Kubba Bamia

Traditional Iraqi-Jewish recipe.

Ingredients

 * Kubba
 * 1 pound fine semolina
 * Salt
 * 1 pound lean ground beef
 * 1 large onion, ground (sprinkled with salt and left to draw out its bitter juices)
 * 2 dried limes
 * Pepper
 * Flour
 * Okra Stew
 * 1 large onion, chopped
 * 2 tablespoons oil
 * 2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed in a press
 * 3 oz tomato paste
 * A small bunch of celery leaves, chopped (1/4 cup)
 * A small bunch of flat-leafed parsley or cilantro, chopped (1/4 cup)
 * Juice of 1/2 lemon or a 1 dried lime
 * 1 teaspoon sugar
 * Salt and pepper
 * 2 pounds small young tender okra

Directions

 * Kubba
 * 1) For the dumpling shell, put the semolina in a bowl with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Moisten with just enough water, by the tablespoon, to make a firm paste and work it with your hands until it is doughy and elastic. For the dumpling filling, mix the meat, onion, dried limes ground fine in a food processor, and a little pepper
 * 2) Dusting your hands with flour do that they do not stick, take a walnut-sized lump of semolina dough, roll it into a ball, and flatten it thin in the palm of your hand.
 * 3) Place a teaspoon of filling in the center, bring the semolina dough up over the filling, and close the gap. Shape into a ball, then roll in flour so that it does not stick. # Continue with the rest of the dough and filling, arranging all the dumplings on a plate.


 * Okra Stew
 * 1) In a large saucepan, fry the onion in oil till golden. Add the garlic and fry until it begins to color. Add the rest of the ingredients and enough water so that it will cover the dumplings when they are added.
 * 2) Bring to a boil and simmer a few minutes, then drop in the dumplings very gently. They will remain submerged until they are cooked. They should be done in about 25 minutes, when the semolina become soft and they begin to float. Release them gently from them gently from the bottom and sides of the pan if they are stuck.
 * 3) Add the okra stews (bamia) to the kubba soup.