Marak kubbeh adom (Vegetarian red kubbeh soup)

Soup season is upon us. Well it is if you're living in the far flung reaches of northern England. There's nothing like a bowl of steaming soup on a cold Autumn day.
I seem to be getting a reputation locally as a rehomer for unwanted vegetables, the latest offering being a bunch of beetroot from one of my mother's neighbours. And never let it be said that I would ever turn down free vegetables! So... what do do with them. Borscht was the first thing that sprung to mind, but borscht whilst lovely, is a bit predictable and the current cold weather called for something a little spicier. I'd had kubbeh on my mind for a couple of weeks following an online conversation, and suddenly the two came together: why not cook up a batch of marak kubbeh adom (red kubbeh soup) an Iraqi Jewish speciality and something that ticks the boxes as far as autumnal food goes.
Kubbeh (or kibbe, kibbeh, kebbah, kubbi) are ubiquitous all over the Middle East raising their heads in most of the cuisines, usually a combination of meat (typically minced lamb) and bulgar wheat sometimes made into croquettes, sometimes baked flat and pie-like. Probably the most common form of kubbeh is fashioned from a bulgar wheat shell stuffed with minced lamb.  In red kubbeh soup, the kubbeh are simmered in a spicy beetroot broth. I decided on a mushroom and black olive stuffing as a good veggie alternative to the lamb (inspired partly by my love of mushroom pierogi in borscht a speciality of a local Polish restaurant) and the end result was quite delicious – even if I say so myself! There's a lot written about kubbeh and at first glance they sound like something a bit too time consuming to make at home, but as with tamales, once you get into a rhythm it's actually quite relaxing.

Ingredients
For the filling
100g black olives
100g mushrooms
Black pepper
2 garlic cloves (crushed)
 
Kubbeh dough
200 g bulgar wheat
100 g semolina
2 tbs flour
1 tsp salt
Hot water for soaking

Soup
2 large beetroot cubed
1 large carrot cut into battons
1 onion chopped finely
2 cloves garlic
1 small bunch of coriander
1 small bunch parsley
1 sprig tarragon
1 tsp mixed herbs
2 tbs smoked paprika
1 tsp sumac
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
800ml vegetable stock

For the filling
1. Fry the mushrooms and garlic in olive oil until soft, if they release a lot of liquid turn up the heat and boil rapidly until all the liquid evaporates. Grind in some fresh black pepper to taste
2. Stir in the chopped olives and leave to one side to cool

Soup
1. Fry the onion and garlic until softened, add the carrot battons and cubed beetroot and sauté for 5 minutes
2. Stir in the dried spices and add the stock and fresh herbs
3. Bring to the boil and simmer on a very low heat for around 1 hour

Kubbeh
While the soup is cooking prepare the kubbeh. 
1. Put the bulgar wheat into a large bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover by around 2cm. Some recipies call for use of different size bulgar. In the UK unless you go to specialist stores it's a case of "work with what you've got" I had a couple of bags from different supermarkets which happened to have different sized grains, so I mixed them. Using all one size should work just fine
2. Leave to soak for 40 minutes, keep topping up the water if necessary making sure it’s fully submerged
3. After 40 minutes drain the bulgar wheat and squeeze out the excess moisture
4. In a bowl mix the bulgar wheat with the semolina, flour and salt. At this point you will think something has gone wrong as it seems impossible that the crumbly mixture will come together to form a dough. Do not fear. It will.

5. Knead the dough for a few minutes until well combined. As an aside, the dough will crumble if not kept moist so keep a bowl of water handy to dip your fingers in as you make the kubbeh shells.
6. Take a golf ball sized piece of the dough and roll it into a ball. Placing your thumb in the centre of the ball squeeze the sides out so as to make a cup-shaped receptacle for the filling. If the dough starts to crack or split dip your hands into water to moisten it. Question: how thin should your kubbeh walls be? Answer: as thin as possible! 

7. Now pinch the sides together encasing the filling, don't worry if there's a bit of leakage, just take a little more dough and patch it up. Then roll the kubbeh between your hands until they are a ball once more. And repeat until either you have no dough left.
8. At this point you should have a mountain of kubbeh piled up, depending on the size of your pan you could either put them all into the soup or do as I did and freeze some of them for use at a later stage.
9. Drop the kubbeh gently into the soup and simmer for another 30 minutes.
10. Eat!