Kibbeh Bil Sanieh

As tradition built it

Serves 6 to 8, two trays. About 70 minutes to make and 50 minutes in the oven, after two hours resting the bulgur.

Ingredients

The dough

• 625g fine white bulgur, rinsed and squeezed dry
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 3 tsp salt
• 1 red onion, quartered
• 250g lean lamb, minced
• 120ml lightly salted water, for kneading the dough and wetting the knife
• a little ghee, to grease the dishes and rub the dough sheets

The filling

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp ghee, for the onion
• 1 tbsp ghee, for the nuts
• 30g pine nuts
• 100g almond halves
• 100g walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp ghee, for the meat
• 350g lean lamb, minced

For the top

• 180g ghee, melted
• ½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. Rinse the bulgur in several changes of water and squeeze it completely dry. Mix in the paprika and salt and leave it in the fridge for two hours.
2. Put the bulgur and the quartered red onion through the fine plate of a mincer, add the 250g of lamb, put it all through again and knead it into a dough. Keep it under a damp cloth in the fridge.
3. For the filling, soften the chopped onion in a teaspoon of ghee. In a second pan fry the pine nuts in a tablespoon of ghee until golden, lift them out, then the almonds the same way. In a deep pot brown the 350g of lamb in a tablespoon of ghee, then stir in the onion, the walnuts and the fried nuts and let it cool.
4. Grease two 27cm round dishes with a knob of ghee. Knead the dough with half the salted water until it rolls easily, divide it in four and roll each piece out to 8mm between sheets of cling film.
5. Lay a sheet of dough in each dish, smooth the edges and rub the surface with a little ghee. Spread half the filling over each to within a finger of the rim and press it down. Lay the second sheet over, press it firmly and smooth the edges.
6. With a knife dipped in the rest of the salted water, cut each pie into eight wedges right through to the base, then score the surface in lines. Stir the pepper into the melted ghee and pour it over.
7. Bake at 160°C fan for 30 minutes, then another 20 minutes with the top heat on, until the surface has browned. Rest it a few minutes and serve from the dish.

Notes

The two trays are Dimah's family recipe, from her Syrian blog Orange Blossom Water; she was born in Hama and raised in Damascus and Aleppo. Her dough is seasoned with paprika and salt alone; many Syrian kitchens put baharat in both dough and filling.

What a modern chef changes

The same emulsion discipline as the tahini-based dishes, applied to the dough's fat

Rung 4's streaming principle, applied here to olive oil rather than tahini

Method

1. Work the olive oil into the finished dough gradually rather than pouring it all on at the surface, kneading a small amount through before shaping, so the fat distributes evenly and bastes the meat filling from within during baking.
2. Rest the shaped, unbaked tray for fifteen minutes before it goes into the oven, giving the bulgur dough time to firm and hold its scored diamond pattern cleanly through baking.
3. Score deeply enough to reach the filling, not just the surface, so the finished diamonds separate cleanly and the fat poured over the top reaches the meat.