Kubbeh Hamusta
Bulgur and semolina dumplings filled with ground beef and parsley, cooked in a lemony turmeric soup with carrots, celery and chard.
Recipe
Ingredients
Dough
Soup
Beef Filling
Instructions
Dough
Rinse bulgur, soak 10-15 min, drain. Mix with semolina, salt, baharat.
Add the water gradually while kneading the semolina and bulgur together, rather than all at once. The dough is ready when it feels like soft modeling clay (Play-Doh) and holds together when shaped.
Filling
Sauté onion, add beef, cook. Season and mix in.
Soup
Sauté the onion, then add the garlic, carrots and celery.
Add the seasonings and sauté for a few minutes.
Add the water, the lemon juice, and sugar or date syrup as desired to balance the sourness.
Add the chard leaves and let the soup simmer briefly.
Taste and adjust salt, black pepper, lemon and sweetness.
Shape Kubbeh
Roll a ball, flatten with fingers, create a small cup, add a small amount of filling (just enough that the dough can still close and seal securely), close into a ball.
Seal each kubbeh carefully using wet hands or hands lightly coated with oil.
Test One First
Lower one kubbeh gently into the soup, wait a few minutes, then carefully lift it to check whether it has firmed up and holds together. If it does, continue with the others. (This only checks the dough; it is not the full cooking time.)
Cook
Gently add the kubbeh to the soup and cook gently for approximately 30-40 minutes.
Tips
- If the dough won't hold together with a modeling-clay texture, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour as a binder.
- Another optional binder: knead ground chicken breast or a handful of uncooked ground meat into the dough instead. Use one binder or the other, not all of them. Dough made with meat must cook through completely.
Kubbeh Hamusta
Bulgur and semolina dumplings filled with ground beef and parsley, cooked in a lemony turmeric soup with carrots, celery and chard.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup fine bulgur
- 1-1¼ cups water, added gradually
- 2 cups semolina
- 1 tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baharat
Soup
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 3 carrots, sliced
- Celery stalks and celery leaves
- Chard leaves
- 2½ tbsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp pepper
- ½ tsp turmeric
- Baharat
- Salt
- Juice of 2 lemons
- About 2 liters boiling water or broth (enough to fill the pot about three-quarters full, leaving room for the kubbeh)
- Sugar or date syrup, as desired, to balance the sourness
- Chicken bouillon or soup seasoning (optional)
Beef Filling
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ¼ tsp turmeric
- Baharat
- ½ cup parsley
Instructions
Dough
- Rinse bulgur, soak 10-15 min, drain. Mix with semolina, salt, baharat.
- Add the water gradually while kneading the semolina and bulgur together, rather than all at once. The dough is ready when it feels like soft modeling clay (Play-Doh) and holds together when shaped.
Filling
- Sauté onion, add beef, cook. Season and mix in.
Soup
- Sauté the onion, then add the garlic, carrots and celery.
- Add the seasonings and sauté for a few minutes.
- Add the water, the lemon juice, and sugar or date syrup as desired to balance the sourness.
- Add the chard leaves and let the soup simmer briefly.
- Taste and adjust salt, black pepper, lemon and sweetness.
Shape Kubbeh
- Roll a ball, flatten with fingers, create a small cup, add a small amount of filling (just enough that the dough can still close and seal securely), close into a ball.
- Seal each kubbeh carefully using wet hands or hands lightly coated with oil.
Test One First
- Lower one kubbeh gently into the soup, wait a few minutes, then carefully lift it to check whether it has firmed up and holds together. If it does, continue with the others. (This only checks the dough; it is not the full cooking time.)
Cook
- Gently add the kubbeh to the soup and cook gently for approximately 30-40 minutes.
Tips
- If the dough won't hold together with a modeling-clay texture, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour as a binder.
- Another optional binder: knead ground chicken breast or a handful of uncooked ground meat into the dough instead. Use one binder or the other, not all of them. Dough made with meat must cook through completely.
Watch it come together
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