Kubbah

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of traditional Middle Eastern dish, often featuring seasoned meat or vegetables encased in a shell made of dough or bulgur wheat
2. It can refer to a specific preparation involving fillings like spiced rice or meat that are often shaped into a ball or patty
3. Alternatively, it may also denote a culinary technique associated with stuffing and cooking these filled items in various ways, typically involving deep-frying or baking

Etymology: The name comes from the Arabic "kubba," meaning "ball," which is what the dish is named for: a rounded shell wrapped around a filling. The word is related to Arabic verbs meaning to gather or roll something up. Recipes resembling it appear in medieval Arabic cookbooks, including a thirteenth-century Baghdadi collection, so the dish is centuries older than its English name. The English spelling "kibbeh," the one most common today, reflects the Levantine Arabic pronunciation. "Kubbah" is a transliteration of the classical form. The dish spread across the Levant, Iraq, and Turkey, and each region developed its own version, with shells of bulgur, rice, or potato and fillings of spiced lamb, beef, or vegetables. English borrowed the term along with the dish, most likely in the twentieth century, though I am not certain of the exact date.

Synonyms: qubbah, dome