Kibbe Nayeh (raw lamb tartare) كبة نية

One of my favorite Northern Arabian (Levantine) dishes is Kibbe Nayeh. Kibbe is a mixture of minced lamb (or beef, if you have no taste), bulgur, and spices. It can be fried, baked, stuffed, or eaten raw. I like the last option best.

Kibbe Nayeh is said to have originated in the great northern Syrian city of Aleppo (Halab - حلب), one of the world's longest inhabited urban conglomerations, and surely one of the most beautiful and historic cities in southwest Asia; now in ruins as Syria convulses with the intense violence of armed uprising and civil war.

Kibbe Nayeh is popular all over the rest of the Levant, most notably Lebanon. However, you would not find this dish in, say, the small farming villages of the West Bank or Gaza, where people would turn up their noses to the idea of uncooked meat, associating it with the more cosmopolitan, urban and somewhat dandyish practices of the Labanese and Syrians (my family in the West Bank certainly had this reaction when I mentioned it).

Made properly, Kibbe Nayeh exemplifies the essential, fundamental flavors of Levantine cooking: gamey lamb, mint & parsley, onions, allspice, hot peppers (optional) and olive oil. One bite, with a bit of toasted Arabic bread (preferrably from a bakery in Chicago or Dearborn, North America's homes of Arabic baked goods), telegraphs the culinary traditions and flavors of the Eastern Medditeranean better than perhaps any other dish I can think of.

Kibbe Nayeh can be made many ways - with or without hot pepper, with parsely or mint, or both. With or without allspice even. This is how I make mine:

3/4 - 1 lb. of lean lamb, preferably leg or loin.
3/4 cup of lebanese small grain bulgur.
1/2 medium onion, minced very finely.
handful of finely minced, fresh mint.
1 tablespoon allspice.
1-3 tablespoons of dried aleppo pepper or urfa biber (you can also sub finely minced fresh jalapenos or other chilis, or omit the hot stuff altogether).
good olive oil.
salt to taste.

1) The lamb should be washed with cold water and dried thoroughly. Use the best, freshest lamb you can find. Trim the meat of ALL fat and connective tissue.

2) Mince the lamb. This can be done many ways. Traditionally, a large mortar and pestle would be used. If you have one, you can use this to mince the lamb, as well as combine the rest of the ingredients. Otherwise, use a food processor, or do it by hand with a sharp knife, as I did. You want the consistency to be smoother than the ground meat you buy at the grocer. It should be almost a paste.

3) Cover and soak the bulgur in warm water for 15 to 20 minutes, until it is soft. Once it is fully soaked, squeeze all of the water out with your hands. You can also use a cheese cloth. The bulgur should be soft and the grains should separate.

4) Mix the lamb paste, soaked bulgur, minced onions, minced mint, allspice, hot pepper and a generous amount of salt (2 or more tablespoons). If you are using a mortar and pestle, pound away until the ingredients are incorporated. Otherwise, use your hands to knead the mixture until it is smooth and fully incorporated.

5) Plate the Kibbe Nayeh on a flat dish, and use your fingers to draw/press parallel lines across the meat. This creates several moats in which the olive oil will sit.

6) Garnish with generous amounts of the best olive oil you can find, fresh, lightly torn parsely, and green onion, radishes, and romaine lettuce, if you like.

7) Eat with warm Arabic bread.

What to do with leftovers? Shape into patties and fry in olive oil in a pan. You can eat them the next day.

Here's the plated Kibbe:



I served it with hummus, labneh with za'atar, tomatos and garlic, and olives, hot peppers and turnip pickles. And a great, juicy, southern Italian wine, which always goes well with lamb.



And just for the hell of it, this is what real hummus looks like:

Beautiful post Habibi. Care to share your hummus recipe? Would love to be able to get it right finally!!!

Beautiful post and pics. Did I mention I was free for dinner tonight? (Except I guess I'll have to have it on matzo...ycch!)

Thanks.

boudreaulicious wrote:Beautiful post Habibi. Care to share your hummus recipe? Would love to be able to get it right finally!!!

Thanks! I'll post a hummus recipe soon.

Gypsy Boy wrote:Beautiful post and pics. Did I mention I was free for dinner tonight? (Except I guess I'll have to have it on matzo...ycch!)

Thanks.

Actually, matzo and kibbeh doens't sound that bad at all....

Is there any place around town serving a decent Kibbe Nayeh? I tend to avoid the suburbs and other places that are easiest to get to if I have to drive.

Great post Habibi!

I've never attempted kibbe nayyeh at home but it's something I order every time I visit Dearborn, MI. My favorite to date is the version at Amani's (13823 Michigan Ave. in Dearborn) since the meat was the gamiest and the spicing was the most assertive.

Your post got me thinking about making cig kofte at home. It's similar to kibbe nayyeh in that it's made from raw ground meat and mixed with bulgur and spices. The renditions I had in Turkey were quite a bit spicier than the kibbes I've had in Dearborn, and had a lot of raw onions and cumin as well. In Turkey it's typically served wrapped in lettuce or stuffed inside a pita as a street food (with a glass of ayran to wash it down). A little research uncovered that the spiciness frequently comes from a local hot pepper called isot.

The dish is really popular in Turkey but apparently there have been concerns with eating raw meat (from street vendors at that) so it's now common to see vegetarian cig kofte on menus. The spicing is the same but it lacks the texture and meaty flavor from the real deal.

I haven't had the raw version -- I'd proposed ordering it at a recent meal but was overruled by SueF -- but I'm very fond of the various cooked versions of kibbe.

Although I think it's all beef, Pita Inn's fried football-shaped version is one of the better fried ones I've had (most are too dry). I'm trying to remember if theirs includes pine nuts or slivered almonds.

I made a great version of "kibbe in the tray" from May Bsisu's The Arab Table... in fact I may need to do that again soon. It makes a huge batch (it uses 3 lbs of meat and I think 2 lbs of dry bulgur), enough to fill a half sheet pan. Sliced and kept in the freezer, it makes a terrific quick meal reheated in the micro served with a salad dressed with tahina, garlic and lemon.

Thanks for the info Turkob! I've heard of Cig Kofte but have never had it. Now that you mention it, I do recall the Isot pepper, and the notion that adding it to the meat, and kneading it, "cooks" the meat.

Ayran is definitely a great side to wash down raw lamb. Even better, and something I forgot to include in my post (and in my dinner), would be a glass of icy 'Arak or Raki, the aniseed flavored grape brandy that is the preferred liquor of Turkey and the Arab world. And a few glasses of strong 'Arak would obviate any concerns one might have about eating raw meat on the street...

Dang, Habibi! You got my mouth to watering so I asked google to direct me to kibbeh Nayeh in Montréal: I'm mortified to discover that it's available in the Daou resto which is only about 200m from my place. We've eaten there twice, but then discovered Garage Beirut, which is younger, hipper, and has some of the freshest, tastiest, Lebanese I've *ever* had. I'll have to ask Mme. if she could include a Nayeh in her "Kibbeh-of-the-Day" series!

Anyway, thanks for getting my mouth to watering!


Geo

JoelF wrote:Although I think it's all beef, Pita Inn's fried football-shaped version is one of the better fried ones I've had (most are too dry). I'm trying to remember if theirs includes pine nuts or slivered almonds.

Almost positive it's pine nuts. I too am a big fan of the Pita Inn version of the fried kibbe and prefer it to others I have tried, which seem to be mostly of the flat variety.

Does Salam still make fried Kibbeh? Their's used to be excellent. Oval shaped, and stuffed with ground lamb, pine nuts, and spices. That's usually how it's made in Palestine and Jordan.

George's Kabab also makes Kibbeh, the Iraqi kind - Kibbe Mosul, baked like a thin cake in a round pan. It is very common at the Iraqi/Assyrian places around town. Mike Sula wrote a great article about their very unique Kibbeh making device, which is apparently the only one of its kind in the U.S.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/mo ... id=2165724

Sayat Nova, the Armenian place off Michigan Ave, does the raw version (beef, not lamb)--used to be one of my favorite lunches years ago when I worked in the Equitable building. Habibi's recipe reminded me of it.

OK Habibi, now you've done it!

TODG and walked over to Daou just now, and had the Kibbe Nayeh, along with hummus and the mixed grill. Everything was excellent. The Kibbe was presented as you suggested: flat on an 8" plate, about half an inch thick, with neat, parallel furrows incised in it. Condiments included two fresh onion quarters, a big sprig of fresh mint, and a flagon of oil. I annointed the kibbe with oil, then we scooped up a teaspoon or so of the kibbe on a section of pita, laid on a mint leaf and a chunk of onion, and chomped away. The flavor was a bit mild--I suspect that Montréalers prefer less ripe lamb flavors--with lovely spicing and excellent mouth feel. We enjoyed it very much.

Portion was so large that we brought some home. The waiter cautioned us not to eat it raw as leftovers, I told him we expected to fry it.

The resto was just getting their Easter decorations up. They're expecting huge parties for the holiday. I asked them if they could do a whole roast lamb: "Of course" she said, "just order it."

Tnx Habibi for pointing us to a brand new taste treat!

Geo

At least you can walk to your spot Geo--he's got me jonesing for a visit to Sayat Nova which means braving the Gold Coast--ugh . Thanks alot!!

Waaaaay back in 2008, we had a group lunch at Semiramis, where one of the dishes was kibbe nayeh--made with lamb. You had to call a day in advance to order. I'm not sure if this info is still current.

Photos here: viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3135&start=90

Semiramis
4639-41 N Kedzie
Chicago, IL 60625
773/279-8900

An ex-girlfriend's mother used to make the best baked kibbeh. A coupla weeks ago, I contacted her to send condolences on the loss of her spouse and had to bite my tongue from asking for a shipment of kibbeh at such an inopportune moment. But 2 weeks is a sufficent amount of time to have passed, no ?

Many thanks for the post, Habibi. Question: can you recommend perhaps a regionally relevant olive oil that you use for such purposes ? I have an inordinate number of grassy green olive oils from a prior (and current, I guess) obsession and have had only marginal success in their application to things like, say, hummus. I've been meaning to stock a few olive oils from the kibbeh kountries so if you have a few that you might recommend, that would be greatly appreciated. Many a hummus has been totally ruined by an inferior or inappropriate oil, including in my own homestead.

Habibi wrote:Here's the plated Kibbe:I served it with hummus, labneh with za'atar, tomatos and garlic, and olives, hot peppers and turnip pickles.

Looks fantastic, been ages since I've had kibbe nayeh. Love the labne with za'atar. I am a labneh fan which seems an under appreciated ingredient around these parts. I often have hummus with a dollop of labneh, squeeze of lemon, hard boiled egg, crisp veg, drizzle of olive oil and pita for breakfast, light lunch or snack.

Habibi,

Used your recipe (x6) for a farm dinner I did this past wkend @ MInt Creek Farm, home of the best lamb in Chi. Stellar. Also made some labne and za'atar flatbread. There were some French folks there that were literally swooning over the "tartare d'agneau". Thank you.

Jazz,

Thanks for the nod. What cut of lamb did you use? Did you grind/chop it yourself? How spicy did you make it?

Habibi

Used Mint Creeks freshly slaughtered (48 hrs) lamb loin. Started by knife but w/deadline approaching and technology nearby, optted for pulsing in an ancient cuisinart our semetic forefathers no doubt used. Split the difference on the aleppo peps and went w/2 tbs per lb and scaled everything x5. W/the accoutrements I mentioned, truely swoon worthy. Presented w/finger ridges in meat w/great o-oil running thru said ridges on my go-to banana leaf for all things lg and impressive. I usually wouldn't try a new recipe for a lg party w/o making it @ least once, but put my faith in you knowing you'd know.

I have a 13 year old son who, as a firm rule, will always, every time, order the raw meat dish at any restaurant. Takes after both his pappy and his grandad. It is surprisingly easy in a city like Chicago. Notwithstanding the dearth of kibbeh nayeh (he gets that in MI), we have tartare at various Russian and Polish spots, not to mention French and the now ubiquitous hipster table to farm joints, for whom a tartare is de rigueur, then Korean, then East African, and the list goes on.

One of the great joys has been leftovers, believe it or not. All of the above sear up terrifically on the grill. In fact, if no one has yet taken a loose, coarse tartare mixed with pickles, onions, anchovy, mustard, egg yolk, Maggi and capers and turned it into a signature burger, black and blue, they should. Same goes for kibbeh grilled, but not so grilled that it's like kefta, just barely cooked.

JeffB wrote:I have a 13 year old son who, as a firm rule, will always, every time, order the raw meat dish at any restaurant.

I have a nephew who, from the time he was about 3, would order salmon roe and caviar any place he had the opportunity. One of my favorite memories was taking him to Berns and watching the reaction of the very formal waiter as he received the order for the caviar flight, extra salmon roe please, from a 4 year old. Priceless.

Your son is my hero! I'm very jealous.

Also got inspired, kibbeh nayeh makes for good grub on a sweltering hot night. Mine was a bit of a hack/rush-job, taking the knife to the lamb leg proved to be more tedious than expected, I then opted for the mortar & pestle, but was under a time crunch and didn't quite get it to that "whipped" texture I enjoy. Also spilled a handful of extra bulgur in the mix. But it was some tasty vittles, along with labneh/za'atar, and a crispy rose. Leftovers fried up for brekkie the next AM.

The thinking man's scrapple.