This year I’ve been thinking a lot about my past and my family. I wanted to do something traditional this year, so I decided to make a traditional New Year Chaldean dish, Hammeth Kibbe. I found it in a cookbook that my aunt gave me, Ma Baseema. All my life I’ve been told that this dish is incredibly difficult to make. As a child, I asked my Grandma Peach (pictured) to teach me how to make it. She would just laugh. As much as I love it, I’ve never been inspired to make it for I never thought I had the time or the skill.

A painting of my Grandmother, “Peaches” Oil on canvas 2016

When I told people that I was going to make it, I got the expected reactions: “Wow good luck!” “Really?” and even, “I never did like that.” I took it as a challenge. With the help of my 19 year old, who at the same time prepared a loaf of bread (pictured below), we did it. and not only did we do it, we did it magnificently.

Yummy homemade sourdough bread, made by Emile, 19.

And here’s the twist, perhaps for the first time in the History of Mankind, a plant-based Hammeth Kibbe was made instead of the traditional beef and lamb version. (Prove me wrong.)We used Impossible meat. Emile’s a vegetarian, and so is the 10 year old child. We haven’t eaten meat in ages. It just didn’t feel right for our family to use the traditional recipe. So we began by sautéing the Impossible meat with onions and spices. Mind you this is not a step-by-step recipe piece. You meed to get Ma Baseema for that or look on youtube.

It seemed to take longer for the Impossible meat to cook. But that’s okay. When it was ready I tasted it. Yum! Then it was time to make the outer shell. We didn’t have enough cream of rice so we had to use some cream of wheat. So the consistency was different. We also have no food processor. We added an egg to make sure that the paste stayed together. This was a variation of the recipe but hey, it works for mazoh balls. Everything seemed to work out just fine.

We all sat down to eat and critique the dish. I was frankly wondering if it was possible to boil Impossible Meat (the kibbe is submerged in the boiling sauce for 20 minutes) Since it seemed to take longer for the Impossible Meat to sauté, I boiled the kibbes for a bit longer. Any flaws in the meal was not due to the meat. Out of fear of exploding kibbe, we made the outer shell too thick. My spouse affectionately likened them to corn dogs. My youngest child called them ‘gross’ but ended up eating plenty of them (If he really thought they were gross he would not have touched them.) My older son loved them but wanted more spice in the sauce. And what did I think?

I felt like I entered a higher frequency with the angel of Grandma Peach by my side. I remembered my grandma forming the kibbe in her kitchen in Lafayette Park Towers, Detroit. I remembered her hands, the stool she sat on, the scarf on her head, the details of how to add just the right amount of water. I even remembered the exact shape and size of the kibbe. She was right there with me. It was a powerful exercise, and really connected me to my childhood and family traditions. Even more powerful was that Emile was by my side. I fulfilled my duty to pass on the tradition.
I actually liked them last night. I made two different batches, one with the traditional sauce, and one with the Sweet sauce (for a sweet New Year). I added more spices to both after we ate. This morning, I mixed the two sauces and had two kibbe for breakfast. These types of dishes are always better the next day and better mixed together.
As for the meat? Yes, it was different. Yes, I have to admit I may have preferred the taste of real meat. But would I really have? I’ve tried eating meat after a long spell without it. And it’s disappointing. My stomach doesn’t feel great and I just feel like it’s not worth it. Also, after all of those trips to the petting zoo coddling Earth’s most adorable creature (lambs); after reading countless articles about helping save mankind by eating a plant-based diet; and after remembering to watch my health (I just turned 50, after all), I just couldn’t. Most of all, if I did make it the traditional way, my kids would (rightly) refuse to eat it and leave me with endless kibbe in the freezer. The upside is that we didn’t feel like we were part of the problem. We didn’t have that heavy full-feeling after eating and our digestive systems were thanking is.

Have a Happy New Year, everyone, from our family to yours.

xxo, E

New York

Impossible Hammeth Kibbe for the New Year