Middle Eastern Meals: Kousa Mihshi, Kibbeh, Capers | Full Episode | America’s Test Kitchen (S24 E22)

Today, Carmen Dongo shows Julia Collin Davison how to prepare a traditional Lebanese-style dish, Kousa Mihshi, zucchini stuffed with spiced lamb and rice. Jack Bishop showcases different types of capers, and suggests ways to use them. Finally, Sam Block shows Julia a vegetarian kibbeh that opts for red lentils instead of meat.

Kousa Mihshi Recipe: https://cooks.io/3JpVYjW
Red Lentil Kibbeh Recipe: https://cooks.io/4mt8cHh

00:00 Intro
0:38 Making Kousa Mihshi
12:35 A Lesson In Capers
15:28 Vegetarian Kibbeh

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[Music] Today on America’s Test Kitchen, Carmen makes Julia Kusa meshi, Jack talks all about capers, and Sam makes red lentil kbe. It’s all coming up right here on America’s Test Kitchen. [Music] Stuffed zucchini is a dish popular throughout the Middle East and parts of northern Africa and versions can vary quite dramatically from region to region. But today, Karma is going to make kusa meshi, which is a Lebanese style. That’s right, Julia. This is a really great version. It features a spiced rice and lamb filled zucchini. It’s simmered gently in a meat and savory tomato sauce, and it’s really quite lovely. But it starts off with our hashway. Our hashway is our filling. Okay, so let’s get started there. We have here half a cup of long grain white rice. I’ve already rinsed off all the excess starch off of this. So I’m going to transfer this to my bowl. I’m going to pour two cups of very hot water right over this rice. I’m going to let it soften and hydrate over the course of 10 minutes. That’s going to allow all of the components of this dish to finish cooking at the same time. So, while our rice does its thing, I’m going to step over here and show you these beautiful zucchinis that I’ve already hollowed out. I have three. It’s a vehicle for this really delicious food. And we have a specific tool. So, we have a zucchini cer. Wow. Yeah. If you don’t have this at home, you can absolutely use an apple cer or a melon baller. So, I’m just going to show you how to get that done. I picked zucchinis that were very straight. They’re about 6 to 7 in long, maybe an inch and a half in diameter. So, all I’m going to do is simply chop off the stem end. And I’m going to hold the zucchini in a certain way. Just kind of cups in my hand. And basically, I’m going to create a small indent first. And then I’m going to scrape on the bottom as I rotate the zucchini. Okay. What I’m doing is being very careful to not burst the walls of this zucchini. I’m trying to keep things very intact because I want my filling to stay inside where it should be. And I want to get as far in as about half an inch from the bottom of the zucchini. This is my sixth one. Nicely done. Took a little time, but now we have to rinse them out and make sure there’s no debris or seeds inside of them. Okay. And I have here a sheet tray that I just put a dish towel on. And this is just going to dry them off while we’re preparing our other ingredients. And we’re going to move on to our next step, which is building our hashway. It’s been 10 minutes, Julia. I’ve already drained off all of that water that was hydrating our rice. And I’m going to build our hashway right here. So, you’ll see some ground lamb. I have 8 oz of ground lamb right here in this bowl. I’m going to add to that 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, one teaspoon of table salt, half a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. So, I’m going to use a spatula just to incorporate all of these ingredients. And I’m going to ask you while I’m doing this to please turn the heat up to medium high in my 12-in non-stick skillet. I have a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in there. Okay. And the way that I know that the rice is fully incorporated is it’s not hanging out on the sides of my bowl anymore. It’s all a nice big meatball. That oil looks like it’s perfectly shimmering. I’m just going to add my hashway in. I’m essentially going to be mashing it into a single layer onto the bottom of my skillet. So, I’m not looking for the rice or the meat to be fully cooked because we’re going to do that later. Right now, we’re releasing all the meaty juices and fat cuz we’re going to capture that to build our sauce. It’s been 3 minutes and we can see some pops of pink, but that is not a problem. I’m going to bring the skillet very carefully cuz it’s hot. And I’m going to use this strainer right here to separate the liquids from this delicious hashway. That cinnamon smells so nice. Mhm. It really came alive in the skillet. Absolutely. So, I have captured here the meaty juices and fat. This is going to go right back into my skillet. I’m just going to pour this hashway back into my bowl. And so, I have a fork here. I’m just going to break up this hashway into small pieces. So maybe like a quarter inch. You don’t want them too big. So this is broken up into small pieces. I can put this aside and I can focus on our next step which is building our sauce. All right. I have here the meaty juices that we have captured from our hashway. And I’m going to add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to this skillet. And I’m going to turn the heat on to medium low. And I have half a teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper. And another 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. M I love the repeating flavors. Yes, there are layers of flavor that we’ll be able to really discern when we’re starting to eat this. Those spices are smelling really great. They are. This is the perfect time to add the rest of our sauce base ingredients. I have here one small chopped onion and two minced garlic cloves. And this is just going to cook very very slowly for 7 to nine minutes until softened and lightly golden. So you don’t want to burn those spices. Low and low is the name of the game here. Slow and low is the name. Absolutely. It’s been 8 minutes and these onions and garlic are smelling wonderful. The spices have really done their job here. So we’re going to transfer this to our food processor. So again, this is hot, so I’m going to be very careful as I’m putting all of these aromatics into my bowl. I want to get every last bit of flavor in there. I have here two pounds of coarsely chopped tomatoes that I have also ced. I’m going to add them directly to my food processor bowl. We have layers of tomato flavor throughout this dish. This is 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, two teaspoon of cider vinegar, some acidity to really help out the rest of these flavors, and 1 teaspoon of table salt. I’m going to process this in our food processor for one to two minutes until completely smooth. I’m going to go ahead and transfer them back to our skillet here. M back to all these drippings. Absolutely. And I’m going to be careful with the blade. I always like to put my finger right in the middle and hold it secure. Mhm. And I’m going to use my spatula to make sure I’m getting all of this goodness right where I need it to be. I’m going to bring this to a boil over medium high heat. And then I’m going to reduce the temperature down to low to keep it at a gentle simmer for 25 to 30 minutes. While this sauce continues to reduce, we can take care of these beautiful zucchinis. We’re going to stuff them with our hashway. I like to just use my hands. It makes it a little bit easier to drop the pieces in. You’ll notice I’m holding my zucchini upright just because gravity can do the work for me. I’m lazy. It’s all about efficiency. If you don’t feel comfortable using your fingers, you can always use a spoon. You can use gloves, whatever makes you comfortable. And you’ll notice that I’m not packing in. Yeah. You’re just letting I’m doing it. I’m letting gravity do the work for me. And I’ll like drop it onto the surface just to let things settle naturally. Okay. Well, rice tends to expand when it cooks. So, I want to have space for that rice to grow and really absorb the flavors from the sauce that it’s going to cook in. And I’m going to leave a little bit of space at the top. So, headroom. Exactly. There’s head room. There’s room for this to grow. Would you like to help me out? Yeah, I’m dying to absolutely. All right. I’m going to use my fingers, too. That’s fine. You can really see how this is like a family affair of people doing this together right before people get together to celebrate something. Mhm. Doing a big old batch. Absolutely. Cuz you’re not going to eat just one of these. You’re going to eat maybe two. And we’ll continue stuffing these and check on our simmering sauce. All right. This is fun. Yes. It’s been 25 minutes and our sauce has reduced significantly. So, I’m going to check and make sure that this is correct to receive our hashway. I’m just going to drag my spatula. And it is leaving a trail. This is the perfect time to add my zucchini. I’m going to turn the heat off. Okay. And I’m going to carefully arrange my zucchini around the perimeter. This is the method that I found that allows the zucchini to fit perfectly. I was going to say that’s a lot of zucchini for a 12 skillet. Exactly. So, I have four. Very clever. I did not think that was going to work. We’re going to make it work. Julia, look at how nice that is. Perfect. This is going to fit. And it looks like there’s not a lot of sauce in here right now, but the zucchinis are going to release some liquid. So, this is going to really come together very nicely. I’m going to turn the heat back up to medium high and bring this to a boil. This has come up to a boil. I’m going to reduce my heat to low and I’m going to cover and cook this for 20 minutes. It’s been 20 minutes, Julia. And you’ve noticed that we’ve kept this at a gentle simmer for this whole time. It’s time to flip our zucchinis. I’m really impressed with how gentle a simmer this is. Yes. Very, very gentle. And also, I’m being very careful with my tongs because once things cook, they can bruise. So, I don’t want to leave an imprint of my tongs on this. Gotcha. We’re going to recover these and let them cook for 25 minutes at that gentle simmer and let it do its thing. It’s been 25 minutes, Julia, and we are ready to eat. These zucchinis are looking tender. They’re keeping their shape. I like to just test that by pressing it slightly. Oh, look at that. Yeah, these are ready. So, I’m just going to go ahead and serve us. Okay. And of course, we need to get this delicious sauce that has concentrated all of those meaty, juicy flavors. This is just some whole milk yogurt. That tanginess really helps balancing out the acidity from the tomato sauce. I have here a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. M. And some whole parsley leaves. That really elevated the whole dish. Now, it really does look like it’s meant for a celebration or a special occasion. Absolutely. Oh, look at that. Perfectly cooked. Perfectly cooked. The zucchini is definitely holding its shape. Mhm. But it is so soft. I don’t really need the knife. My fork could really do the job. Priorities, right, Carmen? Always. Hunger is a motivation. Wow. Oh, that sauce is so delicious. That’s spectacular. Yes. And it only has half a teaspoon of cinnamon. And that spice really carries this dish. It really does. Dar layers of flavor. The fresh tomato sauce, the cinnamon, the lamb, of course. And we use tomato paste to make it even like more concentrated. All of those qualities really make this dish spectacular. This is really surprising me how much flavor is in it. So good. It’s delicious. And you can see how you wouldn’t eat just one of these. Mm-m. Nope. Mm-m. Carmen, this is marvelous. Thank you. It’s my pleasure, Julia. If you want to try this classic Lebanese dish, core the zucchini carefully and gently stuff, don’t pack with the park- cooked rice and lamb filling and then simmer until tender in the tomato sauce. From America’s Test Kitchen, a stuffed zucchini worthy of a special occasion. Kusameshi. This is so good. So tasty. The yogurt. My pleasure. Mhm. Love what you’re watching? Take your cooking to the next level with our essential membership. Get instant access to thousands of recipes, tips, techniques, product reviews, and step-by-step videos. Our members app allows you to search by ingredient, set dietary preferences, and save your favorite recipes. For those looking to level up, our newest feature, ATK classes, offers more in-depth instruction led by ATK experts so you can gain greater confidence in the kitchen. Start your free trial by visiting the app store or going to americaskitchen.com/youtube today. [Music] If you like chicken picata, then you have a jar of capers probably sitting in your fridge right now. But did you know there are other forms of the plant that you can use in the kitchen? Now everything here on the table comes from capus spinosa and it is grown in the Mediterranean. It’s got little thorns. Um the thing that we are most familiar with the caper is the flower bud of the plant. These are packed in brine. You can buy them either brined or saltcured. The salt cured are lovely but they’re very tender and you have to rinse them several times. So we prefer the ones in brine. This is our winning brand from Reese. They’re small. They’re sometimes labeled nonparels, the small capers. We like them because honestly, the bigger ones can be a lot. If you want to sort of dial it back, rinse them before you use them, or you can take them straight from the jar and add them to your favorite cooked dishes. Next up, we’ve got caper berries. Now, if these buds were allowed to flower, they’d be beautiful white or purple, and the stigma of the plant can be picked and then put in brine just like the regular capers. So, these are nice and big, but they can even be larger, even the size of a grape tomato. I love them in a martini, a bloody mary. They’re lovely on a shakurerie board to cut the richness of the cheese and the meats. Or you can slice them and put them on top of a pizza. Finally, we’ve got the caper leaves, and you guessed it, it’s the leaf of the plant. Now, they can be packed in brine or in olive oil, which is what I have over here. The olive oil ones really need to be patted dry to remove some of the oil. These are super mild. Think of them as an herb. Cut them into chifonade and sprinkle them over a pasta dish or a pizza. Add them directly to a salad or a sandwich. They’re for someone who thinks, “I’m not sure I like capers.” They give you a little bit of grassy notes without kind of the big caper flavor that you get from the berries or the buds. So, there you have it. A caper for every use in the kitchen. Are you ready to take your cooking to the next level? Introducing the complete America’s Test Kitchen TV show cookbook featuring every recipe from every episode of America’s Test Kitchen. That’s thousands of recipes. That texture is unbelievable reviews, gadgets you didn’t know you needed and tips. Yes, there’s some terrible choices, but there also some amazing choices. We’ve spilled all of our secrets and included our insider notes alongside each recipe. Plus, there’s a handy shopping guide so you know exactly what to grab when you’re at the store. And of course, it makes an excellent gift. Get your copy today at americasestkitchen.com. [Music] Kebe is a popular dish throughout the Middle East and there’s lots of versions of it. Some include ground meat, most often lamb. Others are vegetarian. Pumpkin is a very popular flavor, but they all include bular and some spices. So, inspired by Middle Eastern kiba, we decided to come up with our own recipe. And Sam’s here to show us how it’s done. That’s right, Julia. This kibbe is a meat-free version. And rather than using ground meat, we’re going to use red lentils. Yes. It’s really going to sort of mimic that ground beef texture to our kibbe. We were very inspired by the Middle Eastern spices, so we’re going to use them here as well. But it’s super delicious. So, let’s get started on our vegetable base. Okay. So, here I have an onion and a bell pepper. And I’m just going to mince these fine and peel the skin off. So, I’m going to take a few slices this way with my hand. And then I’m going to make some vertical slices across the onion. And away we go. Nicely done. Now, I’ll transfer my onion to a bowl so that we just have more space to cut our pepper. Mhm. All right. So, here I have a bell pepper. This is going to add a little sweetness and it’s really the starting point to that bright red hue that we’re going to develop to this cube as we’re cooking it. So, I really love that as well. Cut my pepper into strips. And it’s important to cut our vegetables fine because when we eat this later, we don’t want huge pieces of vegetables flying out. That makes sense. All right. So, we’ll add our pepper to our onions. And then, Julia, if you wouldn’t mind turning on that saucepan. I have a tablespoon of olive oil in there on medium heat so that we can start to cook our veggies. All right, Julia. As you can see in our pot, our oil is at a nice shimmer, which means we’re ready to sauté our vegetables. So, in goes our onion. Oh, it’s a good sound. Sound of the gods. Onion and pepper, as well as a teaspoon of salt. Now, the salt is going to, of course, season our vegetables, but it’s also going to help jump start the cooking process for our veggies, so that we can start to cook them down until they’re nice and translucent. So, I’m just going to let these cook for about 5 minutes until they’re nice and tender. Julia, our vegetables are nicely softened. So, now we can start to add our flavor bombs. Flavor bombs. Yes. I like the sound of this. So, this cube recipe was inspired by the spices of the Middle East, in which case we’re starting with haresa. This is a delicious North African spicy chili paste, and you can find it in the grocery store or you can make it yourself. This is our recipe at America’s Test Kitchen, which you can find on our website. But it carries a bunch of coriander, Aleppo pepper, garlic, all the good stuff. Last for a long time in the fridge. It sure does. And once you have it on hand, you’ll find yourself adding it to everything for sure. Scrambled eggs. Scrambled eggs. You name it, harissa goes on it. So, we have two tablespoons of haresa. I’m going to add right into our pot. Yum. Mhm. And next up, we have tomato paste. Two tablespoons of tomato paste. This is not only going to add a little bit of umami, a little bit of added sweetness, but that concentrated red color that’s going to develop almost like a neon hue to our kid when it’s done. Very cool. Very cool. Last but not least, I have a half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper got a little close. Yeah, that’s a lot of heat. That’s right. Now, this is optional, of course, but Julia, you seem like someone who likes a little kick. Opt in. Excellent. So, in we go. Half a teaspoon of cayenne. And we’re just going to give this a stir. We’re just going to cook these for about 30 more seconds until that flavor really starts to blossom in our vegetable mixture. Julia, we can really smell those spices, right? So, now we’re ready to add our first grain of the day, which is bular. Now, this is a medium grind bular. As you can see, it’s a little bit heftier than fine grain, which you would use for things like tibulle. Um, but in this case, we wanted a more heftier grain. So, we’re opting for the medium grind. So, I’m going to add 1 cup of medium grind bulgar to our pot as well as four cups of water. Julia, I’m going to now bring this up to a simmer, lower the heat, cover it, and cook it for about 8 minutes or so until it’s just barely tender. All right. Time to check our bular. Oh, great. Boy, it doesn’t take much time for that bular really to start to swell and absorb the liquid. It sure doesn’t. It’s only been about 8 minutes and our bular is barely tender. Now it’s time to add our lentils. So here I have 3/4 of a cup of red lentils. Red lentils are brown or green lentils that have been skinned and split, so they cook in basically half the time, which is great. They’re also that bright red hue that I was talking about earlier, which we loved. I’ve also given these a quick rinse and picked through them just to be safe. But into our pot goes 3/4 of a cup of red lentils. And I love the texture of cooked red lentils because they really break down and it’ll make it more of a cohesive kibbe. Absolutely. I’m going to give these a stir and then cover them and give them about 8 to 10 more minutes until both the lentils and the bular are fully cooked through. Great. Time to check on our bular and lentils. Oh, that looks good. That does look good. Our bular and lentils should be fully cooked. I’m just going to taste test to make sure we’re in a good spot. Only one way to tell if it’s gender. That’s right. Don’t throw this against the wall. Perfect. As much as I’d love to dive in, as you can see, there’s a lot of liquid in the pot still. So, I’m just going to take a dish towel and drop this on top of our saucepan. Turn off the heat and put the lid back on. And we’re going to let this sit for about 10 minutes. This will do a couple things. The dish towel is going to absorb any excess moisture out of the kibbeet and it’s also going to allow the mixture to thicken and be nice and cohesive when we’re ready to eat. Julia, our kibbe has been sitting, thickening, and cooling. So, let’s check it out. Time to eat. Almost. Oh, that towel really did absorb some of that liquid. It sure did. Now, we’ve developed a ton of deep, dark, rich flavor. So, now it’s time to wake it up, not only with more flavor, but a little bit of aggression. So here I’m going to add 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Here we have a half a cup of finely minced chopped parsley. Pop of green little fresh grassy flavors which I love. And also two tablespoons of freshlysqueezed lemon juice. That bright acid punch that’ll wake things up. Exactly. Now I’m going to give this a stir. But as I said, not too gentle. We really want to stir this vigorously. Yeah, you said aggression. It’s an aggressive day today. You can actually see those lentils starting to break down as I’m smashing this with my spatula. You can hear it. Yeah. Oh, yeah. This looks great. That looks delicious, doesn’t it? Now, I’m just going to transfer our kid to a big bowl. Look at that bread hue from that parissa and the tomato paste. And of course, a little speckles of bell pepper in there. You can tell it’s going to have a lot of flavor just by looking at it. Absolutely. I’m going to drizzle our platter with just one more tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Yes, please. All right. You ready to eat? I am. And I noticed some lettuce leaves, which is not traditional. So, I’m interested to hear what you have to say about them. That’s right. We This is a vegetarian version, so we wanted to add a little bit more vegetables here. So, we’re going to eat these out of these adorable little bib lettuce cups. I love it. Isn’t that sweet? All right. So, I’m going to lay out two bib lettuce leaves. And I’m going to take my spoon. There’s no rhyme or reason here, but you know, we don’t want this to go all over the place. So, I guess a solid 2 tablespoons or so right on top. Now, we also have some yogurt. I have some plant-based yogurt here, but you could certainly use dairy yogurt if you wish, but the little brightness and the acid from the yogurt is going to help awaken all these flavors. Just a dollop of yogurt right on top. Lovely. And I’ll also give you a lemon wedge just in case you want a little extra on top. Oh, all right. Here we go. That’s delicious. You taste the spices, the harissa, the heartiness of the bular, and that texture of the red lentils that are starting to break down. Definitely. That is a ton of flavor. I love it so much. The harissa. Exactly. The tomato paste, a little kick of cayenne really adds great depth of flavor. Mhm. and the yogurt on top. Not to mention that beautiful hue that we got, that bread hue. I feel like this would look beautiful on a mess platter. Anything. Sam, this is delicious. Thank you. Thank you for showing me how to make this. Anytime. So, there you have it. If you want to try our inventive recipe for red lentil kbe, stir in a few flavor bombs, including harissa and tomato paste, cook the bular for a few minutes before adding the red lentils and stir the mixture vigorously before serving. from America’s Test Kitchen. A brand new recipe for red lentil kibbe. You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season along with our product reviews and select episodes at our website americasestkitchen.com/tv. If you’re ready to take your cooking to the next level, head over to americazestkitchen.com and get a free trial of our ATK essential membership. While you’re there, you can sign up for our free email newsletters and download our app. So, what are you waiting for?