In elementary school I was the kid with the weird food. No contest. My lunch wasn’t cute like a pb&j nor was it stringy like the cheesy pizzas on Pizza Fridays. I had falafel, tupperwares of hummus brimmed to the top – typical Middle Eastern food, with the occasional ‘I love you’ note from my mom. This is what inspired today’s post. For the longest time I thought I could get by just blogging about the famous Middle Eastern dishes, leaving the tricky ones that don’t photograph well away from Olive Juice, but that wouldn’t be fair. I’ve blogged about the big names like tabbouleh (تبولة), baba ganoush (بابا غنوج), baklava (بقلاوة), but now it’s time for kibbeh (كبة).
Kibbeh is a traditional meat dish native to the Levant area (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan) that can be prepared over 20 different ways. It’s a dish that’s dear to me because it’s most popular in Aleppo, Syria, the city where my grandparents are from. All the different preparations for kibbeh start with the same particular cut of meat called habra (هبرة) and that’s what I’m featuring today.
Habra is particular in that it cannot have any fat. Zip. Zilch – nada. This used to be an issue and a royal pain in the butt, but not anymore. Although my mom and grandmother still (stubbornly) de-fat their own meat, Sylvia is always more than happy to help me. Sylvia is my friend and head butcher at my local Whole Foods. I don’t want to turn this into a PSA, but befriend your butcher, fish monger, produce (guy/gal?)… they can make or break your grocery shopping experience. Plus, they’ve always got interesting stories. So yes, if your butcher is willing, ask him or her (kindly) to de-fat some inside round and pass it through the grinder 2-3 times. Make sure to specify though that it have no fat, because this is what makes habra.
The rest of the job is done by your handy food processor, which has conveniently replaced the mortar and pestle. You want to pulse the meat with a tiny, tiny amount of baking soda, salt, and the smallest amount of ice water necessary to make it sticky, but not watery. Can you imagine how long this would have taken to do with a mortar and pestle? Seriously?
Once you’re done, I like to divide the meat into handy 500g (1/2 kg) portions that I keep in the freezer for when I want to make kibbeh, which will be featured on my next post. These portions can last months in the freezer, so load up and get ready for some awesome kibbeh posts to come.
Habra
1.5 kg (3 500g portions)
Components
- 1 kg inside round meat*, extremely lean
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp salt
- ice cold water, as necessary
Putting them all together
- Trim and defat inside round cut of meat making sure that it is impeccable and no white spots are visible (ask your butcher nicely and he/she might do this for you).
- Pass the cleaned meat through the grinder 2-3 times (can also be done by the butcher).
- At home, pulse the meat in the food processor with baking soda, salt and very little water (approx 1 tbsp). You want enough water to make the meat sticky, but not watery.
- Separate into 3 500g portions and freeze until ready to use.
note: Traditionally this is made with (extra lean) lamb meat, but it has become very popular with beef as well.
Thank you to all those who submitted ideas and suggestions for my morning show appearance on Fox 5 earlier this month. Here’s the clip of the baklava segment. Thanks for joining me on my blog and for making it so much fun! You rock 🙂
Great tips for the habra Tony. Also let me say you’re a natural on TV! It was great…and I’m glad you showcased the baklava.
Hey Tony,
I’m back in Africa finally and the first thing i did was hit my Lebanese supermarket with Vengeance. I missed all my middle eastern food so much, and just had to run to the SM the day i arrived. I loaded up on Labneh, pickled cucumbers- green chillies,olives,zatar,Foul, Khabbus, ready made kibbeh , ( yes i sadly but true, i buy them ready made, as its only me who eats so much, so i dont take the trouble ) … n i cant wait for your kibbeh recipe. Make it easy, so i never buy the ready stuff again 🙂
BTW your video is not available anymore.
Interesting about what you had in school. When my son brought hummus they all looked at him like he was from another planet. I asked him what they had in their lunches and he said: chips, pop, sweets, white bread sandwichs. We are still away from healthy lunches.
Another great dish by the amazing Tony! I can’t see the video, the volume is really choppy. But when I scroll down the page and the video is out of site, the sound is clear.
So I heard you and you sound so great, as usual!
I love kibbeh, and I can’t wait to see your recipe since I know it will be great.
I’m guilty of avoiding ugly or hard to photograph dishes as well! I can’t wait to see how you try to conquer this one with the finished kibbeh.
Hi Tony, you were great on tv. Food Channel meet Tony! I hope that you send them the video,
But I want to hear more about the meat at the beginning. Will you tell us more?
cheers,
Jil
Woooooooowwwweeeeeeeee! You are the one that rocks here!!!! Ai, lo siento, I’m late! YOu look fabulous and so cute and so young but yet so experienced!!!! I loved it, love to see your face chico! You did a great job in that Show 😀 My congratulations for the recipe, hope it was a great success and your blog traffic went up to the top!!!
The kibbeh recipe sounds super! It reminds me of Steak tartare but easier. Thanks for sharing 😀
Oh such nice compliments….I feel like etching them in stone. Glad u like it. 🙂
Thanks Tony and saw ur segment on Fox…Kudos to you!
Navita
Tony, I just caught this now…you were awesome, relaxed and knew what you were doing…I bow, my friend…Bravo!
I just saw this, you did a great job in your appearance on TV! I enjoyed watching your version of the baklava. Your grandmother must be proud!
Also, kibbeh is my favorite food. There are different versions, but I think any version of kibbeh is great.
Really good video! You will own the food network soon!
Hey Tony I’d like to thank you and take the opportunity to congratulate you for such a great blog about mainly middle eastern food, great food recipes & pics, I’m from Venezuela too…a big abrazo!