Last Updated on June 9, 2022
Kibbet Rahib a Delicious Lebanese Vegan Stew
In previous posts we’ve featured a couple of Kibbeh recipe varieties, including grilled kibbe and vegetarian kibbe. Those are the type of dishes that most Lebanese cuisine fans are familiar with. However there exists another type of vegetarian kibbe that is made into a stew, and that is popular mostly in Lebanese villages and is almost never served in restaurants. This stew is cooked on Good Friday in some traditions, however, mom gives us the pleasure of having it throughout the year as well. Please meet “Kibbet Raaheb,” which translates to “Monk’s Kibbe.”
How to Cook Lebanese Vegan Stew (Kibbet Raaheb)
Onions, flour, Burghul (cracked wheat) and dried mint powder are kneaded and rolled into small Kibbe balls that are then cooked in a simmering kidney beans stew, with crushed garlic, a bit of olive oil, and a generous amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice. My mouth is watering now.
Boost the Flavor of Kibbet Rahib
To boost the flavor feel free to increase the quantity of garlic and lemon juice , and make sure that you only use freshly squeezed lemon juice. We’ve tried it once with juice from concentrate and it wasn’t as good as it could have been. Go fresh!
FAQs
What is vegetarian kibbeh made of?
A potato and bulgur based vegetarian kibbeh made with walnuts, onion, and sultanas topped with an aromatic shrub of walnuts, bulgur, and bulgur.
How many types of kibbeh are there?
People claim 17 types of Kibbeh in northern Syria.
Lebanese Vegan Kibbeh Stew – Monk's Stew - Kibbet Rahib
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients:
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup bulgur fine
- 1/2 white onion minced
- 1 teaspoon mint powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Stew Ingredients:
- 2 cups Kidney beans pinto, fasolia
- 1 head garlic crushed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup lemon juice freshly squeezed
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Optional step: soak the beans with water overnight to help soften them.
- Heat the beans on medium heat in water. Let boil for 3-4 minutes, then take off stove and discard water.
- Put the beans back in the pot with 8 cups of fresh warm water and a pinch of salt, and heat again. As soon as they boil, turn the heat to medium low, cover the pot and let simmer for about 50-60 minutes until the beans cook and turn soft.
Making the Vegan Kibbeh Balls
- While the beans are cooking, soak the bulgur in a cup of water for about 5 minutes, then strain and add to a mixing bowl.
- Add the flour, dried mint powder and finely minced onions and a dash of salt to the bowl. Mix the ingredients well, then add 1/2 cup of water and knead with hands into a dough. The dough needs to be on the tougher side so don't add too much water.
- Moisten your hand palms with water, take a tiny chunk of dough and roll into a small ball the size of a large chickpea between the palms of your hands. Lay the dough balls on a flour dusted tray.
Putting Together the Stew
- After the beans have simmered for their 50-60 minutes, add the dough balls to the pot gently, one by one.
- Crush the garlic and mix with the olive oil and a dash of salt in a blender or using a mortar/pestle. Add to the cooking pot.
- Add freshly squeezed lemon juice to the pot.
- Stir the pot gently, cover and let simmer for another 20-30 minutes until the dough cooks.
- Serve hot as a stew.
Serves 4 but I’d demolish it all in 1 sitting. Yum ?. Gonna have a crack at this tomorrow. Can’t wait.
Jason awesome I’d love to get your feedback on how it turns out!
Yeah, I know what burghul and semolina are, but my grandparents used to call a dish that had burghul and tomatoes (they also added meat and maybe cousas too) as the principal ingredients “smade.”
My wife makes mammouls with semolina.
Incidentally, I inherited a tool for hollowing out cousas that my grandfather made from a car radio arial. He told me that his parents and older siblings would make their own “smade” back on the farm from their own wheat, which they’d cook, dry and crack themselves.
Gotcha thanks for checking Gregory. What we refer to as “Smeed” is basically Semolina, or “Farina” depending on if it’s coarse or fine. Some brands also label the fine “smeed” as Cream of Wheat. This is used mostly in making Arabic sweets (Maamoul/ Kenafeh..etc). Even though it comes from grains/wheat, it is different than Burghul though. The latter is simply cracked wheat (www.mamaslebanesekitchen.com/pantry) while the semolina/farina/smeed are much finer and are close to the texture of flour.
Please remove those facebook popups. They block the view of the recipes.
Burghul is called “smade” in my family, but I rarely come across that word in cookbooks or on sites such as this. Is it a dialect word or something?
Hi Gregory. If you go to mainstream American supermarkets Burghul is sometimes called Burgul or Bulgur.. probably lost in translation. In Lebanon it’s widely known as Burghul, I haven’t heard of the “smade” word before.
My mom made this every year but called it kibbeh of the nuns. So glad to find the recipe, she passed away last year and I want to make it this Good Friday. Thank you.
Bless your mom’s soul!
My Dad always referred to it as “smead”…probably similar to “smade” and his father originated from Lebanon.
Maybe the “smeed” usage is regional. My family’s from a village in the Bekaa.
I’m kind of lazy, so I wonder if the dough balls could be replaced with moghrabieh.
Hi Gregory – I’ve never had this dish made with Moghrabieh balls instead and to be honest I doubt that it’d be the same. The main point of this dish is to find a vegetarian alternative to Kibbeh using those vegetarian kibbeh balls made with Burghol and Flour. You could try if you want and let us know if you like it.
Hello,
Very nice recipe! I’am an Assyrian from Turkey and we eat this on the christian days of fast because it is nutritious and fills the stomach. We call it homsé qaronéh and the burgulballs we call ganadhir. Funny that you call it Kibbet Raaheb because indeed Assyrian monks eat this all the time. They are not allowed to eat meat or any other products coming from animals. I think that is one of the reasons that we have so much delicious vegan recipes and food in the Middle-East.
very delicious…
I love these type of Kibbes. In Türkiye, we make with chickpeas and sometimes add spinach as well. I’ll try it with fasolia.