Kibbi neya mince

This traditional raw mince dish will get you thinking differently about how you eat your meat. Never mind steak tartare, this is a winning dish from the Lebanese traditions of the Shahrouk sisters for Family Food Fight, and as the sisters say "kibbi is served at every family feast table, like bread is to butter".

From Honey kitchen

Difficulty easy
Cooking time less than 30 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients

Kibbi neya

500g lean beef, such as eye fillet or rump
½ cup fine brown burghul
½ large bullhorn pepper/capsicum, deseeded and flesh roughly chopped
1 small brown onion, roughly chopped
3 baby hot chillies, deseeded and roughly chopped
8 fresh basil leaves
3 small sprigs continental parsley, leaves picked
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To serve

a small handful of almonds, split lengthways
2 red radish, halved and cut into thin half circles
small handful baby mint leaves
good olive oil, to drizzle

Method

1. Using either a hand or electric mincer, place a bowl under the exit point to catch the minced meat. Cut meat into small cubes and feed into the mincer and catch in the bowl, wrap with plastic film and place in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes. Alternatively, ask your butcher to finely mince the meat for you.
2. Place burghul into a bowl, pour over 1½ cups boiling water and leave to sit for 10-15 minutes to soften. Rinse and drain.
3. Place capsicum, onion, chilli, basil and parsley into a food processor and process to a coarse paste. Transfer to a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate to chill.
4. Just before serving, add the capsicum mixture to the meat, along with the burghul and mix well to combine. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.
5. To serve, press kibbi into a large serving plate, making a few indents for oil. Scatter over almond halves, radish slices and mint leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and serve with Lebanese pocket bread on the side.

Notes: freshness of meat is essential to a well made and safe to eat kibbi. The finer the grinding of the mincer the better. Semi freezing the meat prior to mixing for approximately 30 minutes gives a cold and firm texture. Kibbi neya must always be served cold and made as close to serving time as possible. Use a non fatty meat for best results.