Kubbeh Soup (Meat Stuffed Semolina Dumplings in Broth)

This is a filling and delicious soup I was introduced to many years ago in Israel. I loved both this version and there is a beet broth version as well that I also love. However, since I make chicken stock often and often, this is much easier for me to whip up, beets not so often being on the menu at home. This is wonderful both on a cold winter’s night or especially lovely for Shabbat dinner. It is filling enough that it could be the main part of your dinner. In fact you can serve it with some bread or rice on the side and you’ve got a full meal.

I cook up my chicken stock whenever I have the butcher prepare me a slew of chickens and when he makes me shnitzel especially, since the bones have nice bits of chicken attached and I collect them and cook them in the instant pot (or you can use a pressure cooker or a regular pot but then you need at least 2 1/2-3 hours, instant pot 90 minutes) with a quartered onion, some carrots and celery. I load it up so that it produces a strong stock since that’s important for the base of the soup. You could also use turkey necks if you choose like my recipe here Turkey Neck Soup – better than Chickie Soup!

If need be, you can use purchased stock but I much prefer the homemade and it’s easy to produce. When making the kubbeh soup, you add fresh cut up pumpkin to the soup and I often throw in some squash as well. So start with the meat filling first since it must be completely cooled so it won’t heat up the dumpling dough. Chop up some onion (or use my basic onions you’ve prepared in advance Basic Sauteed Onions, A Kitchen Staple ) and add the chopped beef to the onions.

Using the edge of a large heatproof spoon, chop the beef into small bits and sautee in the onion and oil till it is browned nicely and cooked through, adding some paprika and black pepper. This can take about 10 minutes or so.

Place in a bowl to cool and when cooled add chopped fresh parsley and some allspice and nutmeg as well.

Stir together well till combined.

Now just so you know, I always end up with more meat mixture than I need but am happy to do so because it freezes beautifully and you can make so many other things with this basic mixture that it’s worth it. You can also double the dumpling recipe and stuff extra dumplings and freeze them. But I’ll get to that. Okay. Set aside and on to the veggie prep.

Aren’t they gorg? I love the color of the fresh pumpkin. You can also chop some onions, but I always have it in my base soup.

Now put the veg in your chicken stock.

The pumpkin can take awhile to cook so bring to the boil and reduce heat to a low burble and cover with lid on a slant. Peek at it from time to time to make sure it’s not boiling, should be a low simmer. While it cooks, prepare the semolina dumplings. The dumpling dough should rest for about 15 minutes so take that into account.

So gather the ingredients for the dumplings

and mix together the semolina or farina (I have on occasion used Cream of wheat and it works a treat), the flour, salt and the oil and the very warm (but not boiling) water.

Using a fork, start stirring together.

Now either keep stirring with a fork, or get in there with your hands and knead together just till you have a nice soft and pliable dough like so:

Now leave this rest for at least 15 minutes (on a timer, if you please).

K. Nearly there. Your soup is doing nicely on the stovetop, on a gentle simmer, your meat mixture is cool and your dumpling dough is ready. Now we put it all together. Pinch off a ball of dough, about the size of a walnut in the shell and place in your palm. With the thumb of the other hand, press a thumbprint into the dough.

Now take a spoonful of meat mixture, place in the little well you’ve created and start to close the dough up and around the filling till completely covered. If you took a bit too much filling and it’s too late to take some out, just take a bit extra dumpling dough and affix it to the dumpling. It’s a bit sticky so it works fine.

Here I was too generous with the filling and removed some but otherwise could’ve just added more dough. You will get the hang of it as you go along.

Now I find the easiest way to do this is to simply make all the dumpling dough at once and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet in rows.

Now what I do at this point depends on how much company or how many eaters I have coming. I count 2 dumplings per person (if this is a first course) and prepare them accordingly. I then on the tray as above, pop the remainder into the freezer and freeze them firm. Then remove the tray, and pop into a ziploc bag (label them so you know they are kubbeh and not cookies! DH nearly defrosted them thinking they were cookies) and they won’t stick together since you froze them this way. It’s brilliant since any time you want some kubbeh and have a nice strong chicken stock, bob’s your uncle and they’re available. Good. So now I’ve cooked these directly in the chicken pumpkin soup but actually prefer to cook them in boiling, salted water with a few tablespoons of the soup to flavor them. I feel they cook up a bit fluffier (although this is NOT like matza balls/kneidelach, this is a heavier texture and is supposed to be).

When ready to serve, place the kubbeh into a bowl and pour the soup over/around them. Don’t expect much talking at the table, people get intense about digging in to this soup and it is likely to become a big favorite at your home.

One more note. You can take the frozen kubbeh and put right into soup to cook but I actually prefer to let them defrost about 3/4 of the way (depends on how warm your kitchen is but around 20-30 minutes or so) since I feel they cook up better when mostly defrosted.

Kubbeh Soup (Meat Stuffed Semolina Dumplings in Broth)

For the meat filling:

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped
1-2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 lb (about 500 grams) ground beef, not too fatty
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup chopped parsley

For the dumpling dough:
2 cups semolina flour
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil (vegetable, not olive, I used canola)
1 cup very warm (not boiling) water

For the chicken broth:

8-10 cups strong chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 cups cubed fresh pumpkin
3 medium squash, scrubbed, head and tails chopped off and cubed
1/2 cup washed and chopped celery
chopped peeled onion (optional since my chicken stock already has it)

For the filling, heat the oil in a pan and add the onion and saute until light brown. Add the chopped beef and using the edge of a heatproof spoon, chop up the beef and stir with the onion, adding the paprika and black pepper. Cook till beef is browned and cooked through and place in a bowl to cool. When cool, add the chopped parsley, nutmeg and allspice and set aside.

Now prep the veggies for the chicken stock and add to the soup and cook on low simmer. Next make the dough by mixing together the semolina, flour, and salt in a bowl and then the oil and the very warm water, stirring with a fork. It will start to come together and I’d at this point use my hands to knead just till it’s soft and pliable. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes. Pinch off pieces of dough about the size of a walnut in the shell and make a well in the middle with your thumb. Put a spoonful of the meat mixture in the well, and form the dumpling dough around the meat mixture, patting into a round ball. Take a baking sheet and place a piece of parchment paper on it and place the filled dumplings in rows on the sheet. A note. If you will not use all the kubbeh at once, take the ones you won’t use on the baking sheet (as is) and pop in the freezer. Freeze till firm and put the frozen kubbeh in a ziploc bag. They won’t stick together since they’ve frozen individually. Fill a pot with salted water and a few tablespoons of the broth for flavoring and bring to the boil. Lower heat to medium and add as many of the kubbeh as you are planning to eat (try to cook them as needed although they are good even a day or two later, I prefer to cook them fresh). Keep watch for a couple of minutes to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot and cook for about 30 minutes or so. When ready to serve, put 2 kubbeh in a bowl and ladle the hot soup over the kubbeh.