The Poor's Mundane Becomes the Vegetarian's Delicacy!
Living very close to my grandmothers, the flowers in my
life, has made me the man I am today. They have inspired me in so many ways, nurtured
my soul with so much love and of course enriched my life more than anyone can ever imagine. The sense of gratitude I feel towards them is
sometimes too overwhelming. I don’t know how I will ever repay them. However, I know that I will continue to share those eternal memories I made with them back home and hopefully make new ones when I visit them in the coming summers. I am just so fortunate they are still a part
of my life today!
I am going to share with you a very traditional dish that my
grandmother (Teta) grew up eating and enjoyed making for all of us. The first time I ever made this dish was just
a few days ago! And now I am sharing it with all of you as if I am some "pro" who
knows what they are talking about? Well don’t
worry because Teta approved it and gave me a two thumbs up! I had to call her after I was done making it to express how thankful I was that she made it every time I asked for it! Cutting and peeling that pumpkin was extremely challenging. I just don't know how her frail hands managed. Can you say love!? The reason
why I waited all these years was because it is a hard dish to make, and I was
contemplating whether or not I should share it before I post some of the more
basics ones, but I thought who knows, a lot of you might be more interested in
what is more traditional.
I shared with you last month the Kibbeh Nayyeh which is the
raw version that is eaten as an appetizer. I called it the "King" of appetizers. Today I would like to share with you the Kibbeh Heeleh. Kibbeh’s got to
be the most versatile dish in Levantine cuisine. In my opinion, Kibbeh is a cuisine in itself!
There is an infinite number of ways to make this very popular dish. It usually consists of cracked wheat and
ground beef that is stuffed and then fried or laid flat and baked.
“Heeleh” literally means a hoax or a trick and there is a
reason why they call it that. You are “tricked”
when you eat it because it is not prepared with meat but rather a vegetable as
a substitute. It is the Kibbeh of the
poor as they call it back home. Not only
is meat missing from the mixture, but also missing from the stuffing. Kibbeh is almost always stuffed with meat,
onions and pine nuts even when made by mixing the cracked wheat with a
vegetable. The Kibbeh Heeleh is stuffed with
fried bread crumbs!
Every time I talked about this dish back home I was
perplexed by the fact that very few had heard of it. They all know the Kibbeh Heeleh, but stuffing
it with the fried bread was a foreign concept to many of them. This leads me to believe that this variation
of the dish could have started in my hometown dating to the early 1900s when living
conditions were harsh as food was scarce, the Ottoman Empire was crumbling and
the French occupation was knocking on the door.
My grandparents were especially poor which is probably why they ate this
version of Kibbeh the most. It just
amazes me how even in the toughest times people managed to satisfy their taste
buds and come up with some of the most creative dishes! The Poor's Mundane Becomes the Vegetarian's Delicacy!
Ingredients:
2 cups cracked wheat (Burghul)
Small 2 or 3 lb white pumpkin
1 large onion
4 small loafs of Pita or traditional “Markouk”
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp salt
1 tbs dried or fresh marjoram
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
Cut and peel and the pumpkin. Boil the pieces in water after adding a
little salt. While the pumpkin is boiling, deep fry the bread until brown, dry
from the oil then put them in the food processor. Give it a rough chop in there because you
want the outcome to be rough bread crumbs and not like the ones you buy at the
grocery store where they are always fine. Remove from the food processor and clean it out. At this point if the pumpkin is cooked, drain the water and squeeze each piece of pumpkin
to make sure it is dry. Dry further with
a clean piece of cloth and squeeze until all the juices drain out. It is crucial that the mixture is dry
otherwise it will not hold when making the Kibbeh balls. Put the pumpkin pieces in the food processor and puree, then add
the cracked wheat and allow to sit for at least an hour before mixing it
in. Remove everything to a mixing
bowl. Clean out the food processor and
now drop the onion in there. Puree the
onion then squeeze all the water out of the onion. I usually grab about 8 sheets of paper
towels, layer them, put the pureed onion on top then squeeze the juices out and
let them seep through the paper towel.
Then add the onion to the mixing bowl.
Add all the spices and mix everything together. If you like you can add everything back into
the food processor for a final spin. At
this point you are ready to make the Kibbe! Below is a video I made for you:
great post, Alan! I'm sure you made your Teta very proud :) It's interesting to see how even within Syria the same dish can be prepared different ways, depending on the city and the family making it. The version of Kibbeh Heeleh I grew up eating had bulgur wheat, semolina, and tomato paste in the dough, but was not filled with anything (maybe this was part of the hoax? or just lazy hehe). The "Kibbeh" balls are boiled and then cooked in sort of an onion and tomato-base stew. I haven't blogged about this dish yet, but here is a photo of the Kibbeh Heeleh I ate while I was living in Aleppo this past year--
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150140071693281&set=a.314332643280.147909.33208013280
the dough (bulgur wheat, semolina, and tomato paste): http://twitpic.com/2zqhi4
keep up the great posts and videos!
Thank you Tony :) I appreciate the kind words! I definitely agree with what you said. The version of Kibbeh Heeleh stuffed with the fried bread is so uncommon it seems, I almost believe now that it is only made in the village I was born in.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that photo, I've actually never eaten that version. Looks delicious. I've only had Kibbeh balls in laban sauce and Sumac sauce (Mansoufeh). I'd like to blog about Mansoufeh sometime.
Tony, thanks again for reading my post. I admire you a lot for what you do. I look forward to your posts and videos as well! :)