Fried Rice Kibbi-Kubbat Halab. كبة حلب

Have you thought of what you could do with leftover cooked rice? This is a traditional appetizer recipe that we make with boiled long grain rice, and we add saffron or turmeric to it while rice is boiling to give it a yellow color. We also add golden raisins and almonds to the filling. Sometimes, we add chopped parsley to the filling when cooled.

I was able to alter the recipe a little since I am using leftover rice, and the result was very delicious and successful.

Dough:

3 cups cooked rice, leftover, room temperature

2 eggs

Filling:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

½ pond ground lamb or beef

½ cup onion, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon Arabian spice (bahar)

¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

2 cups vegetable oil for frying

Heat oil in a sauté pan, and add the meat. Cook the meat for 5 minutes and add the onions, salt and spices and stir. Lower the heat to simmer and cook until onions are soft. Add the pine nuts and set the meat filling aside to cool.

Put rice and one egg in a food processor and process for a few minutes until rice becomes a soft dough. If the rice is still hard, add the second egg and pulse to make nice smooth dough. If dough has a lot of moisture, add cornstarch to the dough and mix.

To form the kubba, or kibbi, have a small bowl with vegetable oil to wet your hand for shaping the bubba.  Take a small piece of the dough the size of small egg. Roll it in your hands and make a hole in the middle to form a cup. Fill the hole with one teaspoon of the filling and seal it. Shape it like a football.

Heat 2 cups of oil in a small deep pot.  Drop 4 kubba in oil, and fry for about 3 minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel.

Serve them with pickles. You can freeze them, and reheat them in the oven when needed to serve.
For a vegetarian filling, saute onions and add peas and chopped mushrooms. Add salt and spices.
Cool before filling the dough. Drain the filling from any liquid.

Lamb Stew with Potatoes and Peas

You could use stewing beef for this recipe, but you need to cook it longer.

1 pound stewing lamb

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cinnamon stick

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Arabian spice-Bahar (cinnamon,allspice,cloves,cardamom,black pepper)

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (16-ounce) can diced tomatoes

2 cups water

3 large potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup frozen peas

Heat oil in a pot and sauté the lamb for 5 minutes. Add garlic, salt, cinnamon stick, spices and stir. Pour the tomato sauce and the diced tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add the water, and simmer on medium heat covered for one hour until lamb is cooked.

Add the potatoes and peas, and add 1 more cup of water and simmer until potatoes are soft and cooked. Check the sauce if it needs more salt. Serve it with saffron rice and salad.

Stuffed Grape Leaves-Vegetarian ورق عنب ملفوف ونباتية

Every family has its own stuffed grape leaves recipe. My mother always cooked it during Lent, but you can cook it and serve it at a room temperature as an appetizer or for picnics. It could last a few days in the refrigerator. 
If you are using fresh grape leaves from your garden, make sure to rinse them and put them in a bowl of hot water to wilt for 10 minutes. Drain them in the colander, and rinse them in cold water.

If you are using the grape leaves from a jar, remove leaves from the jar and rinse them and put in colander to drain.

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup chopped onions

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Arabian spice (combination of allspice, cinnamon and black pepper)

1 medium tomato, chopped

½ cup chopped dill weed (optional)

½ cup frozen peas

¼ cup golden raisins

¼ cup pine nuts

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup white rice

Juice of 2 lemons

In a skillet, heat oil and sauté the onions and garlic. Add salt and spices. Add chopped tomatoes, dill, and peas and stir. Add rice, pine nuts, raisins and tomato sauce and stir for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. (You can prepare filling the day before).

Remove the grape leaves from the jar, rinse them and put in a colander to drain. Arrange the leaves the top side down on the cutting board and spoon a tablespoon of the filling on the stem side of the leaf. Roll the leaf over the filling. Turn the sides of the leaf towards the center, and roll the leaf to the end.

Arrange in a deep pan. Pour 1 ½ cup of water and lemon juice over the grape leaves.  Place a heat proof plate on top of the leaves to keep them submerged while cooking. Bring to a boil covered, and reduce heat to a medium. Cook for 25-30 minutes until the rice grains are cooked.