Syria is a small country that borders the Eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. The country is mostly Sunni Muslim with 90% being ethnically Arabic. In 1975, archeologists excavated the city of Ebla in northern Syria, and it is thought to be one of the most ancient civilizations on earth. It is though that Ebla to be the oldest Semitic language. Crazy huh? Did you also know that the new president of Syria is actually an eye doctor? Cool huh? I kept thinking of Syria being all desert and dry, but the Euphrates river courses through the east, making it a bit lush in some areas. That is why there are such vibrant vegetables to start off my first dish: Tabbouleh.
Tabbouleh: a fresh salad that contains burgul (a type of wheat that expands with water). I decided to make a salad once I found out that Kibbeh was going to be all meat. My recipe came from Dede and you can find it directly from: http://www.dedemed.com/index.php/Vegetarian-Recipes/Tabouli.html.
Ingredients:
2 Tomatoes or 2 Cups Diced
1 Cup chopped green onion
4 Cup chopped parsley flat leaf
1 Cup yellow onion chopped
3 leaves fresh mint
1/4 Cup dry or 1/2 cup soaked burgle
1 tsp dry mint
1 tsp salt
1/2 Cup lemon juice
1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Directions:
Rinse and finely chop parsley and fresh mint leaves and place in a bowl. Add chopped tomato, green onion, yellow onion, and soaked burgle and combine with parsley. In a separate small bowl combine salt, dry mint, lemon juice, olive oil and cayenne pepper then add to parsley mixture and let sit for 5 minutes before serving to allow burgle to absorb some of the dressing.
One tip: go to the Chinese supermarket to get your produce. I was able to get large amounts of Parsley and veggies for such a cheap price. Remember to soak the Burgul in a lot of water for a couple minutes until it expands and gets soft. Then drain all the water out and you will be fine. In terms of the olive oil, I put all of it in the salad, but I found it quite overwhelming. I would just slow mix the salad and add oil to the desired amount next time. In the end, the salad was really easy to make and it was delicious. The lemon juice and mint made it so fresh and light even with the large amounts of olive oil. I will surely be making this all the time!
Kibbeh (2 ways): Two ways mean that I will fry some of it and another way I will bake it like a casserole. By frying it into balls, it will be my appetizer. In a casserole style, the Kibbeh will be my main dish. The baked dish is almost like meatloaf with middle eastern/ Mediterranean spices. Instead of using bread crumbs, I’m using Burgul. The fried Kibbeh is very much like a Samosa, but theouter casing is made out of Burgul and meat. It basically is a meat lovers dish. My recipe came from Dede and you can find it directly from: http://www.dedemed.com/index.php/Other-Recipes/Kibbeh-Recipe.html.
Ingredients:
2 lbs superfine ground beef or lamb sirloin
1 cup dry burgul No. 1
1 cup chopped onion
2 basil leaves
3 tbs Kibbeh seasoning
2 tsp salt
Stuffing:
1 lb ground beef or lamb
1 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup sliced almonds or pine nuts
1 tsp 7 spices
1 tsp salt
2 tbs olive oil
Kibbeh Seasoning:
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground corriander
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp dried sage
Directions
For the Kibbeh dough, rinse the burgul in water and pour off the water but leave some excess for the burgul to soak up, let it sit for about 2 hours. In a food processor combine the burgul, meat then remove. Next in the food processor blend the onion, and basil, place in the bowl with the burgul and meat. Add the kibbeh seasoning and salt and kneed the ingredients until well combined for about 3 minutes.
For the stuffing, in a pan on medium heat add 2 tablespoons of oil then add the meat and stir until mostly cooked, then add the onions, salt nuts and seasoning and cook until lightly browned and well combined.
Next you can shape the kibbeh into balls or footballs and stuff them with the stuffing and fry them in vegetable oil or make kibbeh in a baking pan and cook in the oven at 350-400 degrees for about 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Serve kibbeh with salad, yogurt or tzatziki yogurt and cucumber sauce. Check out Dede's video for better instructions on how to shape and present the kibbeh.
Making Kibbeh was a challenge. Again, I must thank Dede for making a video and showing the rest of the inexperienced world how to prepare this dish. The first suggestion is to start with preparing the stuffing and kibbeh seasoning. When soaking the burgul, I did it for about 1.5 hours and it turned out fine. Like what Dede said, have a bowl of water handy as it does get quite sticky to handle. I must say, when I was blending the meat, it was quite disgusting to the smell. I was worried. It was not until you added the seasoning did I start to gain more confidence. The fried balls was like making dumplings and it was actually fun to make. The casserole was quite simple too. Watch Dede do it! Remember to buy LEAN meat or it will be quite greasy when it bakes. I had to drain out a lot of oil as I bought the 80/20 ground beef. The Kibbeh was tons of work, but it was completely worth it. Out of all the cuisines I have made, this by far is the most labor intensive. But I can see why George loves it. It was a ball of meat stuffed with more meat and almonds. I now want to be Syrian because of this.
Hummus: I hope everybody knows what this is. I decided to prepare this dish as Greg really wanted to have it. Plus, I’ve never made homemade hummus before and it was real easy. My recipe came from Dede and you can find it directly from: http://www.dedemed.com/index.php/Vegetarian-Recipes/Hummus.html.
Ingredients:
1/4 Cup Yogurt
1 Can Garbanzo Beans "Chick Peas"
1/2 Cup Tahini (Sesame Seed Paste)
1/2 Cup Lemon Juice
2-3 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Tsp of Salt
1/4 Tsp citric acid "if you need more lemon taste"
2 Tbs water "if to thick"
3-4 Fresh Mint Leaves "for taste"
2 Tbs of Fresh Parsley "for garnish"
1 Tsp of Cayenne Pepper or Paprika "for garnish"
Mix first 9 ingredients and blend until smooth and to desired thickness. Garnish with parsley, cayenne pepper and olive oil.
Easiest dish ever to make and it was yummy! I would add more garlic next time and add less lemon juice as it was a bit sour to my taste.
Even with all the work to prepare this meal, it was definitely a success. It actually tasted even better the next day. I made a sandwich with the Kibbeh, Tabbouleh and yogurt in a pita bread and it was so yummy the next day for lunch. So, my goal now is to just visit Little Rock and get George's parents to cook for us the real thing.
My friend Alain joined us at this last dinner and he really enjoyed it. We had him choose the next cuisine and guess where we are going to now.......
We are going back to AFRICA!...
As the Syrians will say in their country:
أ.ن. وجبة شهية.
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