Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh is a fabulous fusion dish that combines the creamy, earthy flavors of pumpkin soup with the savory, Middle Eastern spiced goodness of kibbeh. The soup itself is a velvety blend of pureed pumpkin, gently simmered with aromatic spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. The warmth of the spices in the Kibbeh complements the earthy sweetness of the pumpkin, resulting in a soup that is both comforting and satisfying. Fusion is FUN!
Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh
Who knew that AI could be so much fun. While planning for the current stretch of posts, things were a lot crazy. We were getting ready for the (awesome!) wedding and I was pretty pooped. Dear Social Media Guy ran his magic AI recipe concept generator and came up with some incredibly creative (Can an AI be creative or is that an exclusively human trait? Discuss amongst yourselves.) recipe ideas. Most of them were a kind of cultural fusion blending Jewish/Israeli/Middle Eastern recipes with other stuff. One of the recipe concepts the AI came up with was Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh.
I loved the idea.
Making Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh
Coming up with the recipe for Pumpkin Soup had some basic challenges. Here’s what I did.
Making the Kibbeh
I have to be honest. I’ve never made kibbeh before in my life. So… when in doubt, get a little (read: LOT) of help from a friend.
I turned to my gluten free expert friend Esther Anzaroot. Esther is famous for her wildly popular gluten free products under the Gluten Free Easy brand. You can find her products in the freezer section of many Kosher (and not Kosher) grocery stores. If you can’t find them please ask your store to bring them in. They’re great!
So… back to Kibbeh.
Esther’s Recipe
The real challenge was making the kibbeh dough. I started out following the instructions literally, and realized after my first attempt (and an SOS messaging session to Esther) that I really needed to cook the rice and spices first then add the matzoh meal.
This is what the first batch looked like. The rice wasn’t cooked through and it was kind of glompy. I had some meat filling left over and ended up using it but it definitely wasn’t as good as the final version.
This is what the second batch of cooked rice and matzoh meal looked like. The rice is cooked through and it was simple to process. Make sure to do it in batches. The food processor has a little trouble with bigger batches as the dough gets pretty sticky.
The second thing I realized is that the recipe makes a ton of kibbeh. While that’s a great thing, the whole recipe for the Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh doesn’t really require almost sixty kibbeh.
The original recipe makes a lot of kibbeh. If you count them keep in mind the ones I had to test (plus a few more 😉 ).
I’m halving the recipe for you.
What Esther said though, and it’s really helpful, is that if you make the recipe (double the one below), you can freeze the un-fried/baked kibbeh until you’re ready to use them and then pull them out and fry/bake them when you want. It’s sound advice. As with most Kosher Everyday recipes, the choice is yours.
Forming the Kibbeh
Making the kibbeh can be challenging if you don’t do a very basic thing: greasing/wetting your hands before handling the dough. The dough can be very sticky and unless you prep your hands you can end up with a mess. I also found that vinyl gloves work like magic, keeping the dough from sticking pretty easily. I use them when making challah and strongly recommend wearing them when dealing with any sticky dough.
When forming the the kibbeh it’s helpful to wear vinyl gloves or to grease/wet your hands.
To form the kibbeh, Esther said to take a ball of dough, make a deep hole in the center then add the beef filling until it’s below the top of the hole. This helps to make sealing the dough way easier without meat falling out.
After sealing the dough form the dough into the traditional football shape.
Cooking the Kibbeh
Esther say that if the kibbehs are flrozen, fry them at 325°F or if they’re fresh fry at 350°F until they’re golden brown. You can also air fry them, but I haven’t done it so can’t tell you how long. If you do please let me know.
Fry the kibbeh until golden brown!
All I can say is they’re INCREDIBLE fried. Dear Daughter In Law, who has a Syrian grandmother that makes the perfect kibbeh that sets the standard for all kibbeh, said that these are pretty close to her grandmother.
So…
Making the Pumpkin Soup
I found a recipe for Pumpkin Soup on allrecipes.com and modified it for this post. It’s a great starting recipe, but I changed a few things to make the recipe easier and friendlier. The recipe is pretty easy and striaght forward.
As I usually do, I subbed out the onion for green onion and used garlic oil for the garlic. You can absolutely use fresh garlic and onion if you like and I’ll include those substitutions below. One thing to keep in mind is that because I didn’t use fresh onion or garlic I didn’t puree the soup once it was done cooking. If you do use fresh onion and garlic, it might be something to consider.
The Pumpkin Soup is rich, velvety and perfectly spiced. I don’t blend mine so you can see the specks of green onion in the soup.
Putting the Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh together
I ended up putting around three kibbeh per bowl of soup. Doing that math you should be able to make around thirtyish kibbeh using the recipe below with twenty four for the soup and an additional sixish for shnookering.
Trust me…there will be shnukering!
I account for around three kibbeh for each bowl of Pumpkin Soup with Kibbeh.
Here’s the recipe for Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh
This is one of the tastiest dishes I’ve ever made. That being said, the kibbeh are very time consuming to make by hand. You can cook the rice and the meat filling simultaneously (around 30 minutes), but then you need to let them cool, process the dough, form the kibbeh then fry them. I’m not sure you can even find gluten free kibbeh in the store. While they may be time consuming to make them yourself they are SO much better than anything store bought and worth the time (if you have it). I also recommend doubling the recipe for the kibbeh if you’re able as they freeze well and you’ll have them for future use. Just make sure you allot the time to make them. It could be a family kibbeh making party!!!
Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh
- Prep Time: 60 minutes
- Frying Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Frying
- Cuisine: Gluten Free
- Diet: Kosher
Description
Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh is a fabulous fusion dish that combines the creamy, earthy flavors of pumpkin soup with the savory, Middle Eastern spiced goodness of kibbeh. The soup itself is a velvety blend of pureed pumpkin, gently simmered with aromatic spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. The warmth of the spices in the Kibbeh complements the earthy sweetness of the pumpkin, resulting in a soup that is both comforting and satisfying. Fusion is FUN!
The original, unmodified recipe for the Pumpkin Soup can be found on allrecipes.com
Ingredients
For the Kibbeh Dough
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 tablespoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups white rice
- 2 1/2 cups cold water
- 3/4 cup gluten free matzoh meal
For the Kibbeh Meat Filling
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil
- 1 cup green onion, sliced
- 3/4 tablespoon koshert salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 pound ground beef
To finish the Kibbeh
- 4 cups oil for frying
For the Pumpkin Soup
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic oil
- 1 cup green onion, sliced
- 10 whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
- 2 (14.5-ounce) cans pumpkin puree
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup dairy-free heavy whipping cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnish
Instructions
For the Kibbeh Dough
- In a large pot combine the rice, water, salt, oil, cumin and paprika. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed.
- Remove the rice from the heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a large spoon.
- Fold in the gluten free matzoh meal and let the mixture cool completely.
- Process the rice in batches to form a sticky dough. Cover and set aside.
For the Kibbeh Meat Filling
- In a large skillet, heat up the oil with the spices; when the oil is hot, add the onions.
- Sauté the onions for 1-2 minutes on a medium flame, then add in the ground beef.
- Using a large spoon or fork, break up the meat allowing to brown on all sides. You want to turn it into as small pieces as possible.When the meat is done, drain out a little bit of the excess liquid.
Forming the Kibbeh
- Break the dough up into 1-inch balls.
- Using a pair of gloves, spray your hands with oil spray to prevent dough from sticking. I recommend using vinyl gloves as the dough doesn’t stick nearly as much. If the dough is excessively sticky add a little extra matzoh meal.
- Hold the ball of dough in the palm of your hand, and using your other hand, stick your finger in the ball of dough and rotate to create a hollow center. Once the center is hollowed, add a tsp of the ground beef mixture, and push all the way in, leaving some empty space at the top.
- Once the ball is filled, pinch the top closed using both hands. Form into football shapes.
- Once all the kibbehs are stuffed, you can either freeze them for later use, or you can fry them to serve fresh.
- If kibbehs are frozen, fry at 325°. If they are fresh. Fry at 350° for about 4-5 minutes or until golden brown.
- When the kibbehs are done, place on a wire wrack to drain excess oil.
For the Pumpkin Soup
- In a large stock pot heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until soft, around 2-3 minutes. Add the peppercorns and thyme and cook, stiffing often until fragrant around another minute.
- Stir in the pumpkin puree; cook stirring occasionally, untill puree turns a few shades darker, around 5 minutes. Stir in the vegetable stock, maple syrup, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat.
- Simmer, uncovered stirring occasionally, for an additional 30 minutes.
- Stir in the cream and cook for another 4 minutes.
To Finish the Pumpkin Soup and Kibbeh
- Spoon the Pumpkin Soup into bowls. Place three kibbeh into each bowl. Top with chopped parsley.
- Enjoy!
Notes
If you can’t find gluten free matzoh meal you can substitute gluten free panko/bread crumbs.
Kibbeh can be made in advance and frozen.
If your family eats kitniyot on Passover, this recipe is Passover friendly.
You can use fresh onion and garlic in the soup. Simply substitute 1 cup chopped yellow onion and 4 cloves minced garlic and one tablespoon extra virgin olive oil for the green onion and garlic oil. You might need to blend the soup once it’s done.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 323
- Sugar: 9.7 g
- Sodium: 2080.1 mg
- Fat: 14.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 34.2 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 16.3 g
- Cholesterol: 42.4 mg
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