Baked Kibbeh

This is a kind of meatloaf with all Middle Eastern ingredients: lamb, bulghur wheat, pine nuts. My father made it for parties when I was growing up.
Kibbeh is extremely good served hot with plain yogurt dolloped on top. It can also be eaten cold or room temperature, making it a terrific potluck or buffet dish. Serve a tartly dressed green salad with tomatoes, cucumbers and mint.

My Sephardic Jewish friend who grew up in Los Angeles only knows kibbeh as “fried footballs” – exquisite small rocket shapes with the filling inside, fried to perfection. She was surprised (and delighted) to meet baked kibbeh at my table. Kibbeh baked in a tray is considered more “home style” in the Arab world and at one time might have been too plain to serve to guests. In my childhood my aunts prepared it three ways for feasts: raw (yes! Kibbeh tartare), baked, and fried.

The following recipe is adapted from Claudia Roden's Book of Jewish Food, kitchen tested and reliable in terms of the spicing. I have noted my own comments.

Baked kibbeh is usually made with two bulgur/meat shell layers and one central layer of meat fried with onions and pine nuts.

For the meat shell: 2 1/2 cups (500 g) fine ground bulghur wheat (cracked wheat)
(Leila's note - I used 1 cup of bulghur for this much meat)
About 2 teaspoons salt (I'd start with a little less)
1 large onion, quartered
1 pound (500 g) lean lamb
Pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
For the filling:
1 large onion, chopped
3 tablespoons sunflower oil (I used olive)
1 1/2 lbs (750 g) ground lamb, preferably fatty
(I used much less than this, and used the same extra lean ground lamb I used for the shell. You can also use beef for the filling and lamb for the shell)
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/4 cup (100 g) pine nuts
2-3 tablespoons sunflower oil

For the shell, soak the bulgur in lots of cold water for about 15 minutes. Rinse in a sieve, press to drain thoroughly.

Process onion in a food processor. Add the meat, blend to a paste. take out and mix wtih bulghur & flavorings. Process, in batches, to a soft, well blended, doughlike paste.

For the filling, fry the onion in the oil until soft. Add the ground meat, salt, pepper, cinnamon and allspice and fry, turning and crushing the meat with a fork, until it has changed color. Add the pine nuts and mix well.

Grease a large shallow baking dish with oil. Press half the shell paste evenly on the bottom, about 1/2 an inch thick. Spread the filling on top and cover with the rest of the paste. You'll need to flatten the paste in sections between your palms, then apply to the top. Patch any holes and press firmly.

Use a pointed knife to score the meat in straight or diagonal lines (to make squares or diamonds). Dot each square wtih an additional pine nut, if you like. Most recipes suggest brushing the top with more oil, or butter, or (shudder) CRISCO. I omitted this step with good results, but it's possible the ground lamb I used was not as absolutely fat-free as Claudia Roden's recipe requires. Middle Eastern lambs store their fat in their tails, so the meat is relatively lean, thus needing more fat basted on top.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes.

A further note from Leila: a lovely German friend of ours, married to a Lebanese school chum of my father's, served us kibbeh made with ground turkey in the shell and beef for the filling.

Comments

[Chiaroscuro]

Leila-- I have been trying to find a recipe for baked kibbeh similar to the kibbeh I remember in a restaurant on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, very many years ago. And this one seems to be it! It may be faulty memory on my part, but are there variations with a hint of cumin as well?

[Bob Calder]

The problem is spelling it! Kibbe, Kibbee, Kibbeh. Last week I baked kibbeh for my son who was on leave from Mosul. I had never tried making kibbeh and I am 57 but it was a childhood favorite (along with everything else on the table at my Lebanese friends' house.) Anyway I saw a bag at Costco that held about two cups of pine nuts and that settled the menu for me. IT turned out OK but you should try my wife's tabbouli. It's to die for.

[Beth]

Looks great! I've been on the prowl for a bulghar kubba recipe that was less fatty than the fried varieties...will give yours a try. :o)