When Hagit left Israel she missed this soup very much and wished that she knew how to recreate the recipe. One summer, when she was back in Israel on vacation, she asked the aunts to come and show her how to make this special soup. Kohavah and Dalia came over to Esther's house (Hagit's mother-in-law) brought with them all the ingredients and showed Hagit step by step how to prepare the Kubeh soup.
Since that summer Hagit has been making this soup every Rosh Hashanah and shares the soup with other Israeli families. Anyone who has tasted this soup is brought back to their childhood when their mother, grandmother or aunts would make this for the holidays....that's the magic of the Kubeh Soup.
We won't trick you into thinking that this is a simple throw together soup. It does take time and effort but you will really appreciate the results if you follow this recipe.
Dough
2 lbs semolina
1/4 lb matzah meal
4-5 cups warm water
2 eggs
Add the semolina and matzah meal together, add a cup of warm water at a time and constantly mix
the dough with a spoon. Add an egg at a time and now use your hands to continue mixing well. Knead the dough for about 5-10 minutes then flatten it in the mixing bowl and poke holes all over. Pour 1/4 cup of warm water over the top, mainly to keep the dough moist. Let it rest and go put the soup together.
Filling
1 1/2 lbs of chop meat
1 1/2 cups of leaves from top of celery
2 tbs oil
4 onions grated and drained
salt and pepper to taste
Grate the onions into a mixing bowl and drain away the juice keeping the pulp only. Add the meat, salt, pepper, oil and the finely chopped celery leaves. Mix by hand really well.
Soup
1 whole celery cut up
1 big onion (keep it whole just for the flavor)
2 cups of beet leaves
2 cups of big chunks of pumpkin
6oz tin of tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp Sour Salt (more if you like it more sour)
1. Using a 5qt pot, fill it up 3/4 way with water and boil all the vegetables
2. After 10 minutes, add the tomato paste, oil, salt, pepper and sour salt
3. When the soup boils for another 10 minutes, drop in the kubeh one at a time
4. Let it cook with the lid on for 45 minutes and watch for the kubeh rising to the top which
indicates that they are done
5. Keep tasting the soup and adjusting the seasoning as needed
Assembly of Kubeh
1. Take a full tablespoon of the dough into the palm of your hand and flatten it out into a small cup like shape ready to add a teaspoon of the meat. Your hands should be wet at all time.
2. Add the filling to the middle of the dough and then using small motions bring the edges of the dough together and using just a touch water help the dough stick together and form a small ball around the meat filling
3. This is the part that could take you some time to master, just keep doing it and you'll get better
4. We made a ton of kubeh, we placed them on a flat tray on top of parchment paper and put them into the freezer. You can make the kubeh a few days before and freeze them
5. Another trick is to let the balls freeze flat on a tray and then transfer them into freezer bags for easier storage in your freezer
This recipe make a tremendous amount of kubeh so you can either make them and freeze them or you can reduce the recipe by half to feed 6-8 people. Either way, we feel once you are making them you might as well make a huge amount and then use them as you need them for any size soup you wish to make.
Israeli Honey Cake
1 cup of strong tea
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
4 eggs, separated
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of oil
1/2 cup of honey
2 1/2 cups of flour
dash of cinnamon
1. Preheat the oven to 325
2. Stir the tea with the baking powder and baking soda and let it cool down
3. Cream the yolks with half of the sugar
4. Add the oil, honey, flour, tea and cinnamon to the creamed yolks and stir until smooth
5. Whisk the whites with the rest of the sugar until the whites are stiff
6. Fold the stiff egg whites into the rest of the cake, very gently
7. Pour into a round bundt or 2 loaf tins
8. Bake for 45 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean
This is a fail proof recipe passed down through many typical Israeli families to you dear friends.
Enjoy and may you all have a healthy and happy Jewish New Year.
Hagit and Dafna
