Kibbeh Labanieh

Ingredients

• 200g fine brown bulgur, grade 1
• 300g very lean minced lamb, for the shell
• 1 small onion, for the shell
• 1 tsp Lebanese seven spice, for the shell
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, for the shell
• 1 1/2 tsp fine salt, for the shell
• 200g minced lamb, for the filling
• 1 onion, for the filling
• 3 tbsp pine nuts
• 1 tsp Lebanese seven spice, for the filling
• 30g butter
• 1kg full-fat plain yogurt
• 1 egg white
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tsp fine salt, for the sauce
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp dried mint
• 1 tbsp ghee
• Vermicelli rice, to serve

Before you cook

• Rinse the bulgur in a sieve, then leave it to swell in cold water for 15 minutes and squeeze it dry in your hands
• Grate the shell onion finely and squeeze out its liquid
• Chop the filling onion finely
• Crush the garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt
• Whisk the egg white and cornflour together with a splash of the yogurt until smooth
• Set a bowl of iced water beside your work surface for shaping

Steps

1. Put the squeezed bulgur, lean lamb, grated onion, seven spice, cinnamon and salt into a food processor.
2. Blitz for a full minute, in two or three bursts, until the mixture forms a smooth, cohesive paste with no visible strands of meat.
3. Cover the kibbeh paste and put it in the fridge to firm up.
4. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and fry the pine nuts for 2 minutes until golden, then lift them out with a slotted spoon.
5. Cook the chopped onion in the same butter for 6 minutes until soft and translucent.
6. Add the filling lamb and seven spice and fry for 6 minutes, breaking the meat up, until it is browned and the pan is dry.
7. Stir the pine nuts back through the filling and leave it to cool completely.
8. Take a golf ball of kibbeh paste and, with a wet hand, hollow it out with your index finger into a thin-walled cup.
9. Spoon in a teaspoon of the cooled filling, pinch the opening shut, and roll the ball between wet palms into a pointed torpedo.
10. Shape the remaining kibbeh the same way, dipping your hands in iced water each time to stop them sticking.
11. Bring a wide pan of salted water to a bare simmer and lower in the kibbeh in batches.
12. Poach each batch for 6 minutes, until the shells firm up and the kibbeh float, then lift them out onto a plate.
13. Pour the yogurt into a heavy pot and whisk in the egg white and cornflour mixture and the salt.
14. Set the pot over medium-low heat and stir constantly in one direction with a wooden spoon for about 8 minutes, until the yogurt reaches a bare simmer and turns glossy and slightly thickened.
15. Stop stirring only once it has come to the simmer, as stopping early will split the sauce.
16. Slide the poached kibbeh into the yogurt and simmer very gently for 12 minutes.
17. Heat the ghee in a small pan, add the garlic paste and dried mint, and swirl for 30 seconds until it smells sharp and grassy.
18. Pour the mint garlic ghee into the yogurt and shake the pot to distribute it.
19. Serve the kibbeh in bowls with plenty of sauce, alongside vermicelli rice.