Kibbeh – Middle Eastern meatballs

Kibbeh – Meat balls where meat is presented in 2 ways with different textures.

Making Kibbeh is tricky. There are so many things to consider. It takes a lot of practice to reach perfection. Middle East woman are skilled in making Kibbeh. If you grew in that part of the world your mother would have trained, you to make Kibbeh by the time you turned 15.

What is a perfect kibbeh?

• Crunchy but not dry
• The meat wrap is thin but enough to keep and balance the filling
• The filling complements the wrap but not overwhelming
• The balance of species crucial for the taste.
• The size: not too big or too small. The right size is – to fit into the palm of your hand.

What is Kibbeh?

Kibbeh name comes from an Arabic verb meaning – “form into a ball”. Yes, it is a ball, but stuffed ball. Kibbeh has 2 main components:

• A meat wrap – mad with fine bulgur wheat + finely ground beef + onion
• and a Meat filling – spiced beef and toasted pine nuts

These two components are shaped into a football – like oval shapes.

The bulgur wheat and ground beef meat mixture is the a wrap for the meat filling. The middle east spices like allspice and cinnamon makes the special taste.

Once formed Kibbeh balls can be fried or baked.

How to serve Kibbeh?

Kibbeh is best served warm with tahini sauce, tzatziki or plain yogurt.  You can also serve it with tabouli, fattoush salad, or even Greek salad.

Follow the steps to make Kibbeh?

• Start with the filling. Cook the onions slowly. Be patient. You need slow cooking to caramelize them and reach the sweet taste. Cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes and then reduce the heat to the lowest heat.
• Prepare the spices:

• While cooking onions start making the meat wrap dough. Put the fine bulgur in a bowl and cover with hot water. Let rest for 15 minutes. Then drain the soaked bulgur using a cheesecloth. Squeeze all the water out. Set aside. If you use coarse bulgur, you need to more time to cook it according to the packet instructions. Now make the kibbeh meat dough that you will later use to form the kibbeh shells. Put the onion, ground beef, spices and pinch of salt into the bowl of a large food processor. Process until the meat is very finely ground almost into a paste. Transfer the meat mixture into a large bowl and add the bulgur wheat. Use your hands to combine the bulgur with the meat mixture to make a dough. Cover and refrigerate until later.
• Continue with the filling preparation. Toast the pine nuts for a minute to allow their flavors explode. Once onion is cooked until golden, add the ground beef. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the meat is fully browned. Use fork to press the meat. Add the toasted pine nuts, the spices, and the salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
• Make Kibbeh balls. Take kibbeh dough from the fridge. To stuff the kibbeh, Place a bowl of water next to you. Line a baking sheet. Begin stuffing the kibbeh. Dampen your hands with some water, take 2 tablespoons of the kibbeh dough and form into somewhat of an oval-shaped disc in the palm of one hand. Use your finger to make a well in the middle of the disc, and gradually hallow the disc out to make a larger well or hole for the filling. Add about 1 tablespoon of the filling. Seal the dough on top and, using both hands, carefully shape it into an oval (football-type shape). Place the stuffed kibbeh on the baking sheet. Repeat the stuffing steps until you run out of ingredients, be sure to have damp hands throughout.
• Chill the stuffed kibbeh for 1 hour, this is a very important step!
• Freeze: If you do not plan to cook the entire batch of kibbeh balls, this is the step to freeze.
• Frying: heat the oil in a deep frying – hot enough that you can see some gentle bubbling, but not too hot where it will burn the kibbeh shells. Deep-fry the kibbeh in the hot oil, in batches, until the kibbeh shells are brown. (do not to crowd them in the pan). With a slotted spoon remove the kibbeh and place them on paper towel to drain. Repeat until you have fried all the stuffed kibbeh.
• Baking: Preheat the oven to 210°C. Spray the stuffed kibbeh with oil, and arrange them in a single layer, spaced out, on a large baking sheet. Bake until deep golden brown for 30 minutes.
• Serve hot or at room temperature with tahini sauce, tzatziki sauceor plain Greek yogurt. Enjoy!

Kibbeh Variations:

Make small kibbeh filled with white cheese and dried mint.

Make kibbeh filled with cabbage, onions, carrots and mushrooms all cut into small pieces and sautéed together and added some walnuts.

Tips and Notes:

Keep kibbeh dough cool as you work with it. Place the bowl of kibbeh dough in a larger bowl filled with ice while shaping all balls.

Use fine bulgur. If you have only coarse, break it in food processor and cook according to packet instruction.

Freeze the kibbeh– You can easily freeze the kibbeh after stuffing. Instead of simply chilling for an hour, arrange the kibbeh on a baking sheet and freeze for 2 hours. Then transfer freeze kibbeh to a zip lock bag.  You can cook these from frozen, do not thaw. It is a good idea to make lots of kibbeh because its messy and more rewarding when you can freeze several batches to be consumed later. Your Lunchbox will love it!

A secret to making good Kibbeh wrap is to add a spoon of corn-flour to the wrap dough. This helps to make crunchy case.