COPPERWhat is the national dish of Syria?
The national dish of Syria is kibbeh: lean lamb or beef pounded with fine bulgur into a dough, then shaped into hollow torpedoes around minced meat, onion and pine nuts and fried, or baked in a tray, grilled or served raw. Syria has no official national dish, but kibbeh is the one most often cited, a title it shares with Lebanon.
What is kibbeh?
Kibbeh, also written kibbe or kubba, is a family of dishes rather than one recipe. What they share is the dough: very lean meat, traditionally lamb, pounded in a stone mortar with soaked fine bulgur and spices until it becomes a smooth paste. That paste can be shaped, layered, stuffed, fried, baked, grilled or eaten raw.
The best-known form outside Syria is fried kibbeh: egg-sized shells of dough hollowed with a finger, filled with minced lamb, onion and toasted pine nuts seasoned with allspice and cinnamon, closed into a torpedo pointed at both ends, then deep-fried.
How fried kibbeh is made
In our kibbeh recipe, 250 g of fine bulgur soaks in cold water for 20 minutes and is squeezed dry. 500 g of lean lamb, trimmed of all fat and sinew, is ground very finely with a small onion, allspice, salt and pepper, traditionally pounded in a stone mortar, then kneaded with the bulgur with hands dipped in ice water. The paste rests in the fridge for 30 minutes so the shells can be made thin without cracking.
The torpedoes are fried in batches at 180°C for 3 to 4 minutes until deep brown, and served hot with yogurt or a salad. Making thin, even shells takes practice: in Iraq and the Levant, the quality of a cook's kibbeh is considered a benchmark of their skill.
Aleppo, the capital of kibbeh
The city of Aleppo claims at least 17 kinds of kibbeh, and the Comparative Encyclopedia of Aleppo by Khayr al-Din al-Asadi, published in 1981, described 58. Among the Aleppo versions:
Kibbeh also goes into soups. In kubbi kishk, the torpedoes cook in a yogurt and butter broth with stewed cabbage leaves. Kibbeh hamda is a chicken stock with leeks, celery, turnips and courgettes, sharpened with lemon and garlic, in which small kibbeh made with ground rice serve as dumplings. In the Syrian Jewish diaspora it is a dish for Passover and for the meal before the Yom Kippur fast.
- Kibbeh labaniyyeh: cooked in a yogurt sauce.
- Kibbeh safarjaliyyeh: with quince.
- Kibbeh sumaqiyyeh: with sumac.
- Kibbeh hamda: with lemon juice.
- Kibbeh rummaniyeh: in a pomegranate sauce; another Aleppo version uses a cherry sauce.
- Kibbeh bil siniyyeh: the filling sandwiched between two layers of dough and baked in a tray.
- Kibbeh nayyeh: raw, served as part of a mezze with mint, olive oil and green onions.
Is kibbeh Syrian or Lebanese?
Both. Kibbeh is considered a national dish of Syria and of Lebanon, and it is eaten across the Levant, Iraq, Turkey, Armenia and Cyprus, and by Levantine communities in Latin America. In Syria, no law has made it official.
The dish is old. The name comes from the Arabic root k-b-b, and a 10th-century cookbook by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq already used the word kubba for meatballs. In 1847 an American missionary visiting Lebanon described kibbeh as "the national dish of the Arabs". Three years earlier, in an 1844 dictionary, the Swedish orientalist Jacob Berggren described 8 types of kibbeh and quoted a proverb about its place in daily life: without our kibbeh, we would all have died.
In Syria, kibbeh usually reaches the table as part of the mezze, the spread of small dishes served with Arabic bread before the main course. Emigration carried it further: Syrian Mexicans eat it with salsa verde, and it is a common starter on Colombia's Caribbean coast.
Other dishes to know from Syria
Muhammara is a mezze dip from Aleppo of charred red peppers, Aleppo red pepper paste, toasted walnuts and breadcrumbs, worked into a thick, slightly coarse paste and balanced with pomegranate molasses so it tastes sweet, sour and gently hot. The peppers are charred for about 20 minutes, peeled, then pounded with the walnuts in a mortar, the traditional tool.
Fattoush is a Levantine bread salad: purslane, tomato, cucumber, radish and herbs dressed with sumac and lemon, with squares of fried flatbread added at the last moment so they stay partly crisp. Purslane is the classic green; romaine lettuce replaces it when it cannot be found.
All three recipes are on our page about the food of Syria, and the wider region is covered in our guide to Middle Eastern food.
The recipes
Muhammara
FattoushQuestions people ask
Does Syria have an official national dish?
No. Kibbeh is the dish most often cited as Syria's national dish, a status it shares with Lebanon.
What is kibbeh made of?
Lean lamb or beef pounded with fine bulgur and spices into a dough. Fried kibbeh is filled with minced meat, onion and pine nuts.
What is served with kibbeh?
Fried kibbeh is usually served hot with yogurt or a salad, and often as part of a mezze.
How many kinds of kibbeh are there in Aleppo?
At least 17 are commonly cited, and a 1981 encyclopedia of Aleppo described 58.
Is kibbeh nayyeh raw?
Yes. Kibbeh nayyeh is made from very finely minced raw lamb or beef with bulgur and spices, which is why it requires very fresh, high-quality meat.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Syria: 14 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Bahrain?
- What is the national dish of Iran?
- What is the national dish of Iraq?
- What is the national dish of Israel?
- What is the national dish of Jordan?