MUMMA'S RECIPES
KUBBA HAMUTH
One of Iraq's most traditional dishes, Kubba Hamuth is up there for me and something I always make sure I'm home when mum's making it for dinner. The best way to describe it is meat dumplings in a sauce. There are two main versions of this dish but this one is easily my favourite because of the tangy lemon flavour. It takes a lot of work but the results are so worth it. Trusss meee.
For the dumplings:
500g ground rice
500g lean minced beef
2 x teapoons salt
1/2 cup cold water
Mix all the ingredients together, adding more water if necessary. Leave for an hour so the water evaporates.
For the meat filling:
750g minced beef
2 x white onions
50g cardamon
50g cinnamon
50g cloves
80g black pepper
25g dried rose petals
3 x nutmeg
1 x tablespoon salt
Go back to your kubbah (dumpling) mix. Roll into a small ball then flatten from the middle and stuff with your mince mix. Then flatten all around.
*** Mix all together in a blender until it's thick.
For the sauce:
Splash of oil
6 x turnips
2 x small tins of tomato puree
2-4 garlic gloves
Juice of 1 lemon
1 x tablespoon of dried mint – optional
Salt to taste
Fry the oil in a pan, cut the turnips into large chunks and fry with the oil and add your puree and water. Bring to the boil and add your kubbah and simmer for an hour. Keep tasting along the way as you may need to add more tomato puree and some salt.
Towards the end, peel your garlic pieces and add them whole, then add the juice of one lemon, (you can add the dried mint here) bring to the boil and serve.
