Kibbeh nayyeh

Ingredients

Meat

• 500 gvery fresh lean lamb leg, all fat and sinew removed

Bulgur

• 150 gfine brown bulgur
• cold water

Seasoning

• 1small onion
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• ½ tspground cinnamon
• ½ tspground allspice
• a pinch of dried marjoram
• a few basil leaves

To serve

• olive oil
• spring onions
• fresh mint
• green chillies
• flatbread
• arak

Directions

1. Sourcing decides this dish, not technique. It is raw lamb, and it wants meat butchered that morning from a butcher who knows what it is for, kept cold throughout.
2. In Lebanon it is bought from a butcher on a Sunday morning and eaten within hours, and that short chain is the whole safety of it.
3. Anyone pregnant, elderly, very young or immunocompromised should not eat raw meat at all, and cooking the same mixture as kibbeh is a normal choice rather than a failure of nerve.
4. Trim the lamb absolutely clean of fat, membrane and sinew.
5. Trim it obsessively. Raw, any connective tissue is unchewable, and there is no cooking to soften it.
6. Keep the meat and everything it touches cold, working on a chilled board.
7. Traditionally the meat is pounded in a stone mortar, the jurn, with a wooden pestle until it becomes a smooth paste.
8. Pounding rather than mincing is what gives the silky texture. A grinder tears the fibres and gives something grainier, though it is what most people now use.
9. Rinse the fine bulgur, cover it with cold water for 10 minutes, then squeeze it dry in your fists.
10. Squeeze it genuinely dry. Wet bulgur makes the kibbeh loose and pasty rather than firm.
11. Pound or blend the onion with the salt, pepper, cinnamon, allspice, marjoram and basil into a paste.
12. Work the bulgur and the spice paste into the meat, kneading with wet hands, adding a little iced water as you go.
13. Use iced water and keep your hands wet. It keeps the mixture cold and stops it sticking, and Lebanese cooks keep a bowl of ice water beside them throughout.
14. Knead until it is completely smooth, uniform in colour and holds together.
15. Taste and adjust the salt and spice, which should be pronounced.
16. Spread it on a flat platter in a layer about 1.5 cm thick and score the surface into diamonds with the side of your hand.
17. Make a well and pour good olive oil generously over the whole surface.
18. The oil is not a garnish. It seals the surface from the air, keeps the colour red rather than grey, and it is eaten with the meat.
19. Serve immediately with spring onions, mint, green chillies, flatbread and arak.
20. It is Sunday lunch food, made and eaten within the hour, and leftovers are traditionally fried or baked as kibbeh rather than kept raw.

Technique

• It is eaten scooped onto flatbread with a raw spring onion, never with cutlery.
• Beef is used in some households and lamb in most.
• Any left at the end of the meal is turned into cooked kibbeh the same day.

Substitutions

• The same mixture shaped and fried or baked, as kibbeh, which is a whole dish in its own right.
• Very fresh lean beef in place of lamb.

Variations

• Kibbeh bil sanieh, the baked tray version.
• Kibbeh krass, fried torpedo-shaped shells with a cooked filling.
• With a scattering of pine nuts and more olive oil, as a fancier presentation.

History

Raw lamb or beef pounded with bulgur and spices, traditionally made from freshly slaughtered meat and eaten on Sundays.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kibbeh nayyeh?

Kibbeh nayyeh is a main from Lebanon: raw lamb kneaded with bulgur and spices, Sunday delicacy. Raw lamb or beef pounded with bulgur and spices, traditionally made from freshly slaughtered meat and eaten on Sundays.

How long does Kibbeh nayyeh take to make?

Kibbeh nayyeh takes 40 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Kibbeh nayyeh?

Yes, within limits. The same mixture shaped and fried or baked, as kibbeh, which is a whole dish in its own right. Very fresh lean beef in place of lamb.

What is the most important thing to get right in Kibbeh nayyeh?

In Lebanon it is bought from a butcher on a Sunday morning and eaten within hours, and that short chain is the whole safety of it.