These fried kibbeh balls with a meat and nut filling is based on a classic Lebanese dish. It’s a bit of an art form to make good kibbeh — you want to make it crunchy, but not too dry; the filling needs to complement the casing, but not be overwhelming; you want your kibbeh to be savoury in flavour and a little bit spicy, but not too much or too bland. Putting this recipe together was a bit of a challenge, but I don’t mind a challenge every now and again.
If you don’t know what kibbeh is, it’s a bulgur wheat and meat dish and it’s mixed with lots of different things and can be prepared in many different ways. The recipe here is for individually fried bites. They make a great entrée, and despite the prep time (roughly 2 hours) these kibbeh only take 20-30 minutes to cook.
FOR THE FILLING
FOR THE CASING