craving for raw kibbeh

Wow, this forum is really helpful. I wish I knew about it months ago! Anyone know a place that makes good raw kibbeh other than Maza? They're great an all, but I can't imagine they are the only place in Chicago that makes it. I'm not interested in making it myself or having to special order it. i've been looking everywhere for it to no avail. Anyone have any suggestions? thx

Welcome to LTHforum!

Semiramis will make raw kibbeh with a one day advance notice.

Semiramis
4639-41 N Kedzie
Chicago, IL 60625
773-279-8900
11am - 10pm
Tuesday - Sunday

Sayat Nova (Armenian) just east of the Mag Mile has raw kibbeh on their menu as an appetizer. I have never had it, but I can attest to the tastiness of their other offerings.

Sayat Nova
157 E. Ohio St.
312-644-9159
11:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday
3-10 p.m. Sunday

I've had a bite of the raw kibbeh at Sayat Nova, and it's really pretty good (not comparable to homemade, but what ever is?). Still, if you've made it before, I think I'd stick with the make-at-home option. Just find a good butcher to grind the meat for you.

thanks all! I'll definitly check out those options. I wonder if anybody makes it better than maza. I heard most ppl make it, but I don't have a good recipe, not sure how difficult it is to make it. AnneDdV, how do you make it homemade?

Here's a recipe for (baked) kibbe (kibbeh), courtesy of a Lebanese friend (although, as he has pointed out, there are about as many ways to make kibbe as there are people who eat it). To make raw kibbe, simply skip the baking (and get very good, preferably freshly ground, meat). The spice measurements are approximate, as I generally use my hand to measure.


1 1/2 cup #1 bulgur (fine)
1 lb ground meat >90% lean
1 large or 2 small onions
1/4 to 1/2 of a green pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375F

Submerge the bulgur in water and then drain. Chop onion and green
pepper in a food processor until it is really fine (not all liquid
though). Place the onion and green pepper in a bowl with the bulgur.
Add the seasonings. Mix well with hands (knead almost). Add the
meat. Mix well again. Put part of the mixture (about half depending
on the size of the food processor) in the food processor and process
for about 15 to 30s. You want all of the raw kibbe to have been
touched by the blade. Repeat for the other half. Rub olive oil on
the bottom and sides of a baking pan. Put the kibbe in the pan and
rub until the top is smooth and level. Make sure the sides are smooth
as well. Rub olive oil onto the top of the kibbe. Cut vertical lines
slightly less than 1in wide into the kibbe. Then cut diagonal lines
which will make the kibbe into diamond shapes. Cook in oven for 45
minutes.

I was going to post a friend's kibbeh recipe(which involves grinding your own, rather complex ...her spelling..."cumooni"). I figured, as mentioned above, that there're probably hundreds of home recipes. My friend's is awfully good. She taught me the process of making raw and stuffed kibbeh which I'm still hoping to implement one of these days.

I post this in order to add that you want an -extremely fine- grind of sirloin or round for the kibbeh. It wouldn't work with, say, hamburger grind.

I assume you could find a great kibbeh meat provider along Devon. That's where I'll seek one out when I eventually, make my own.

Christopher Gordon wrote:I post this in order to add that you want an -extremely fine- grind of sirloin or round for the kibbeh. It wouldn't work with, say, hamburger grind..

I agree with you in general principle, although I have made it with meat ground for hamburgers, and it was fine. The key is the second round with the food processor. In some ways, I acutally find a coarser grind preferable, because too fine a grind will produce a meat paste that's not quite what you want (if you follow the recipe above and use the processor). If I didn't have access to a decent food processor, and were making kibbeh by hand, then by all means I would go for the finer grind of meat.

My Lebanese CIA-trained chef friend doesn't use a food processor. She has a butcher grind the meat. Funny thing when I enthused about and begged for her "cumooni" recipe she laughed and told me how it's tough to even grind the spice mix through an old school meat grinder and how she's also busted several employer's electric appliances doing it...then she dictated the recipe. To iterate, the "cumooni" is the moist spice mixture itself not the beef.

We made the raw and stuffed together(I detailed it in a post several months ago): the ice water bath, the paste by feel, the nibbling of the raw mix as we went along.

I should add that she learned her way around the Lebanese kitchen at her sita's knee and, in fact, based her master's thesis on the experience before deciding to chuck Eng Lit for Hyde Park.

edited again: then, I'm simply a home cook and I'm not surprised it's possible to get good results using more at hand ingrediants ala "hamburger" grind and staple spices.

This reminds me of my mother-in-law's stories of growing up in Michigan, and eating lasagna made with cottage cheese, "because that was pretty much what was available." Ingredients are the dish, but sometimes, all you've got is cottage cheese (or hamburger meat and staple spices).

I don't think anyone would argue that given professional culinary training, a kitchen stocked with the necessary tools, a quality butcher in close proximity, and a lifetime of experience making the dish, the results are going to be excellent, and something to which to aspire. However, for the average - or even above-average - home cook (which, correct me if I'm wrong, is pretty much the average LTHer), that's just not realistic. Hence, in the recipe above, the bulgur:meat ratio is higher than some might choose, because of cost considerations, and the perhaps blasphemous suggestion of a food processor is made. Is the result as good? Maybe not, but it's fast, and for "meat cookies" (as my son calls them), it's good enough.

Thanks AnneVdV! I'll have to try it out when I get a chance. It doesn't sound too bad to make. Yeah I figure it wouldn't be wise to use ground hamburger meat, hehe...

Sorry for the late reply. Here's my pic of Kibbe Nayeh at Semiramis:

Served with slivered roasted almonds, finely chopped onions, mint, and olive oil. I'd definitely recommend it.
It's not on the menu. As Cathy2 mentioned, you have to call Joseph the day before to order it. Enjoy!

The Armenians call it "kheema" and the best in the Chicago area is made by the Armenian church ladies of Sts. Joachim & Anne Armenian Apostolic Church in Palos Heights, Illinois. Served between 12pm and 2pm on the first Wednesday of almost every month (except during lent and when the ladies don't feel like working so hard). Ten bucks will buy you all-you-can-eat of delicious homemade kheema (they also serve a cooked version for those faint of heart), soft bread with good crust, salad, olives, coffee, soda pop, chips.

Seems very far to go, but only takes about 30-40 minutes from north side of Chicago. I-57 south to 127th street. 127th east to Ridgeland Ave, one block north and you're there.

St. Joachim & Anne Armenian Church
12600 S. Ridgeland Ave.
Palos Hts., IL
708-338-4940

Great raw kibbeh at Maza, 2748 N. Lincoln. Everything else is great there, too.

RP wrote:Great raw kibbeh at Maza, 2748 N. Lincoln. Everything else is great there, too.

Check out the very first post in this thread.