Kubbat Shwandar — Mosul-Style Beet Soup with Meat Dumplings

Finely chop the onion and sauté it in oil until softened and golden. Add the ground beef and cook until it releases its juices and they evaporate. Stir in the spice blend, salt, and chopped parsley, then let the filling cool completely. A hot filling will soften the dough and keep the dumplings from sealing.

Drain the soaked rice and pass it through a meat grinder or powerful food processor with the boiled, peeled potato. Add the salt and knead by hand for 5 minutes. The dough should be soft like an earlobe and slightly sticky; if it is firm, add a spoonful of water.

Wet your hand, take a piece of dough larger than a walnut, and spread it in your palm to make a cup. Add one 5 ml measure of filling, bring the edges together, and roll it between your palms to smooth the surface. Patch any cracks with a wet finger; water entering through a crack can split the dumpling as it cooks. Makes 18–20 dumplings.

Peel the beets and cut them into 1.5 cm cubes. Sauté the chopped onion in a spoonful of oil in a pot, add the tomato paste, and cook for 2 minutes. Add the water, beets, chickpeas, and salt and cook until the beets are tender. The broth should turn deep red.

Keep the soup at a boil and lower the dumplings into it one at a time, spacing them apart. Do not stir for the first 5 minutes; then gently swirl the pot by holding it with both hands. The dumplings are ready when they rise to the surface and the dough turns matte.

Add the pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, and dried mint and boil for 3 more minutes. Taste the broth; if the beets’ sweetness stands out, add another 15 ml lemon juice. Serve three dumplings in each bowl of soup.