INGREDIENTS

INSTRUCTIONS

KIBBEH
STUFFING
This is a yummy recipe that we use instead of meat loaf. The original I
have calls for cubed lamb or beef but I have always used a good grade of
hamburger (very lean) or ground roast. Which will work just fine. Cover
this with a cream sauce or one of the tomato cream sauces in the spaghetti
section.
Grease a shallow 12"X18" baking pan. Put a layer of basic Kibbeh (recipe
below) smoothly and firmly over the bottom of the pan to the depth of 1".
Cover this evenly with a layer of stuffing. Top with a second layer of
Kibbeh slightly thicker than the first. Score into Diamond shapes with a
sharp knife. Pour 1 cup melted samneth (butter) over all. Bake in moderate
oven about 20 minutes or until well browned. Serve hot or cold. Serves 8
persons.
Kibbeh is virtually the national dish of Lebanon and to call it a meat loaf
does not quite raise it to the heights it deserves. Its traditional
preparation is dramatic. It requires a stone mortar & heavy pestle (called
the jorn & modaqqa). The meat is pounded with rhythmic motions until it is
smooth and pasty. All the neighborhood knows the sound of kibbeh in the
making.
Select the lamb from the loin of the animal. (Or if you prefer, use beef
with very little fat, or fat removed). Pound the cubed meat with a teaspoon
of salt in a stone mortar with a wooden mallet. Remove meet for mortar when
it becomes pasty. Now pound onion with a teaspoon of salt and pepper until
it is reduced to a pulp. Combine meat and onion and pound together until
very smooth. Wash burghul & meat with the hands. Pound together in mortar.
Add salt to taste. Dip mallet in icewater occasionally to keep meat moist &
smooth. Properly prepared kibbeh must be pounded at least an hour. Then it
is ready to be eaten as is, or cooked in a variety of ways.
Preparation time may be shortened considerably by grinding meat several
times through fine blade of meat grinder. Grind onion twice. Grind onions
once again with meat. Combine wash burghul with meat-onion mixture. Knead
well, seasoning with salt & pepper. Grind this mixture three times, adding
a teaspoon of icewater to keep it smooth.
Stuffing: Heat fat. Fry chopped onions in it until soft. Add meat and fry
until lightly browned. Add pine nuts and continue frying until they are
slightly browned and meat has lost its pink color entirely. Season with
salt, pepper & cinnamon. Pour off excess fat.
(From Food from the Arab World Marie Karam Khayat & Margaret Clark
Keatinge, Khayat's, Beirut 1959) Parenthetical adaptations
Posted to EAT-L Digest  by Louis Stull <lstull@EARTHLINK.NET> on Apr 13,
1998

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