5 traditional recipes to discover kibbeh (Lebanese meatballs)

 

Here we are at our last episode on Lebanese cuisine. This time we will tell you about the kibbeh, meatballs very popular in Lebanon, both as a homemade dish and as a street food. As for the recipes of rolls in leaves, our source is always the cook Kamal Mouzawak, author of that marvel of the book that he is Eating Lebanese. So let's go to the discovery of all those infinite ways with which we can find or prepare the Lebanese meatballs, not to be confused with the "homegrown" ones. 

Kibbeh: five Lebanese meatball recipes 

In Lebanon, there are so many ways to prepare kibbeh, which take their name from Arabic kubbeh, that is "ball". Unlike the meatballs we are used to, the Lebanese ones have one very long and complex preparation, because they are almost always composed of two parts: A outer casing, usually based on bulgur (sprouted durum wheat very common in the Middle East) and meat; a stuffing which varies a lot, especially from north to south of Lebanon, and which can be fish, meat, cheese, vegetables, legumes. We have chosen five recipes, including a vegetarian one, where each kibbeh, in addition to the dish itself, also tells us something about Lebanese food culture, even if they were just legends. So, we just have to start putting our hands in the dough! 

Kibbeh kbeb, the street food par excellence

Let's start with the most famous kibbeh ever, that is the classic meatballs that we find most often both in restaurants and in the so-called Lebanese caterer, which around the streets as street food. They are based on minced meat and then fried, but to be well done, the frying must be light and crunchy; furthermore, it is important that they are as fine and delicate as possible. They never fail during the meze ritual, which we had already told you about tabbouleh and rolls, but it can happen that they also serve as a main meal, especially when they are cooked and combined with some sauces, such as yogurt. And now let's start preparing them! 

Ingredients

For the outer casing

• 500 g of finely minced beef
• 400 g of fine dark bulgur
• salt to taste 
• white pepper to taste

For the stuffing 

• 200 g of coarse minced beef
• 2 onions
• 100 g pine nuts 
• 1 tablespoon butter 
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil 

Method 

1. For the outer wrap, boil the bulgur for 30 minutes, then drain it well and add the meat. Season with salt and pepper and work everything until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough (if necessary add a little cold water) and let it rest in a cool place.
2. For the filling, sauté finely chopped onions in extra virgin olive oil and butter. Add the meat, season with salt and pepper and mix well. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, the time that the meat loses its pink color. 
3. In a separate pan, brown the pine nuts and add the meat. 
4. Wet your hands with the ice water and start forming meatballs, that is, creating some "Balls" the size of a walnut. Hold each kibbeh in your left hand and, with your right index finger, make a hole as deep as possible. 
5. Fill this hole with about a teaspoon of filling, leaving a little space to close the meatball. To do this, close the sides towards the center, forming a point, and finally fry them until they are golden brown, then serve hot.

Kibbeh in tahini sauce, a homemade dish

This is a very common homemade dish in Sidon, South Lebanon. It just prepares for special occasions and there are numerous variations: with or without meat, with chickpeas, and so on, depending on your taste. Usually, it is cooked with a juice of melangle, a particular variety of bitter orange, although in Sidon they prefer a mix of different citrus fruits, such as mandarins, clementines, oranges (but not lemon). The best solution, writes chef Kamal, is to use two-thirds orange and one-third lemon juice.  

Ingredients 

• 1,5 L of melangolo juice
• 500 g of white cabbage
• 1 kg of onions
• 30 g of tahini
• 100 g pine nuts 
• 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste

Method

1. Prepare the kibbeh kbeb exactly as in the previous recipe. 
2. Cut the onions finely and, in a pan, sauté in vegetable oil for about 20 minutes; then pour 2 glasses of water, let it simmer for other 20 minutes and switch to the mixer. 
3. Add tahini, citrus juice and simmer for 1 hours. Season with salt. 
4. Cut the cabbage into pieces, season with salt and extra virgin olive oil and bake at 230 °, until it is golden.
5. Put the still raw meatballs and the cooked cabbage in the sauce e cook for 20 minutes. Then brown the pine nuts in a pan and add them. Serve hot with white rice. 

Pumpkin kibbeh, the vegetarian variant

Here is also one now vegetarian recipe, which you can safely decline with others vegetables according to tastes and seasons, such as with potatoes or tomatoes. We propose it with pumpkin, both because it is often used, and because there is also a story linked to these kibbeh, from which the name derives "Smart", as they are also called. Legend has it that, at the time when Christians were persecuted, the Roman army decided, on a Friday (the day when Christians do not eat meat), to go through all the houses in search of those who were eating meatless kibbeh (because it meant that they were good Christians to ... kill!). But an army general, who was secretly a Christian, passed the word on among all his brothers of faith, who had the brilliant idea - not to be discovered but at the same not to transgress their creed - to start preparing pumpkin kibbeh! Thus they created meatballs that looked like meat, but were not. In short, a trick that saved the lives of many and gave birth to the first vegetarian version!

Ingredients

For the outer casing

• 1 kg of pumpkin
• 1 kg of fine dark bulgur
• 120 g flour
• 1 onion
• 1 teaspoon of dried mint
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper
• ½ teaspoon of sweet pepper
• ½ teaspoon of sweet pepper
• salt to taste

For the stuffing 

• 2 kg of spinach 
• 2 onions 
• 500 g of cooked chickpeas 
• juice of 4 lemons
• 100 g of sumac (a very popular spice mix in the Middle East)
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil soup
• 1 tbsp of sweet chili 
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Method 

1. Start by preparing the meatball wrap. Cook the pumpkin cut into large pieces in boiling water for 20 minutes, until it becomes tender. Drain it well and remove the skin. 
2. Mix the cooked pumpkin well with the bulgur e let it rest for at least an hour, the time for the bulgur to absorb the water from the pumpkin and become tender. Then, add the coarsely chopped onion with the flour and spices (mint, pepper, etc.) e puree everything in the blender to obtain a compact dough. 
3. For the filling, sauté the onion in extra virgin olive oil for 5 minutes, then add the finely chopped spinach and cook for 10 minutes. Allow to cool and add the cooked chickpeas, sumac, lemon juice, chilli, pepper and salt. 
4. Start forming the meatballs as in the previous recipes, that is, rounding well, holding in the left hand and making a hole with the index finger of the right; fill the hole with approx a spoonful of filling to form a deep pocket, with the wrap on the thin sides, then close it at the top making a point. A tip: cool your hands with ice or cold water to prevent the kibbehs from sticking to your fingers. 
5. Fry in hot oil until golden brown and serve cold.  

Kibbeh with labneh e awarma, two essential ingredients 

We chose this recipe mainly because it is based on two ingredients very common in Lebanon: labneh e awarma. The first - in Italy you can find it in some shops that sell products from around the world - is one yogurt with sheep, cow, or goat milk, which is usually eaten half in the middle of a sandwich with mint, cucumber, tomato and olives, as a snack at any time! The second is one pre-cooked, fried or salted meat, usually lamb or beef, which is preserved over time, similar to the protagonist of the well-known kebab-type sandwich, the Shawarma, which is eaten in neighboring Palestine. Returning to our meatballs, in this case they come grilling: for this reason, it is a holiday dish, to be eaten outdoors, “when the grill is on and you grill all day without interruption!”, always writes the chef Kamal. 

Ingredients 

• 700 g of finely minced beef (500 of meat, 200 of fat)
• 400 g fine dark bulgur
• 150 g of labneh
• 100 g walnuts 
• 1 onion
• zest of a lemon
• 1 teaspoon of marjoram coffee
• 1 teaspoon of dried mint
• 2 spoons of vegetable oil
• salt to taste
• pepper to taste

Method 

1. For the dough, wash the bulgur, cut the onion finely and mix everything with the meat, salt, pepper, zest, mint and marjoram, until the mixture is fine. 
2. For the stuffing, mix walnut and labneh and season with salt and pepper. 
3. Take a ball of dough the size of a walnut and flatten it like a disk; then, add a spoonful of filling in the center of the disc. Then, proceed by making a second disc of kibbeh and place it on top of the first. Press with your fingers on the edges to close it well and continue thus creating the others, until the dough is finished. 
4. Arrange the kibbehs on a lightly greased pan with olive oil and put in oven preheated to 200 ° for 30 minutes approximately, or in any case until they are golden. Then serve hot. 

Raw Kibbeh, the dispute between North and South

We can say that the differences between North and South Lebanon can be summed up perfectly in the raw kibbehs. “In the north, the hard and rocky nature, in the south the sweet and fragrant hills; in the north, goat and bulgur kibbehs, in the south, kibbeh alla kamouneh - a set of spices such as basil, mint, coriander, parsley, cumin, rosemary, etc. - which brings all the flavors of the garden ”, writes chef Kamal in his book. Therefore, in these raw meatballs we find the most emblematic ingredients of one part of the country or another, even if, Kamal continues, “nothing equals raw kibbeh with goat meat, which is the finest in taste and the least fatty; alternatively, not bad also that of lamb - as in the southern recipe that we propose today - or a good beef ". In any case, since it is raw meat, it is essential that it is very fresh. Furthermore, in Lebanon, the raw meat is the quintessential symbol of celebration: in fact, raw kibbehs are almost always prepared on Sundays or during a festive lunch. 

Ingredients 

• 500 g lamb meat (finely chopped)
• 200 g of kamouneh 
• 2 sprigs of parsley 
• 2 sprigs of mint 
• salt to taste
• white pepper to taste

Method 

1. Finely chop parsley and mint, mix them with the meat and kamouneh, then season with salt and pepper and form some elongated meatballs, like thick fingers. 
2. Arrange on a plate and serve fresh with a drizzle of olive oil. 

 

And you, which kibbeh will you decide to cook in this wonderful variegated world of Lebanese meatballs?

 

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