Kibba and Taboulleh

Hi everyone. Last night I made kibba (with lamb!) and taboulleh. I will post pictures in a few days. I found some recipes online and they were very similar to our cookbook recipes, but seemed less intimidating for some reason. The meat ended up shrinking away from the pan, even though I used 80% lamb. So, Leigh, I guess that's just par for the course. Here are the recipes, and I did not use pine nuts b/c they are too expensive! Oh, and I did sneak in a little kibba niyya - don't tell mom!

Kibba - double the recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup bulgur
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 onion, minced
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 pound ground lamb
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8 inch square baking dish.
2. Soak bulgur in hot water until the bulgur expands and cools, about 10 minutes. Place the mint, allspice, pepper, cinnamon, salt, onion, and parsley in a food processor. Process until well mixed, about 1 minute. Mix spices with bulgur and lamb thoroughly. Divide the lamb mixture and layer half in the baking dish, creating a large patty. Sprinkle pine nuts over the meat, then layer the remaining lamb on top, patting firmly. Cut the kibbee into 1 1/2 inch squares.
3. Bake in the preheated oven until the lamb is no longer pink in the middle, 30 to 35 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C).

Tabbouleh - Double

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup bulgur
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 5 tomatoes, diced
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 lemon, juiced
• dash cinnamon
• salt to taste

Directions

1. Place the bulgur in a small mixing bowl. Add the boiling water, mix and cover with a towel; Let stand for 1 hour. Drain any excess water.
2. Combine the parsley, mint, tomatoes, onion, olive oil, lemon juice and salt. Add the bulgur; mix well and serve.