Kubbeh Hamusta

Kubbeh are dumplings filled with meat; this dish was brought to Israel by the Jewish immigrants from Iraq and Kurdistan. There are many forms of Kubbeh – some kubbeh dumplings are made of bulgar (burghul) and others are made with semolina (farina) filled with a savory meat filling.

Some kinds of kubbeh are fried, some are cooked in a sour soup – and there are several different kinds of sour soup for kubbeh.

Here is the recipe for Kubbeh Hamusta (Kubbeh in a sour soup/sauce).

Kubbeh is very popular in Israel – and it is served in many Middle Eastern restaurants, and in many homes. 

I am only giving the recipe for the soup/sauce into which to drop the kubbeh – I don’t make the actual dumplings – I buy them frozen.

The recipe for the sour sauce/soup that I am posting here is based on the recipe written on the back of the bag of frozen “Jasmin” kubbeh.

I dedicate this to our grandchildren Elah and Roie who grew to love Kubbeh Hamustaat a very young age – they were introduced to Kubbeh by Yael, who took care of each of them before they entered nursery school. Yael always prepared the “real thing” – and they were delicious; she never bought the frozen ones as I do – and so the kids became real experts on Kubbeh.

Ingredients:

• 1 onion finely chopped
• large bunch of celery leaves, roughly chopped
• 5 beet leaves, chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of chicken soup powder, or half a cup of chicken stock
• 1 teaspoon lemon salt (citric acid) – if you don’t have it you can substitute lemon juice, but I like the tartness of the citric acid…
• 1 Tablespoon crushed garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon tumeric (kurkum in Hebrew); this gives a lovely yellowish color to the dish
• 3/4 teaspoon black or white pepper
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 10 cups water
• about 20 frozen kubbehs (kubbeh hamusta, made with semolina and filled with meat)

Preparation:

1. Put the canola oil into a big pot. Heat.
2. Add the chopped onion and the crushed garlic.
3. Add the chopped celery leaves, the chopped beet leaves,  the chicken soup or chicken soup powder, and the spices. Fry for a few moments.
4. Add the 10 cups water, and bring to a boil.
5. Put in the frozen kubbehs, and cook for about 20+ minutes, or until they float on top of the sauce/soup.
6. Taste and correct seasoning; you may need to add salt, or more lemon. The soup/sauce should be quite lemony and tart. If you are using citric acid (lemon salt), be very careful when you add more, since it is very strong. Alternatively, you can add some regular lemon juice if you need to enhance the lemony flavor.