Quipes

Ingredients

The shell

• 400 gfine bulgur wheat
• 300 glean minced beef
• 1onion, grated
• 1 teaspoonground allspice
• 1 teaspoonground cinnamon
• salt and black pepper
• cold water, to work

The filling

• 400 gminced beef
• 2onions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoonsoil
• 2 teaspoonsground allspice
• 1 teaspoonground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoondried oregano
• 50 gpine nuts or almonds
• toasted, optional
• salt and black pepper

To fry

• oil, for deep frying
• a deep heavy pot

To serve

• lime wedges
• hot sauce
• or a garlic yoghurt sauce

Directions

1. Squeeze it hard through a cloth. The shell beef must be genuinely lean. Use the leanest mince you can find. That shaping takes real practice. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Add the finely chopped onions to it. Cook them for about ten full minutes. The onions should soften completely through.
2. Cook them properly before the meat goes in. They should not brown much at all. Add the minced beef to the softened onion. Break it up thoroughly with a spoon. Break up every lump as it browns. Large lumps tear the thin shell later.
3. Add the allspice, cinnamon and oregano. Season it all with salt and pepper. It carries a warm clove-like note. Stir the toasted nuts into the filling. Let the cooked filling cool completely. Hot filling softens the bulgur shell.
4. Cool it right down completely first. Soaking the bulgur is done meanwhile. Cover the fine bulgur with cold water. Let it soak for about thirty minutes. Use cold water rather than hot water. Hot water cooks it into a mush. Tip the bulgur into a clean cloth. Squeeze it as hard as you possibly can.
5. Keep squeezing until very little more comes. Wet bulgur simply cannot be shaped. Put the squeezed bulgur in a large bowl. Add the lean beef and the grated onion. Add the allspice, cinnamon and seasoning. Grate the onion rather than chopping it. Its juice also helps bind the mixture. Knead the mixture hard with wet hands. Work it for several full minutes. It becomes smooth and genuinely sticky.
6. Dip your hands in cold water as you work. That stops the mixture clinging to them. Take a ball of shell mixture in wet hands. Take about the size of a large egg.
7. Keep every one of them the same size. Push a wet finger into the ball. Turn the ball around your finger. Work slowly and keep the wall even. It should end up like a thin cone. Spoon the cold filling into the hollow. Fill it generously rather than sparingly.
8. Pinch the open end firmly closed. Wet your fingers to seal it properly. Work the seam closed all the way round. Check every one before it goes in. Roll it gently between your palms.
9. Pinch both of the ends into points. Take a moment over the shaping. Give them about thirty full minutes. Pour the oil into a deep heavy pot. Fill it no more than half full at all. Heat it to about one hundred and seventy degrees. A deep pot of hot oil is genuinely dangerous.
10. Keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up. Never put water on an oil fire at all. Keep children well away from the pot. Too hot and the shell burns quickly. Work in small batches instead. They also need room to turn over.
11. Cut one open the very first time. The shell should be cooked right through. Fry them for longer if there is. Lift them out onto a wire rack. Let all of the excess oil drip away. That softens the crust within minutes. Serve them with wedges of lime. Serve hot sauce alongside as well. Hot sauce is the Dominican habit. Freeze them separated on a tray first.

Technique

• Squeeze the soaked bulgur genuinely hard in a cloth — far more water comes out than expected, and wet bulgur cannot be shaped and spits violently in hot oil. Soak it in cold rather than hot water, since hot water cooks it to mush where cold swells it while keeping the bite.
• The shell contains raw lean beef which must cook right through, so fry at a moderate one hundred and seventy degrees for a full six minutes — hotter oil burns the shell before the meat is done. Cut one open the first time and check no pink remains. Mincing spreads surface bacteria right through the meat, which is why mince needs full cooking.
• A deep pot of hot oil is genuinely dangerous. Fill it no more than half full, never leave it unattended, lower the quipes in gently, keep a lid nearby to smother a flare-up, never put water on an oil fire and keep children away.

Substitutions

• Almonds are the usual local substitute for pine nuts in the filling; both are genuinely used. Nuts inside are entirely hidden with nothing on the outside showing they are there, and tree nut allergy can be severe — say clearly what has gone into them.
• Lime and hot sauce is the Dominican way to serve them and garlic yoghurt the Levantine one; all are genuinely served.

Variations

• Use fine bulgur specifically, since it swells and binds when soaked where coarse bulgur will not hold together at all, and use the leanest mince you can find for the shell — fat in the shell makes it fall apart and spit in the fryer.
• Knead the shell mixture hard for several minutes with wet hands until it turns smooth and genuinely sticky, which is what holds it together; under-worked shell falls apart in the oil. Chilling the mixture and again the shaped quipes greatly reduces splitting.
• Lebanese and Syrian migrants brought kibbeh to the Caribbean around 1900 and quipe is the Dominican form of the word, recording the borrowing directly. It is a Levantine dish made Dominican rather than a Dominican invention, and it has been local for over a century.

History

Bulgur and beef torpedoes brought by Lebanese and Syrian migrants around 1900, a Dominican version of kibbeh.

Frequently asked questions

What is Quipes?

Quipes is a snack from Dominican Republic: fried bulgur rolls stuffed with beef, Lebanese-rooted. Bulgur and beef torpedoes brought by Lebanese and Syrian migrants around 1900, a Dominican version of kibbeh.

How long does Quipes take to make?

Quipes takes 1 hour plus soaking of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes about 20 quipes. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Quipes?

Yes, within limits. Almonds are the usual local substitute for pine nuts in the filling; both are genuinely used. Nuts inside are entirely hidden with nothing on the outside showing they are there, and tree nut allergy can be severe — say clearly what has gone into them. Lime and hot sauce is the Dominican way to serve them and garlic yoghurt the Levantine one; all are genuinely served.

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

Squeeze it hard through a cloth. The shell beef must be genuinely lean. Use the leanest mince you can find. That shaping takes real practice. Heat the oil in a wide frying pan. Add the finely chopped onions to it. Cook them for about ten full minutes. The onions should soften completely through.