Shared by Julie Ebani
Shared by Julie Ebani
Kibbeh Basha in Cherry Sauce
Yield: 6-8 servingsTime: 2 hours
Kibbeh Basha in Cherry Sauce
Yield: 6-8 servingsTime: 2 hoursFamily Journey
Aleppo, Syria
Brooklyn
Both of Julie Ebani’s Syrian grandmothers were good cooks, but “I don’t know if they were great cooks,” says the content creator and owner of Julie’s Market Cafe in Brooklyn. The level of their kitchen skills isn't what’s important to Julie. It’s that they gathered everyone around food. “I think that’s what I enjoy about cooking. I like keeping the family together,” she says.
Julie’s relatives, like much of her husband’s family, emigrated from Aleppo in the late 1920 and helped build a large and rich Jewish community in deep Brooklyn. “We’re very close, tight knit and a little bit segregated," she explains. “It keeps our community together.” Customs, religious practices, and dishes are shared throughout.
But, when Julie got married, she didn’t know how to chop an onion. Her mother Susie and her mother-in-law Linda taught her to make their community’s dishes. “My mother-in-law has a very strong Sephardic hand, and she is well known in my community as an amazing Syrian chef,” she says. Julie also took culinary classes and developed a cooking style that’s both rooted in Syrian tradition and more contemporary cooking. “I like to bridge both worlds,” Julie says.
Today, the intergenerational duo creates cooking videos together on Instagram. “The modern and the traditional, I think that is what people loved and what people still enjoy,” she adds.
Together, they’ve shown followers how to make Shabbat rice, keftes, or meatballs in a spiced sauce, and kibbeh basha. A labor of love, the torpedo-shaped kibbeh is made from a dough of finely ground meat and rice, filled with tadbileh, a mixture of caramelized onions and seared ground beef seasoned with allspice. The kibbeh can be served in a mushroom sauce for a dish called kibbeh mushroom, but for Rosh Hashanah, Linda adds pomegranate seeds to the filling and simmers them in a cherry sauce to welcome a sweet new year.
Cooking note: Kibbeh dough is available at kosher Syrian butchers. We’ve also included a recipe from Poopa Dweck’s “Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews.” The consistency should be like soft play-doh. You can use a coffee grinder to grind the rice at home. Grind it as finely as possible; the texture should be similar to almond flour. When working with kibbeh dough, keep a small bowl of neutral oil near your workspace to dip your fingers in as needed. The dish is served atop white rice, which soaks up the sauce.
Julie makes this cherry sauce with canned cherries, but you can also use frozen or fresh cherries. Her original recipe includes sweet chili sauce, though it’s also excellent without it.
Ingredients
For the kibbeh filling (tadbileh):
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, minced
- 1 pounds ground beef (20% fat)
- 1½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground allspice
- ¾ cup pomegranate seeds, optional
For the kibbeh dough:
- 1 pound lean ground beef (10% fat)
- ¾ cup finely ground long grain rice (such as jasmine)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Neutral oil for rolling the kibbeh
- Olive oil spray
For the cherry sauce:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- Kosher salt
- 3 pounds fresh sweet cherries, pitted or 2½ pounds frozen and pitted sweet cherries, or 2 cans (14 oz) of dark sweet cherries
- 1 cup water
- 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
- ½ cup sweet chili sauce, optional
- 1 tablespoon sugar, optional
Preparation
Step 1
Prepare the kibbeh dough: In a food processor, combine the lean ground beef, ground rice, and salt and blend it on a high speed for about a minute. Repeat the process twice more, until the dough’s color turns a light pink and the texture of the mix is like play-doh. Wrap the dough and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, prepare the filling (tadbileh): Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wide sauté pan. Add the onion, and salt, and sauté over medium heat until golden, about 7-10 minutes.
Step 3
Increase the heat to high, add the ground beef, and break it into little pieces with a wooden spoon. Aim for a fine and soft texture, if the pieces are too big they may tear the outer shell of the kibbeh. Season with ground allspice and black pepper. Taste and add salt if needed. When the filling is cooked through, transfer to a wide bowl and set aside to cool down to room temperature.
Step 4
Remove the kibbeh dough from the refrigerator and with lightly oiled hands, roll it into about 30 to 35 balls, each 1 to 1¼ inches in diameter.
Step 5
With oiled hands, place a ball of the kibbeh dough in your palm. Using your index finger, press into the center to create a hollow shell. Fill the shell with about 1 teaspoon of the meat filling, then add a few pomegranate seeds, if using. Pinch the opening closed. For a traditional look, keep the top of kibbeh pointed. Arrange the shaped kibbeh on the half-sheet pan and spray them with olive oil. Watch Linda’s technique for shaping kibbeh basha.
Step 6
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Then bake the kibbeh for 10 minutes, until browned.
Step 7
Meanwhile, prepare the cherry sauce: Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, season with salt and sauté over medium heat until golden, about 7-10 minutes. Add the cherries (if using canned cherries, add in their liquid and omit the water), water, chili sauce (if using), and tamarind paste and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the cherries are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Using an immersion blender, blend to your liking, either until smooth or leaving some cherries whole. Taste and adjust with more salt, tamarind, or sugar if needed. Add the kibbeh and simmer in the cherry sauce for about 15 minutes, until it absorbs the flavors.
Step 8
Serve warm with white rice.
