melamed

It is well known that the Persians have an endless variety of rice dishes. What is your favorite recipe? The Jeweled Persian rice is perhaps the most colorful, and the only one I bothered photographing because after hours of fiddling with pistachios, almonds, barberries and orange peels, I knew I would not be making it very often.

This is a wonderful thread and I want to try every recipe here. I was always told to salt my eggplants to reduce bitterness but I have stopped since eggplants are not as bitter as they used to be, is salting still widely done? The trend here is to grill a whole eggplant (I use the long black Japanese eggplants). When the eggplant has completely collapsed then the flesh is pureed and combined with creamed mashed potatoes for an interesting Middle Eastern twist on the common side dish. Another way is slicing the eggplants, brushing with olive oil, sprinking with salt/pepper and putting in the oven for about 45 minutes on medium high (200 C), perhaps these should have been left in a bit longer.

thanks! that's the way it is made at a local restaurant run by bedouins as well as another lebanese place farther south (baharat or cinnamon spiced). I think in most places it would be made with beef but perhaps a bit of sheepfat is mixed in for flavour. I use olive oil. It is very good.

That's what we call them. Grape leaves, mulberry or cabbage leaves. Rebecca yeah I think we could have some relatives in common. Kibbeh neyeh is good for a crowd. Since my kids and wife don't enjoy it I only make one batch which keeps me very happy. ← Intriguing, this is the first time I heard of stuffed mulberry leaves (are you referring to the leaves of the mulberry tree that silkworms love so much?). Can you clarify some of the nayeh terminology above (khashbeh, harrah, habra and fatayel, me'elak, ly'eh) Thanks!

I am new to the forum and glad to be having this lively discussion about kubba with such interesting people and am especially happy that Rebecca could make it, greetings to everyone! More about celery, I know that many of the Kurds from Northern Iraq use celery instead of parsley, dill or mint which were all widely available. From what I read from a Kurdish cookbook and what I know from my family (from all over Northern Iraq), celery was the herb of choice. Dill would never me used although it is often used in stuffed grape leaves. Another thing which I forgot to mention is Kalia. In the old days before refrigerators the stuffing was made by cutting meat into very small pieces and frying them until they were well browned and lost all their moisture. This was pounded into a paste using a mortar and pestle and stored in an airtight clay pot. Nobody pounds by hand anymore but an electric mixture is used to grind everything down. Sometimes fried onions (very golden brown), garlic (never with my grandmother) and celery were added after. I always use ground meat but there are some who chop the meat by hand and stuff the kubba without frying the meat first. They say this is more authentic. Many like the clumpy mixture instead of ground meat but I don't because it is usually made with tough cuts like chuck and if it isn't chopped properly is not appetizing. Maybe we should make gourmet tenderloin kubba? The most famous Kurdish kubba is Hamoustah (meaning sour) and uses only greens for the soup- swiss chard, celery leaves, green onions, green garlic and lots of lemon juice in a chicken soup base. Fantastic but my kids really don't like all that green stuff floating around. All the stew kubba are usually eaten with white rice.

I love the plant questions and will answer even if they are from years ago: Chefcrash is right about the Akoob the latin name is Gundelia tournefortii Alosh (Olesh?) is Cichorium pumilum

I think what you are looking for is Gray calamint (Calamintha incana), I have a nice book by Nisim Krispil -spices from the holy land, with the names written in all three languages. hope this didn't come too late!

Here is my homemade version of humus with ground meat, fried onions, pine nuts and flavoured with a bit of baharat.

I just posted on the garlic issue but I think it is so far off anyone's interest grid that I would be surprised if I do get a response on that one. It could be that it is just a family tradition but I have not done enough research to see if there is some sort of pattern. My grandmother comes from north eastern Iraq (koysanjak, near the Iranian border), and has never used any garlic although jews from the Northern Iraq/turkish border use plenty of it. I thought it might be connected to more ancient traditions (zoroastrianism). The borders were once quite open and there was alot of migration going on, there are plenty of Iraqi's in Iran, as you mentioned. Perhaps I should post something about Kurdish food in general in the future, although my family eats Kubba 90% of the time they do have other recipes! Today, however no Kubba, but a pot of Harira soup.....

Piazzola, You are absolutely right, baking soda does destroy some of the bean's nutrients. Also, many people abuse the baking soda trick and the flavour is compromised. I don't use a pressure cooker or add salt at the beginning but I do try to use charcoal filtered water or I add very small amounts of baking soda, never heaping tablespoons and this makes a big difference. I would think cooking the beans to high pressure cooking temperatures also would destroy some of the nutrients.

I only cook with minimal water when I am cooking pasta in the desert on camping trips. I will stick with the Classic method.

I have noticed that in some parts of Iran, very little or no garlic is eaten. I know they make a pickled garlic but most of the recipes I have come across are garlicfree. That said, I know that in North West Iran (Urmia) plenty of garlic is used. Am I mistaken in my accessment that garlic is used sparingly? and what is the reason for this? I read somewhere in the vast recesses of the internet that this is due to zoroastrianism but I really don't know anything about this subject. Thanks!

Someone asked above about why there are variations in falafel recipes, those made with broadbeans (fool) and/or chickpeas/garbanzo (humus). For one, chickpeas come from south east turkey/syria and broadbeans are more mediterranean, associated mostly with Egypt. Perhaps that has something to do with it. Second, which was mentioned above, many Jews have favism (G6PD), a condition where eating broadbeans can lead to serious anemia. Indeed most falafel stands in Israel use only chickpeas. The egyptian falafel (taamiya) recipe that I have uses only broadbeans. ...and there is everything in between. chuff, I am not sure why it came out hard on the outside, perhaps that has to do with oil temp?

Shaya! you would make my grandmother proud as well even if she doesn't make beet kubba. That looks good! That's more or less how I make it as far as I can see although I don't use turmeric. From searching Hebrew recipes on the internet I saw that many of the recipes use celery leaves in the filling and stems in the soup, but parsley and cilantro are also widely used. Celery is the main herb flavoring in the kurdish kubba soups so that's what I am used to. There is also the garlic issue, some people would never dream of putting garlic in this dish, saying its not authentic. My grandmother who comes from a village near the Iranian border uses no garlic at all in her cooking. Is that a Persian influence? I see you use a very soft dough, which I think is the easiest when using raw meat. I would like to make the potato kubba, any tips?

I am reading the Hebrew language book Arab cuisine in the heart of the Galil by Miriam Hannawi Her kibbeh Neyeh includes orange peel or mardechosh (sweet marjoram) in the burghul. It contains no tomatoes but is flavored with paprika, cumin, allspice, pinenuts and lots of olive oil. yebra -stuffed grape leaves? I really don't know why I was afraid to eat kibbeh nayeh before

I am uninitiated with all the wonderful variations of Kibbeh Nayeh and would like to know the differences between the Kibbeh you described above? What is fatayel, Me'elak and Ly'eh? I also love kubbah but know mostly about the Iraqi/Kurdish variations which I posted about (who loves kubba-sorry have not figured out how to link back to that thread)

I think I didn't make the hard water connection because I sometimes would use filtered water, and wasn't consistant using one water source. In anycase I found almost nothing on the subject because I assume most people have normal water, without grains of sand coming out of the faucet, and the problem never came up. Question is, how does hard water effect other things that I cook? for example, how does it affect the flavour or texture?

Thanks for the links. I have never eaten raw kibbeh because its difficult to find high quality meat for that and I am afraid to die of salmonella poisoning or get mad cow disease, although I have never heard of that ever happening. Perhaps I will go to Jaffa, because there is a great butchershop there called Hanawi. I sometimes make flat discs from semolina and ground crack wheat (jereesha) stuffed with meat, raisons and pinenuts (sort of like Shaya's), I boil them until they float then fry them until they turn golden brown. Both these and Shaya's potato ones are Iraqi. I have never tasted Sheppard''s pie, is that something exotic ?

Interesting, My Aunt, who is Syrian, also makes the fried Kibbeh without meat. Are the meat ones from Lebanon or Egypt? Both Wolfert and Claudia Roden have meat in their fried Kibbeh. The Israeli Arabs (I have two cookbooks) use meat in their shell. One cookbooks adds orange peel, should try that. Lots of variations. As for the lamb, most Israelis don't bother with the lamb because it is difficult to come by, both the baladi and merino. My grandmother soaks whole rice in water for a few hours, grinds it up with chicken meat and uses that for the shell. For every 1kg of rice about 750 grams chicken meat if I remember correctly. Delicious in all its variations!

That's great! I was thinking of going myself but syria is a tricky country for me. I am interested in Kurdish cooking so thought of going to her Turkish trip next fall. I have been to Turkey twice but only to the West. Do you have any experience with Annisa? I am interested not only in the recipes but the origins (some of the history behind them) and need to ask if this will be provided.

I have an introduction to Kubba above Here is a recipe, it is not tweeked but presentable. Sorry for the metric Tomato Hamousta This recipe is from my grandmother who comes from Northern Iraq. It is a bit different than the one pictured. Hamousta means sour so plenty of lemon juice needs to be used to make an authentic tasting kubba. This isn't a strong tasting soup but I like it that way. Makes about 20-24 kubba Meat filling 1/3 teaspoon baharat spice (or cinnamin) 300 grams ground meat (traditionally mince by hand) ½ minced onion 25 grams (1/4 cup) finely chopped celery leaves Filling Combine all the ingredients for the filling. Mix well. Soup 8 cups chicken stock or water (if using water add some chicken bones for flavour!) 4-5 tomatoes, skin removed, finely chopped or grated (or liquefy them in the food processor, skin and all) 3 tablespoons tomato paste or 50 grams 1 onion, chopped 1-2 celery sticks, roughly chopped 1 bay leaf (my addition) salt/pepper 1 lemon, juice or citric acid ½ teaspoon baharat Salt/pepper 300 grams pumpkin and/or summer squash, cut into large cubes Soup Fry onion only until translucent Add a few tablespoons of tomato paste and fry to release the flavour, add the tomatoes, chicken stock and cook for about 40 minutes or until the tomatoes have blended into the stock, add pumpkin at the last 20 minutes since it softens quickly. Add lemon juice. There needs to be enough soup for the kubba to float around freely otherwise they will stick. Add more stock if necessary Shell 2 cups semolina flour 3/4 cup water 1 teaspoon salt Combine all ingredients until a dough is formed. The dough tends to dry out quickly so it best to do one cup at a time. When using uncooked meat it is easier to make the kubba when the dough is more on the soft side. Making the kubba Take a piece of dough the size of a walnut, shape the dough into a ball and with your thumb make a hole for the stuffing. If the dough is soft just push the meat into it and roll the dough around it. For every piece of dough try stuffing with about the same volume of meat. The sides of the shell should be thin, as the dough will expand in the soup. A bowl of water is useful to dip your hands in to keep the dough from sticking. When the soup is boiling add the kubba mix gently with a spoon to make sure they don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook for about 20 minutes or until the kubba begin to float. Remember the kubba will disintegrate if cooked too long. Uncooked stuffed kubba can be frozen. To freeze put a tray of kubba in the freezer until frozen to the touch. Take them out and put them in a freezer bag. Variation: used for the pictured tomato kubba For the filling fry one onion until it is very golden brown. Add the ground meat and fry it while breaking lumps with a fork and it has changed colors. Continue cooking until it is well browned. The soup and dough is the same. Its more difficult to stuff with cooked filling.

Yes, this is the way they used to do it. This explains why my grandmother taught me to use a bit of meat in the semolina mixture! The semolina seems to form a nice workable paste on its own, so I wonder if it is necessary, really, but I do it anyway to honor tradition. Do you add meat when using semolina? ← I have relatives who combine semolina or jereesha and ground meat, either chicken or beef (they come from near Mosul). Syrians (according Aromas of Aleppo) make their stewed kibbeh with ground meat and rice. It would be interesting to know if your grandmother has any Syrian connections. There's lots of overlapping influences and after 60 years its difficult to pinpoint the origin of any one recipe although I strive for that. Its fun culinary anthropology for me.

not unlucky at all, its a completely different world which I think can really be confusing. When I traveled to China I always ended up ordering a hamburger or other western food at the end of the day just to set me straight. Its a real shock to the tastebuds and all your senses for that matter. My husband has more experience than I do so thinks nothing of raw octopus, fermented tofu, jellyfish, duck tongue, bee larvae, deep fried crickets and of course kimchi...But most importantly, if you eat their food, the locals give you respect.

As one dealing with the preservation of ethnic foods I can understand the reasons behind the ban but I still think it is wrong. Food is not only about preservation but it is also very political and even a discussion over the origin of Baklava can turn pretty ugly. In my opinion, this is going to backfire and will not achieve it's longtime goal. Another method should be used, incentives perhaps, advertisment, public awareness campaign, but not a ban. I wonder how such a ban would go down in another city, like Jerusalem or Paris, there will be tires burning I am sure (if there are not already).

I'll chime in with the caste iron skillet