice. First I take three…water in a pot. And I put salt, and the soup boils, the water, and I pour in the rice. I pour the rice when…there’s no water. I do it on medium (heat). A time…every time…every time it turns out okay. One for one (the same way) the rice comes out. One for one (the same way).

I take the semolina…[…] the water. Then, I chop onion. I chop onion. The chicken or the meat, I do it in the blender. And I put pepper and cumin and cardamom, (and) mix everything…I mix it all. And I bring the kebba. I do them bit by bit. I fill it, the semolina, and make them (the kebba) like this. And then I throw them in the water…the soup boils. I put in the soup either bamya…or pumpkin…what’s it called? Pumpkin or bamya, or beetroot, that red (thing). Beetroot. Beetroot. I boil it until it becomes good (cooked), and I throw in the kebba. Until…we eat it, I throw in the kebba. The kebba boils and boils. One, two, three times I see if the kebba is (ready), I close the…that (lid). That’s kebba.

So, fish…I clean the fish, I put pepper, I put cumin on the fish…and salt. I roll it in…flour, a bit of flour, and I fry it. (I put it) in a pan, and I fry it.

In 1968, the security service came to my house, took me and my three older sisters. They took us to the security department. Afterwards, we found out…what’s it called…they said (we were) spies. And of all those (people) who were hanged, we were part of them. I mean, from where did we know? We had someone (who was) a cousin of (Ahmad Hasan) al-Bakr. (The revolution was orchestrated by Ahmad Hasan) al-Bakr, Saddam (Hussein, and) Sa’d al-Tikriti. He was a friend of my father. My sister came crying to him. He said…he went…he said (to her), “you are spies”. She (my sister) said to me, “don’t speak!” (don’t say anything in your interrogation). I was in the women’s prison […] the manager was…Nuri Said’s secretary. She was, I mean…this manager of the women’s prison was Nuri Said’s secretary. At that time. And she made us stay…she was the manager of the women’s prison in Baghdad. So she was a bit lax with us. She could cook, twice a week people could come to see me, but my siblings…we didn’t know at all where they were.