Dish · middle-eastern
Kibbeh
Kibbeh is a shell of fine bulgur pounded with raw meat and onion, formed around a filling of spiced ground lamb and pine nuts, then fried until the outside turns dark and crisp.
Where it comes from
Pounding meat and grain by hand into a smooth paste made kibbeh a marker of a cook's skill at Levantine family gatherings, and it's treated as a national dish across the region.
What cooks argue about
The argument is the meat to bulgur ratio in the shell and whether it's pounded by hand in a stone mortar or run through a food processor, which changes the shell from elastic to crumbly.
Versions
Nobody has published a kibbeh here yet. When somebody cooks one from a video and publishes it, their version appears in this list, with a link back to the original.
What goes in it
Each one opens everything else made with it.
bulgur
ground lamb
onion
pine nuts
allspice