Cardamom and Tea

kibbeh hot pot

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My husband says I always find a way to turn eating into cooking. Like, whenever there’s a brunch spread, I make little sandwiches out of the various dishes and fixings. If we’re having waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon, then I’m having a waffle breakfast sandwich. When we’re having dinner and there are condiment options, I tend to go a bit overboard. My delivery pizza gets covered in a mountain of parmesan, crushed red pepper, and dried oregano, and if they included more options, it would be topped with more of whatever else they sent along in little paper packets. I don’t even think my meddling makes the food better half the time—it’s more of a nervous habit or a tendency. I just like playing with my food. And that’s why I absolutely love hot pot, because this kind of behavior is actually encouraged.

Since I posted a kibbeh recipe a few days ago, I thought it would be fun to do a Middle Eastern inspired hot pot, with a bunch of traditional Chinese ingredients, and a few Middle Eastern and Mediterranean takes. This menu has got many of the usual ingredients: sweet potatoes, watercress, tomatoes, mushrooms, thinly sliced beef, and noodles. But instead of Chinese dumplings, I’ve included my aunt Masy’s kbeibat (farina dumplings stuffed with ground beef). And instead of tofu, I’ve opted for halloumi cheese. The kbeibat becomes super flavorful from the broth, and the halloumi softens beautifully after a few minutes of simmering, but never quite melts.

If you’re thinking of hosting a hot pot night, you should first check out Shao Z.’s thorough Chinese-style hot pot guide on Serious Eats. As she writes, “The concept of hot pot is simple. You set a pot of simmering broth on a portable burner in the middle of the table. Around it are plates of meat, seafood, and vegetables, all prepped and ready to be cooked in the broth.” But while it’s simple, there’s a lot of important hot pot logistics and etiquette, and a long list of possible ingredients to choose from. I’ll cover a few of the basics in my recipe below, but you should absolutely read her article, which includes a lot more of these details.

The one specialized piece of equipment you really absolutely need to hot pot at home is a portable burner. Induction burners have actually become relatively affordable, and you can find reasonably priced ones online (mine was $35 US!), or you could go with an electric hot plate, which is much more budget-friendly. While it would be kind of crazy to buy a portable cooktop just to use it once, they’re also really handy to have around for glamping, as well as shooting overhead Tasty-style cooking videos (and of course, for all your future hot pot nights!).

kibbeh hot pot

First, read Shao Z.’s thorough Chinese-style hot pot guide on Serious Eats to learn more about hot pot logistics and etiquette.

Essential equipment

A portable burner
1 or 2 spider strainers, or slotted spoons
Chop sticks for each guest, and a few extras for fishing out ingredients

menu and cook times

Frozen kbeibat (about 7 minutes)
Halloumi cheese * (3 to 10 minutes, up to your preference, and careful it doesn’t stick to the bottom)
Your favorite mushrooms (2 to 5 minutes)
Cherry tomatoes (1 to 3 minutes)
Watercress, or your favorite green (1 to 3 minutes)
Sweet potatoes (4 to 5 minutes)
Thinly sliced beef (1 minute)
Your favorite noodles ** (check the package instructions)
Your favorite hot pot base **
Soy sauce dipping sauce, optionally with a few of your favorite spices and ingredients (see Serious Eats) *

* Haloumi can be found in most well-stocked supermarkets.
** These 2 ingredients, as well as most of the others, can be found in Asian supermarkets.

directions

  • Make and freeze the kibbeh a couple days in advance.
  • Wash all the veggies.
  • Cut the halloumi and sweet potatoes into cubes.
  • Place everything on plates (ingredients can share plates, but put the raw meat on its own).
  • Crack a window and turn on your exhaust if you’ve got one, or else the room will get super humid. I also turn on our dehumidifier.
  • Set up the burner in the middle of the table and set the table with chopsticks at each place setting, and spider strainers with additional chopsticks in convenient places.
  • Fill a small stock pot with the hot pot soup base and as much water as the package instructions call for. Bring it to a simmer on the portable burner, and place all the plates of food around the burner.
  • While you’re waiting for it to come to a boil, explain the basics of hot pot to your guests, and give everyone approximate cook times for each food (listed above).
  • Enjoy!

kbeibat

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Kibbeh is a Middle Eastern sensation. Just about every city has its own preparation, and you can find countless varieties if you do just a quick search. Kibbeh is diverse, prolific, and completely beloved. Thus, kibbeh is a food that resists definition and categorization. It’s most often translated in English as “Middle Eastern dumplings,” which is closest to the word’s etymology. And true, most are dumplings (sometimes boiled, sometimes fried), but some preparations, like kibbeh bil saniyeh, are baked in a casserole or sheet pan, and some are eaten raw, like steak tartare. So whenever the dumpling comparison doesn’t fit, kibbeh is defined as having some sort of dough made out of bulgur wheat. But this isn’t always the case, because some are totally gluten free, made with potatoes or rice. So while I guess you could say that the platonic form of kibbeh is a bulgur dumpling, that only begins to scratch the surface of what’s possible. This particular dish, kbeibat, fits both definitions, and is a great place to start.

My aunt Masy taught us all how to make kbeibat a few weeks ago. We had just about everyone over to my parents’ house and she demonstrated how to expertly form the dough into little hollow cones, how to prepare the finely minced filling, and how to make a farina and bulgur dough. She wasn’t totally happy with how the dough turned out, but we spoke on the phone a couple times afterwards, and she gave me some more crucial advice. I put her suggestions to practice when I made my own kbeibat, and this resulted in a dough that’s perfectly soft, pliable, and not so sticky that it’s hard to work with, but sticky enough that it holds together when you want it to.

Kbeibat dough is usually made with some combination of bulgur and farina/semolina. Masy soaks, strains, and purées bulgur in a food processor, and then kneads in some farina and water. The filling is made with ground beef, spices (in my family’s case, just some black pepper), onion, and parsley. Some cooks fill their kbeibat with raw meat and some fill theirs with sautéed meat—there are pros and cons of each method, and each result is totally different. The sautéed filling has that seared-meat flavor, which nicely contrasts with the subtle flavor of the boiled dough. On the other hand, the raw filling gently cooks along with the dough, and result in a more satisfying texture. To see an example of semolina kbeibat, made with the raw filling method, check out my friend Tony Tahhan’s kbeibat. Either way, you can’t go wrong.

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kbeibat

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  • Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
  • Yield: 3 to 4 dozen

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 1 cup bulgur # 1 (extra fine)
  • 1 quart of water (for soaking)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 3 1/3 cups farina
  • 1 1/3 cups water (for the dough)

For the filling:

  • Olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, finely minced (about 1 1/2 cups finely minced)
  • Salt to taste (I use 1 teaspoon total)
  • 1 pound ground chuck
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1/2 cup finely minced parsley, plus more for garnish (or your favorite herb for garnish)

Instructions

  1. Make the dough: Soak the bulgur in 1 quart of water for 1 hour. After 1 hour, drain it in a fine mesh strainer, and purée it in a food processor until it’s somewhat smooth.
  2. Add the salt, farina, and about half of the water to the food processor, and blend to combine. Gradually add the rest of the water with the food processor running, until it forms a smooth, slightly sticky, pliable dough. You might not use all the water—I usually hold back about 1 or 2 tablespoons.
  3. Make the filling and stuff the kbeibat: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat for 2 minutes, and add the minced onions and salt to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, just until they soften and shrink down a little.
  4. Remove the onions to a medium bowl to cool, increase the heat to high, and wait 1 minute. Add 1/2 teaspoon oil, swirl to coat, and add the ground chuck and salt to taste. Cook, stirring every few minutes and breaking everything up into very small pieces. The meat is done once any liquid has evaporated and it’s browned nicely (about 5 to 8 minutes).
  5. Once the meat is done, turn off the heat, stir in the pepper, and count to 10. Then add the 2 tablespoons of water, and immediately start scraping up the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Stir until the water evaporates, and add the meat to the bowl with the onions, Let everything cool for a little while, and then add the parsley.
  6. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. While you’re waiting on the water, begin shaping the kibbeh.
  7. Lightly wet your hands while handling the dough to keep it from sticking. Take a ping-pong-sized ball of dough, wet your dominant index finger, and mold the ball around your finger. Wiggle your finger around to widen the opening. Once it’s open enough and the dough is thin enough (about 1/8 inch), fill it with a heaping tablespoon of filling, and then crimp the opening shut (watch the video to see an example of how to shape them, but feel free to use whatever method is easy for you).
  8. Drop about 5 to 10 kibbeh into boiling water and let them cook for about 5 to 8 minutes, until they start floating to the top of the pot.

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