Kubete

Ingredients

Dough

• 600 gplain flour
• 1egg
• about 250 ml warm water
• or warm milk
• 1 teaspoonsalt
• 100 gbutter, melted
• or 100 ml oil

Filling

• 600 gminced beef or lamb
• or finely chopped meat
• 600 gpotatoes
• peeled and diced small
• 3onions, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoonssalt
• 1 teaspoonblack pepper
• 1 teaspoonground cumin, optional
• a handful of parsley

To finish

• 1beaten egg, to brush
• 50 gbutter, melted
• a little hot stock or water

To serve

• cut into wedges
• ayran or tea
• at feasts and gatherings

Directions

1. Return began in significant numbers from the late nineteen eighties. The potato must be diced small. Mince works and is far quicker. Steam escapes through it as it bakes. Hot stock is poured in through it partway.
2. Put the flour and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of it. Beat the egg and add it in as well. Add the melted butter to the well. Add warm water gradually as you work. Bring it together into a soft dough. Knead it for about eight minutes. It should become smooth and pliable.
3. Butter is what keeps it tender. Wrap the dough and let it rest. Give it at least thirty minutes. Peel the potatoes and dice them small. Keep them in water until you need them. Chop all of the onions very finely. Chop the meat finely or use mince. Drain the potato thoroughly before mixing. Pat it all dry with a clean cloth.
4. Put all the meat into a large bowl. Add the drained diced potato to it. Add the finely chopped onions. Season it well with salt and pepper. Add the cumin and parsley if using. Mix it thoroughly with your hands.
5. Fry a teaspoonful in a pan to check it. Adjust the salt and pepper accordingly. Divide the dough into two pieces. Make one slightly larger than the other. Roll the base out on a floured surface. Make it large enough to line the tin. Leave an overhang all the way round.
6. Grease a round tin thoroughly. Lay the rolled dough down into it. Press it into the corners gently. Let the excess hang over the edge. Tip the filling into the lined tin. Spread it all out evenly across it. Press it all down lightly all over. The filling should be a few centimetres deep.
7. Roll out the second piece of dough. Lay it out over the whole filling. Bring the overhang up over it. Press the two edges together firmly. Crimp them into a rope all round. Press it firmly all the way round. Cut a hole in the centre of the lid. Make it about three centimetres across. Keep the cut-out disc of dough. Both of those are commonly done.
8. Brush the top with beaten egg. Heat the oven to one hundred and ninety degrees. Bake it for about thirty minutes. Take it out after thirty minutes. Pour hot stock in through the hole. Use about a hundred millilitres.
9. Pour it in slowly so it soaks through. Pour it slowly rather than all at once. Return it to the oven afterwards. Finishing the bake takes another half hour. Bake it for a further thirty minutes.
10. Cover the top with foil if it browns early. Judging when it is done takes a test. Let it stand for fifteen minutes. Cutting it hot makes them run out. Turn it out or serve from the tin. Cut it into wedges like a cake. Serve ayran or tea alongside it. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• The Crimean Tatars are the indigenous people of Crimea, and in nineteen forty-four the entire population was deported by the Soviet state in what is called the Sürgünlik, with very large numbers dying in transit and after; they were not permitted to return for decades, returning in significant numbers from the late nineteen eighties, and many have been displaced again since twenty fourteen. Cooking traditions were carried and maintained in exile in Central Asia, and kubete is part of what survived that.
• The meat and potato go into the pie raw and cook inside it, which is what makes the filling juicy: the pastry traps the juices the meat releases and the potato absorbs some of them, where a pre-cooked filling loses all of that to a pan beforehand.
• A hole is cut in the centre of the lid and hot stock is poured through it halfway through baking, which moistens the filling from inside and carries seasoning through it; that stock addition is a distinctive step in this pie.

Substitutions

• Finely chopped meat is more traditional than mince, though both are used now.
• Oil stands in for melted butter in the dough.

Variations

• The cut-out disc is set back over the hole by some cooks and left off by others.
• Pumpkin is used in place of some of the potato in some households.
• Related layered pies are made across Central Asia and Anatolia.

History

A Crimean Tatar festive pie baked in a round tin, belonging to the same tradition as Central Asian and Anatolian layered pies.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kubete?

Kubete is a bread & pastry from Ukraine: crimean Tatar layered pie of meat, potato and onion. A Crimean Tatar festive pie baked in a round tin, belonging to the same tradition as Central Asian and Anatolian layered pies.

How long does Kubete take to make?

Kubete takes 1 hour plus resting of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes one large pie, serves 8. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Kubete?

Yes, within limits. Finely chopped meat is more traditional than mince, though both are used now. Oil stands in for melted butter in the dough.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kubete?

Return began in significant numbers from the late nineteen eighties. The potato must be diced small. Mince works and is far quicker. Steam escapes through it as it bakes. Hot stock is poured in through it partway.