Lamb Delicacy (Kibbe Nayyeh)

Nayyeh is a Levantine raw meat delicacy. This is my dad’s sought out after recipe! We use lamb but some use beef, with onion, seasonings & bulgur, and it is served with extra virgin olive oil, onion, fresh mint & bread. 

A couple notes on the recipe here: 

-we have a smaller home blender that we used and we were making a larger quantity of kibbe nayyeh so we blended the onion, seasonings, bulgur and the meat in different stages and then mixed it all by hand in the bowl 

-The difference between kibbe nayyeh and kafta nayyeh is that we use parsley instead of bulgur! 

And of course, I think it goes without saying that consuming raw or undercooked meat has its own risks so please source your meat from a trusted, high quality butcher. We normally mince the meat ourselves, I would not recommend purchasing pre-minced/ground meat from the grocery store for this.

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Raw Lamb Delicacy (Kibbe Nayyeh)

Servings

Ingredients

• 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp Fine ground black pepper
• 1 medium onion
• 1.5 tsp dried mint
• 4 tsp salt
• 4 pounds 95% lean leg of lamb minced
• 2 cups burghal #1 this is the finer, smaller type
• 2 cups ice water to pour the water in while blending ingredients. Exact water amount up to your Kibbe consistency preference

Servings Ingredients 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon 1.5 tsp Fine ground black pepper 1 medium onion 1.5 tsp dried mint 4 tsp salt 4 pounds 95% lean leg of lamb minced 2 cups burghal #1 this is the finer, smaller type 2 cups ice water to pour the water in while blending ingredients. Exact water amount up to your Kibbe consistency preference

Instructions

1. First blend the onion, seasonings and first pound of meat. Pour 1/6-1/4 cup ice water while blending. Remove the blended first pound.
2. Next add in another pound of meat with half the burghal and blend. Pour 1/6-1/4 cup ice water while blending.
3. Add in the onion-meat mixture and blend with the burghal-meat mixture. Set aside.
4. Add the third and fourth pound of meat and blend with the remaining burghal. Continue to pour ice water as needed to smoothen the texture.
5. - You can do all of this mixing by hand but the bender is more efficient. If you have a bigger blender you can blend more than a pound or two at a time.
6. After all the meat has been blended with the onion, seasonings, and burghal, put it in a big bowl and blend it all together by hand until smooth.
7. When preparing the dish for serving, wet hands in water and flatten Kibbe out on dish. You can use a fork to imprint decorative lines across the Kibbe, and garnish with mint or parsley!
8. Serve with good quality extra virgin olive oil, fresh mint leaves, more onion, and fresh pita bread!

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