Kebbe Semaqiyeh

Tender Kebbe balls and meat chunks cooked in a rich, tangy broth infused with natural sumaq berry juice and garlic. A unique and refreshingly sour traditional dish.

🥄 Ingredients

• 2 kg lamb on the bone
• 1 kg large eggplant (or small black local eggplant)
• 0.5 kg sumac berries
• 2 cups boiling water
• Juice of 5 lemons or 1 tablespoon salt (or to taste)
• 2 tomatoes
• 5 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon dried mint
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• Kebbe Ingredients:
• 1 kg whole wheat bulgur (white bulgur is good for cooking, not for kebbe)
• 600 g lean ground veal or beef
• 1 cup flour
• 3 onions (approximately 400 g)
• 1 tsp seven-spice mix
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp salt (or to taste)
• Filling ingredients:
• 1 kg lean ground beef
• 2 large onions (400 g)
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp seven-spice mix
• 0.5 tsp black pepper
• 200 g finely chopped walnuts (to prevent the kebbe from falling apart during preparation)

👩‍🍳 Instructions

1. The night before, soak the sumac in two cups of boiling water.
2. The next day, drain the sumac, rub it with your hands, and squeeze out the juice. Wash the seeds with a little water and squeeze again to extract all the sourness.
3. Wash the eggplant thoroughly and cut it into medium-sized cubes with the peel on.
4. Place the garlic in the main cooking pot with two tablespoons of ghee and sauté until it turns slightly golden. Add the dried mint and sauté for one minute. Then, place the lamb on top (do not wash the lamb). Stir the lamb briefly to sear it and seal in the juices. Boil three liters of water and pour it over the lamb. Add the sumac extract, tomatoes, and half the tomato paste initially. Simmer over very low heat for three 1 hours.
5. Once the lamb is cooked, add the eggplant, lemon, and the remaining tomato paste. Cook for another half 1 hour, or until the eggplant is tender.
6. Kebbe:
7. ✨ The kibbeh dough recipe is the same for all gravies: Labaniyya, Sumaqiyya, Safarjaliyya, Yaqtin, and any other gravy.
8. Learn it once — that's enough. ✨
9. The basic principle for preparing kebbe dough is simple: add water gradually, never all at once. Pour 3 cups of cold tap water over the bulgur. Slice the onion into wedges and add it to the bulgur. Then add the remaining ingredients, except for the lean meat (which you'll add later). Let the bulgur soak with the seven-spice blend for at least 2 1 hours, or longer if needed.
10. Grind the bulgur, onion, seven-spice blend, and salt mixture in a meat grinder for the first time, without the lean meat. After the first grinding, mix the ground lean meat with the flour and the bulgur that was ground in the grinder for the second time. If the dough seems dry, gradually add a little water, then grind the bulgur and lean meat together again in the meat grinder.
11. Now, cut the dough into small pieces, about the size of a closed fist (approximately 30 grams). Make a hole in the center and place your desired amount of filling inside. The thickness of the kebbe in the yogurt sauce doesn't matter, but it's best if it's no more than 1 cm thick at the edges. Close the hole you made and press the kebbe from all sides with your fist to ensure the dough and filling adhere. Then, roll it up to smooth the outer surface, shaping it into a long, pointed shape.
12. Filling Preparation: Use the same filling as for fried kebbe. All types of kebbe fingers in broth have the same ingredients and preparation method.
13. To boil kebbe: In a suitable pot, fill it halfway with water and bring it to a boil with 1 tablespoon of salt. Once boiling, carefully drop all the kebbe from the colander into the boiling water and stir them with the back of a spoon to separate them. They will separate easily as they don't stick together completely. Cover the pot and let it boil for 2 to 5 minutes maximum. After boiling, remove the kebbe from the water with a slotted spoon and place it in a clean colander placed over a plate to drain any excess water. Let it cool, then spread it out on a tray. Use the colander for the next serving.

🌹 Decoration

Sumac kebbe is a garnish that needs no additional decoration.