Fried Kibbeh is two parts.
For the kibbeh filling you will need:
Start in a large pan (we used a wok in the video) and heat up the vegetable oil. Once the oil is hot, add the pine nuts and toast until golden and fragrant. Place them on a plate to cool. Return the wok/pan to the stove and start with the diced onion. It looks like a lot of onion! Don't worry they will shrink. Add a sprinkle (1/2 teaspoon) of salt to the onions to help them reduce. Once the onions are translucent, add the meat and break the meat apart. You can use a meat chopper to break the meat apart or a regular wooden spoon and break the larger pieces of meat. You can also add a couple tablespoons of water to help the meat break down. Not too much water! When the meat is halfway cooked, you'll see it release its juice and start to drink it up again, add the allspice, spicy pepper and cardamom. When the meat is cooked, take it off the heat and add the dried mint, salt, pepper, pomegranate molasses, fresh olive oil and the nuts. Mix and taste for salt. It should be so good you could cry! Next we can work on the kibbeh case, or as I call it the kibbeh dough. I start this process and then do the filling and then come back to the dough. You will need:
You will also need a meat grinder machine or meat grinder attachment for your stand mixer. OR you can use a food processor but you will need to work in smaller batches. Wash the bulgur twice in a large bowl by running cold water over it and mixing with your hand. Carefully pour the excess water. Remember to do this twice. There should be a little water left in the damp bulgur. Let it soak. Over the washed bulgur, dice the small onion and cover it with salt and pepper to taste. As that soaks you can attend to the meat. Kibbeh dough uses beef as the meat and it should be special ordered from the butcher by asking him/her to get you the leanest beef they have and running it through the meat grinder twice. This makes for VERY thin meat. Alternatively, you can do what we did in the video. At home, you can process very lean beef at home in a food processor until it's very thin. For this video experiment we used Filet Mignon and it was so good!! You can see the desired texture in the video. When the bulgur is done soaking, around 30 minutes, you will see it drunk all the water. If the bulgur is very dry you can add up to 1 cup of water. Be careful not to add too much! Using your meat grinder/kibbeh machine, run the bulgur through the machine. Please see the video to see how this should look like. The second time you process it, you need to make sure all the onion is mixed in. You can add your spices at this time too (salt, Aleppo pepper and cumin). You can try to add some meat and see how it goes. If you're using a processor use small batches and process this until it looks like the final product in the video. Now, after you process the bulgur, add the meat and knead it like dough until it looks like mine in the video. Separate into 3-4 balls and place in the fridge to rest 4 hours, overnight recommended. If you like you can freeze the dough now. Just make them into a thinner sheet (like you would with pastry dough) and freeze them that way. You can thaw them in the fridge before you want to make kibbeh. ** Resting the dough helps it not break its shape. You can also freeze the filling and thaw before filling. OR you can make the kibbeh shapes and freeze them to fry later from frozen. OR you can fry them completely and then freeze to reheat in the oven later ** For the starch water:
To fry the kibbeh use fresh frying oil (corn oil, vegetable, mazola). You can use a thermometer to 375F or put a piece of bread in the oil and when it's crispy, the oil is ready for kibbeh! See the video to see how dark the kibbeh should get. It should be a dark brown (BUT DON'T BURN THEM). mmmmm crispy ... Enjoy with a hot bowl of lentil soup 🙂 I have a recipe for this here! For the yogurt sauce kibbeh:
In a large pot:
When the sauce boils, add the kibbeh and they will float when ready. You should cook them for an additional 15 minutes after they are boiling in the sauce. Check the video for the GORGEOUS kibbeh labinyeh we made. For the baked kibbeh, place a generous amount of olive oil, or ghee, in the bottom of the pan. Flatten the kibbeh dough so it makes one even layer of dough (1/2 cm to 1 cm thick). Make sure you bring the bottom kibbeh layer up the sides (like a pie) to fully enclose the filling. Then put the filling and cover the top with more dough by flattening pieces of dough and joining them on top of the filling like a puzzle. Use a little starch water to smooth the top of the kibbeh. You should slice it now in a fancy shape (look up baked kibbeh designs) and decorate with nuts if you like. Next, put more olive oil or ghee (or mix both for flavor) on the top of the kibbeh to cover it completely (but just barely, it's not swimming in oil!). Bake at 375F for up to an hour (check it at 45 minutes). Then broil the top. Enjoy! *if you don't have ghee you can use butter* Grilled kibbeh uses the same dough but the filling is different. In Damascus the filling includes onion, lots of walnuts, red pepper paste (or flakes), and lamb fat. In Homs the filling includes leanest meat, onion, lamb tallow, pine nuts, spicy red pepper paste (or flakes), salt and pepper.
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MEMy name is Bushra and I post my favorite recipes on my youtube channel. All recipes are gathered here on my website as well as helpful links to my videos and fancy ingredients. Thanks for stopping by! Archives
October 2023
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