With its crispy kibbeh balls coated in a luscious creamy sauce and served over a bed of Lebanese vermicelli rice, this recipe will be the next best hit in the house! With all that flavor, you might assume it is a complicated dish, but it is actually quite the opposite. This from-scratch recipe can be made in well under only 20 minutes of hands-on time!
Servings 4servings
Ingredients
20pieceskibbeh stuffed balls **
For the stroganoff sauce:
1tbspgrape seed oil
1tbspbuttergrass-fed
1medium onioncut into wings
250gfresh mushroomsthickly sliced
1clovegarlicminced
1tbspflour
1cupbeef broth *
½cupsour cream *
1tbspWorcestershire sauce
½tspDijon mustard
1tspsweet paprika
½tspsweet pepper
½tspsalt
¼tspblack pepper
¼tspwhite pepper
¼tspnutmeg
Instructions
Step 01: Start by cooking the kibbeh balls. I usually cook my kibbeh balls in the air-fryer or bake in the oven for a healthier version, but you can also fry them if you like. To cook in air-fryer: spray the air-fryer pan wit some oil , lay the kibbeh balls in the pan and set it to high level or level 4 for 15 minutes flipping mid-time , until they are deep golden brown and crispy. To cook in oven: arrange the kibbeh balls in a single layer on a baking sheet, spray or brush with some oil and bake in a 200 C◦ preheated oven for 30 minutes or until deep golden brown.
Step 02: while the kibbeh balls is cooking, we prepare the stroganoff sauce. Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a deep pan, add the onions and sautée for 2 minutes, add the mushroom and keep stirring for 5 minutes until the mushroom liquid has evaporated, sprinkle the white pepper and nutmeg and mix , keep cooking until onions and mushroom are soft and lightly browned. Add the garlic and stir for a minute until you smell the garlic.
Step 03: add the butter and mix it through until the butter is fully melted. Add the flour and mix it through till everything is coated, and no flour clumps left. Lower the heat and Add the broth and mix it through scraping the bottom to clean it.
Step 04: stir few tbsp of the sauce into the sour cream and mix it to temper it so it does not curdle when we add it to the pan. Than add the sour cream to the pan while stirring constantly, simmer for couple of minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened.
Step 05: stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, sweet paprika, sweet pepper, salt and black pepper. Continue simmering until sauce is creamy. Add the kibbeh balls to the pan and bring just to simmer or until the kibbeh is heated through. Serve on top of some vermicelli rice and enjoy!
Notes
For the kibbeh balls: I always make the kibbeh beforehand in big batches and store in freezer to use whenever I need. Making kibbeh balls is a messy long process but it is totally worth it to make at home but you can still easily find store bought kibbeh balls in the freezer section in the grocery store or the local butchery shop you usually buy from. The good thing about making the kibbeh beforehand tat you can cook it directly from frozen with no need to thaw. The kibbeh balls are a dough made from minced meat, burghul, and some middle eastern spices. stuffed with fried minced beef, onions, pine nuts and same middle eastern spices, I will share with you soon my own recipe if you like. For the beef broth: you can make this broth or find it in the grocery store, you can also find it as beef stock bouillon cubes and dissolve in 1 cup of warm water. If you happen to have vegetable stock instead you can use it also, but the beef one gives the sauce this meat deep flavor.
For the sour cream: the authentic stroganoff sauce requires the sour cream t give the sauce this tangy sour taste but if you do not happen to have it on hand you can use cooking cream instead.
Meal prep option: you can totally meal prep this recipe for your weekly meals, it can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days. just make sure the recipe is completely cold before storing in an airtight glass container.
Lebanese vermicelli rice: this rice is a simple three ingredient staple Lebanese side dishes made with vermicelli pasta, basmati rice and some oil for cooking, if you want to know how to do it just check my Instagram story highlight under the name “vermicelli rice”.