This is from Sami Tamimi and Yotam Ottolenghi’s book ‘Jerusalem’. They have both spoken out about the horrendous scorched earth that is Palestine, and how Palestinian food traditions are embedded in the dishes of the region. This is not 100% traditional, but it is still delicious. Of course, I had to make a few adjustments to take into account what was available locally. The inspiration for making this was finding some minced lamb in one of the local shops.
INGREDIENTS:
- Bulghur wheat (fine, if possible, but I could only get medium).
- Olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped and crushed
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 1 green chilli, finely chopped
- 350g – 400g minced lamb
- 1 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tbsp chopped coriander leaf.
- 3 tbsp chopped parsley
- 60g pine nuts
- 2 tbsp self-raising flour
- 50g light tahini paste (I have no idea if my tahini was light, it was from the co-op)
- 2 tsp lemon juice (half a small lemon should do)
- 1 tsp ground sumac (I used Zahtar from seasoned pioneers because I didn’t have any sumac)
METHOD:
- Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan oven). Line a round springform or loose bottomed cake tin with grease-proof paper. I used a little oil to make sure it didn’t shift about too much.
- Soak the bulghur wheat in 200ml hot water for 30 minutes at least.
- While the wheat is soaking, heat some olive oil in a large frying pan, and gently cook the onion until it is soft. As it is cooking, add the crushed garlic and chilli. Take your time; the onion should be soft but not browned. This will take around 10 minutes.
- Remove the onion from the pan, and then turn the heat up to medium and add the lamb. Cook this for around 5 minutes, stirring all the time, to ensure it is browned well.
- Add the onions back into the pan along with the spices, coriander leaf, half a teaspoonful of salt, a good grating of black pepper, and most of the pinenuts and parsley. Cook and mix for a couple of minutes and adjust the seasoning to taste.
- Strain the bulgur wheat if necessary, and then add the flour, 1 tbsp olive oil, a good pinch of salt and a good grating of black pepper. Kneed together to make a pliable mixture. You may need to add a little more flour if the mixture is too sticky.
- Push the wheat mixture into the base of the cake tin. Then add the lamb mixture, press it down and then bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Meantime, a bit of magic with the tahini. Whisk this together with 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp water and a pinch of salt. It should end up the consistency of double cream.
- Remove the kibbeh pie from the oven, spread the tahini sauce over the top, sprinkle over the remaining pine nuts and chopped parsley, and return to the oven for a further 10 to 12 minutes, until the tahini is setting and the pine nuts are golden.
- Remove from the oven and let it settle to a warm temperature. Before serving a drizzle of olive oil and then a sprinkle of sumac or zahtar.
I had this with a green salad and a dish of tzatziki.