Difficulty: Medium 

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

For 40 small kebbeh

Ingredients:

For the kebbeh dough: 

• 350g of fine brown bulgur
• 350g drinking water
• 500g ground lamb meat (lamb saddle or defatted leg)
• Salt and ground black pepper 

For the stuffing:

• 1 kg finely chopped onions
• 300g minced lamb meat
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 50g of pine nuts
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Utensils:

• 2 salad bowls
• 1 saucepan
• 1 food processor
• 1 fryer and its frying oil
• 1 strainer

Preparation:

1. Soak the fine brown bulgur with 350g of drinking water for at least 20 minutes and no more than 2 hours.
2. To make the filling, sauté the chopped onions in olive oil until golden on medium low heat.
3. Add the minced meat to the onions and cool out on medium high heat.
4. Stir occasionally until it’s fully cooked.
5. Toast the pine nuts in the oven for 15 min at 160˚C.
6. Add the pine nuts to the cooked meat and set aside.   

For the kebbeh dough:

1. In a food processor, blend the ground meat, bulgur, salt and pepper. Add a little water if needed. (If the quantity of the dough is too large for the food processor, mix in batches. The texture of the dough must be homogeneous. It is ready when it comes off the sides of the food processor).
2. Mix the dough with your fist (as if you are punching out the air bubbles in a bread dough).
3. Moisten your hands with water and form a ball of kibbeh dough (make a well with your finger and push it out in the palm of one hand to gradually expand the well).
4. Fill the formed cavity ¾ full with stuffing. Seal the dough well and form an oval by pinching the two sides.
5. Gradually place the kibbeh on a plate. If your dough tears, put a piece of dough back over the hole with your wet fingers.
6. Heat the oil in a fryer to 180°C and fry the kebbeh balls until they turn golden (about 1 to 2 minutes).
7. Gently drain the kibbeh and place them on absorbent paper.
8. Serve with yogurt or hummus!

Recipe by : Chef Karim Haidar