Cabbage and keshek soup
March 31, 2014 • Category: Soups
Keshek is a very nourishing food traditionally prepared in rural areas for sustenance year-round; it is a mixture of yogurt and milk fermented with bulgur, dried and ground into a powder. Urbanized Lebanese buy it commercially made; however, there are still plenty of people in the villages who still make it at home. It is a long process.
Keshek is incorporated into many dishes such as flatbreads for breakfast, soups, and salads. This is a simple soup with keshek and shredded cabbage. Keshek smells like buttermilk powder.
Keshek connoisseurs will insist that the best is made with goat milk; I bought both and found the one with goat milk to be a bit too pungent. I guess I am definitely not an expert on keshek.
I found keshek sold at the Middle-Eastern store in my Dallas neighborhood. It is also sold online.
INGREDIENTS: 4 servings
- 2 cups shredded white cabbage
- 1 cup ground meat (lamb preferably)
- ½ cup keshek
- 1 onion, chopped
- ¼ cup oil
- 1 tsp salt, ½ tsp black pepper or allspice
- 4 cups water
1.Heat the oil in a soup pot over medium heat and fry the onion until golden; if adding meat to the soup, fry the meat alongside the onion; add the cabbage and stir-fry 10 minutes longer until softened and translucent. Add salt, spices and the keshek and stir; pour the water over the mixture. Cover and simmer the soup for 15 minutes. Serve.
NOTE: The meat in this soup can be replaced with lamb confit (awarma), which is traditional; if unable to source awarma, a few slices of bacon, chopped, can be substituted.
Comments
14 Comments • Comments Feed
Velva says:
Not sure I would attempt to make keshek myself but would gladly pull up a chair and join you.
Happy spring.
Velva
On March 31, 2014 at 1:19 pm
Hélène (Cannes) says:
Quel plat étonnant ! J’apprends toujours plus de choses, chez toi !
Bises
Hélène
On March 31, 2014 at 2:32 pm
Nuts about food says:
Very interesting, thank you for sharing (plus soups with cabbage may be old-fashioned but I happen to love them!).
On April 1, 2014 at 4:17 am
Antoine says:
Hello,
I wish you can post someday about yogurt pasta, maacarone bil laban. It’s my favorite dish, I eat it 5 days a week when I’m in Beirut.
It consists of Barilla no. 7 pasta, yogurt and dried mint (with some salt). Served cold, and also good when the yogurt has melted. I think it’s inspired by some mediterranean dish from Greece or Turkey. Many Lebanese love it, but just forget they do.
On April 1, 2014 at 4:43 am
Joumana says:
@Antoine, I posted several dishes with pasta and laban.
https://www.tasteofbeirut.com/2012/05/pasta-with-yogurt-sauce/
https://www.tasteofbeirut.com/2010/03/spaghetti-with-yogurt-and-cilantro-pesto-sauce-maacaroni-bel-laban/
https://www.tasteofbeirut.com/2010/04/spaghetti-with-fava-bean-and-yogurt-sauce/
On April 1, 2014 at 5:55 am
Marita (mydinner.co. says:
Wow this looks interesting. I will have a look in my lebanese shop is they sell some keshek there.
On April 1, 2014 at 8:28 am
Cowen Park Kitchen says:
Interesting…there are so many fermented products out there I have never heard of!
On April 1, 2014 at 10:39 am
Jamie says:
For those of us that can’t find keshek, I’ll bet just adding a bouillon cube would work because the combination of meat (lamb for me) and cabbage is wonderful! I love the look and idea of this soup since I do love cabbage and lamb and I am always looking for new ways to cook with them.
On April 2, 2014 at 6:48 am
Gabi says:
Cabbage and lamb is such a great combination. As it doesn’t look like spring at all yet, this would be an opportunity to use the last cabbages. I don’t know keshek powder but I can get Iranian keshk paste. Suppose it’s basically the same thing.
On April 2, 2014 at 11:09 am
Susan says:
As you likely noticed by a couple of my recent posts I love cabbage! Soup is a wonderful way to enjoy it and I’d probably opt for the bacon 🙂
On April 3, 2014 at 4:31 pm
Mercedes says:
This looks great, I am always looking for more uses for kishk!
On April 4, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Gabi says:
I made it with the Iranian paste which actually is called kashk in stead of keshk. After tasting the paste itself I was in doubt how it would work out.But it turned out great. The kashk added a fantastic depth together with allspice. This dish is now part of my standard repertoire for cabbage and lamb stews. I will look out for keshek, though. To find out whether it makes a difference. Thanks for the recipe.
On April 8, 2014 at 10:52 am
Robin says:
I am looking for the fermented cabbage soup base that Kibbeh is simmered and served in. Is this the same recipe?
On July 24, 2021 at 9:44 pm
Joumana Accad says:
@Robin No, this is not a fermented cabbage soup base. Although the idea is very attractive.
On July 25, 2021 at 1:53 am