Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
For instance, on Shabbat, when I invite everyone to come over to eat with the children and grandchildren,
I prepare a large table. First the Kiddush and then we sit down to eat.
For everyone it's delicious and everyone eats,
and I'm happy that they finish their plates.
Of course, whoever wants it, can take home whatever is left over.
Hello, I am Grandma Berta. Today we are going to cook Kubba.
"Karaa Hillwa'" is tomato broth with zucchini.
We'll take the zucchini, peel them
and chop them up.
There are those that make them into discs. I make them into cubes.
I was born in Baghdad in 1937.
One can say we were a very rich household.
I came at age 13. 12 and half, almost 13 when we arrived in Israel.
I had to take care of the house and the children,
and everything surrounding it. Money wasn't scarce, but I didn't study.
So I basically lost my childhood. What I received, I took myself.
So I used to go to Grandma's in Azor,
which was in a transit camp, to learn from her something.
From my neighbors and my friends, and like that I learned to cook.
Now the zucchinis are here.
We use chickpeas that we left to soak all night.
We take a clean towel.
Place the chickpeas on it and use the rolling pin.
The chickpeas begin to crack and separate from the skins.
Here, we remove the skins
Actually it is easier for me to remove the chickpea halves that are already ready.
It's also possible to make it without chickpeas.
To avoid work for those who do not want to do any more work.
Here, the chickpeas are ready,
in halves and no peels.
Because it is not pleasant when cooking food and peels are floating.
When we came to Israel during the period of austerity, there was nothing in the stores to buy.
We received food by coupons. As children we got an egg or two eggs a week.
We got cocoa. We did not get coffee. We got tea.
So we exchanged with friends, with neighbors, with family.
Or if there was the possibility we would drive to all kinds of far away places,
and buy in the "black market". But we were afraid to pass it on the bus because they always came and searched.
But still, that was a good time. Better than today. That's how I see it.
Here, I think that's enough for me what is done.
I don't need all of them.
We wash them little bit.
and add to the pot.
Now add to the pot some water
salt, ground cardamom, a little bit of pepper.
Now we take a tomato paste and put in the whole box.
To save money you can buy a large box and keep in the freezer:
I empty the paste into a plastic bag and flatten on a large plate.
and every time I want I cut a cube or two cubes.
We already have it all. We put on the stove and we start with the onion
We cut it,
and crush it finely.
put it in a bowl
You can even take smaller onion.
We put a bit of salt. Not much.
and leave it for now. We take the meat, which is already minced meat.
We take the parsley
and chop the parsley very fine.
The meat is turkey meat but you can take any other kind of meat.
Red meat or chicken breast meat is fine.
Spices: a bit of pepper,
some cardamom,
And mixture of spices that I buy in Ramat Gan.
. It made of cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and I think roses and something elseā¦
Just say Bharat for Kubbe.
We squeeze the onion from its water and then stir.
I put red pepper but you can add black pepper.
It gives a special taste and aroma.
Since the meat is without fat, I can add a tablespoon or two of oil inside.
Here is the filling ready.
It's hot, great.
We add to it some more.
Two tablespoons of oil because it has no fat at all.
We add water
Until it become such a soft dough pleasant to work with,
Because the semolina absorbs water.
That is enough. Let it be like this. Yes.
We take a piece of this size. Open it, especially on the sides.
Then, we put the meat in and start to close.
Close it.
To make a differ from other Kubbe which is in sour sauce,
you do that shape. Flatten it.
Every day of the week has its foods.
Kubbe, I remembe. We ate once a week.
On Friday they made Kubbe with okra or beets, today called,
the sour one with lemon juice.
But this one we ate in the middle of the week.
Here, we put them all here.
It's just water to dip my fingers, that it won't be sticky.
You can make a large quantity and freeze it.
I put in layers separated by plastic bags,
so I always have Kubbes prepared in the freezer. Whenever I want to cook I have Kubbes ready.
We continue to do this until we ran out of the quantity of semolina.
If you want you can do more semolina dough and finish,
but I want to make some balls and put them into the soup.
They always took care of the little child at home, made little Kubbes
in order to make him happy.
You can do that.
We'll see what happens in the pot.
Yes, great.
Now we'll take the Kubbe.
I will put the meatballs later.
That's it. It should be put on not very high heat to cook.
The stew will be a bit thick because of the semolina.
In about another fifteen minutes I will put in the meatballs.
It does not need much time. 10 minutes after that we can eat.
Have a good appetite. We serve it with white rice.