I got a taste for Middle Eastern food on Sunday night and decided to cook up a Lebanese feast. Becca and I have been eating the leftovers for days now and I made all my coworkers jealous. A forewarning for these recipes: if you don't have a food processor, I wouldn't attempt to make homemade tabbouleh or hummus. It's an awful lot of effort for something that you could easily buy in a store. But if you have a food processor, it's not bad at all.
Anyways, here goes:
Lamb Kefta Burgers with Tabbouleh and Hummus
Start by making the tabbouleh. Bring 1 1/4 cups of water to a boil.
Add in one cup of bulgur.
And 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
Stir and remove from the heat. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and let the bulgur sit for 30 minutes.
Next, grab 4 to 6 tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs).
I've found that food processors don't work very well with chopping tomatoes, it's much easier to chop them by hand. So dice the tomatoes into small pieces and put them in a large bowl.
Grab a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley and separate the leaves from the stems by running a sharp knife backwards down the stem.
Pulse the parsley in the food processor until it is very finely chopped.
And add it to the bowl with the tomatoes.
Next grab a bunch of fresh mint and separate the leaves from the stems in the same way.
Pulse the mint in the food processor until finely minced and add it to the bowl as well.
So ideally at this point, you would chop up four scallions. But I forgot to buy scallions at the grocery store. So instead, I finely diced half of a red onion. It worked ok.
Now, finely dice about half a cucumber and add it to the bowl.
And dice half of a red bell pepper and add it in as well.
Next, juice two lemons. You can squeeze with your hands too, but using a juicer gets the most out of it.
Add the juice to the bowl with the veggies and herbs.
And add in a quarter cup of olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and black pepper to taste.
Fluff the bulgur with a fork and add to the salad bowl.
Mix everything together and taste for seasoning; add more lemon juice, salt and pepper as needed.
Yummy.
Next, work on the lamb burgers. Start with a pound of ground lamb, and put it in a large bowl.
Next, grate about half an onion over the bowl using a box grater so that the juices and pulp get added to the lamb.
Now, add the seasoning. I used one tablespoon of kefta seasoning, which I bought at the Greenland market in Dearborn. If you don't have access to an Arabic grocery store, here is a seasoning blend that Rachael Ray (the chef who provided the original inspiration for this recipe) recommends: 1 tsp allspice, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.
Add in one beaten egg.
And a couple of handfuls of bread crumbs.
Finally, add in a few cloves of minced garlic.
Mix it all together with your hands until well combined, and then form into four burger patties. Meanwhile, heat about a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Place the burgers in the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes per side.
While the burgers are cooking, make the hummus. Start by opening two 15-oz cans of chickpeas and draining them. Place them in a food processor.
Puree the chickpeas until they are fully mashed.
Add in two tablespoons of tahini paste. You can usually find this in a normal grocery store in the international foods aisle - I actually found mine in the section with the Jewish/Israeli food.
Add in several cloves of garlic - I like my hummus very garlic-y, so I added quite a bit.
Juice one lemon and add the juice to the food processor.
Add in olive oil (at least 1/4 cup) as you puree the hummus until it is the right texture. Say hi to Becca in the background.
Then, taste the hummus to see if it needs anything. Make it how you like it. Add garlic, lemon juice, tahini, whatever you like.
Yummy!
Now, back to the burgers. Make sure to pay attention to them too and not let them overcook.
After about 10 minutes, they should be cooked through. Remove them to a plate.
Now, last step (finally!) - build your burgers. Start with a piece of pita bread or flat bread.
Spread hummus on one half of the pita.
Cut a burger in half and add put it on top of the hummus.
Sprinkle it with chopped onions and feta cheese.
Delicious.
Serve with tabbouleh and extra hummus.
God I love Lebanese food.
Tabbouleh
1 1/4 cup water
1 cup bulgur
2 teaspoons salt, divided
4-6 plum tomatoes
1 bunch Italian flat leaf parsley
1 bunch mint
4 scallions (or half a red onion)
2 lemons
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the bulgur and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt. Stir and remove from the heat. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and let the bulgur sit for 30 minutes.
2. Dice the tomatoes into small pieces and put in a large bowl.
3. Hold each bunch of herbs upside down over the cutting board and shave the leaves off using a very sharp knife. Finely chop the herbs in a food processor.
4. Thinly slice the white and green parts of the scallions (or finely dice the onion) and add to the herbs. Juice the lemons and add the juice to the bowl. Stir in the olive oil, remaining salt, and black pepper to taste.
5. Fluff the bulgur with a fork and add to the salad bowl. Use a big spoon to mix everything together evenly. Taste and season with more lemon juice, salt and black pepper if necessary.
Lamb Kefta Burgers
1 lb ground lamb
1/2 onion
1 tablespoon kefta spice (or 1 tsp allspice, 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin, and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon)
1 egg, beaten
A couple of handfuls of bread crumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 loaves of pita bread
Hummus
Diced red onions
Feta cheese
Place ground lamb in a large bowl. Grate half of an onion over the bowl using a box grater and add to the lamb. Add in the kefta spice, egg, and bread crumbs. Mix together with your hands and form into four burger patties. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook burgers about 5 minutes per side until cooked through. Spread hummus on one half of each loaf of pita bread. Cut burgers in half and place on top of hummus. Sprinkle with diced red onions and feta cheese. Fold the pita bread over the burger.
Hummus
2 15-oz cans chickpeas
2 tablespoons tahini
1 lemon
4-5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil (or more as needed)
Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Taste and add more tahini, lemon and/or garlic as needed.
