ground meat. mushrooms | Mint, Cinnamon & Blossom Water

Koupes (found also in other countries under the name kibbeh, kibbe, kubbah, kubbat), is a street food we find in Cyprus and one of the most usual place we used to find them was on Sunday mornings outside the Church yards. I am not sure if you can still find them outside churches but I know that they are now sold in supermarkets or in confectioneries.

Koupes are a finger food, served as a mezes as we call it in Greek or a snack, which is usually eaten by the hand. Its crust is made of bulgur wheat, flour, oil, salt and egg (optional) and stuffed with ground meat, lots of onions, parsley and spices. Actually the ones sold by stree vendors were mostly with lots of onions and parsley and less minced meat.

Note: The machine you see above is for making sausages. However, there is an extra part which is inserted inside the white nozzle, which presses the bulgar to come out as a cylinder.

I have tried several times to make them and this was my third attempt. The first was a total disaster and the second although they tasted good, they lacked appearance as they cracked during frying. After a few attemps I finally managed to make them.

In Cyprus you can find two kinds of bulgur wheat. One is for pilaf and the other one which is much thinner is only for koupes. I brought some with me, as the bulgur wheat I find in Greece is not very fine but next time I shall attempt and grind it in the spice grinder and make it like semolina and see how it works.

During Lent we also make them vegan and use mushrooms instead of ground meat:

An easy way to make the shell is to use an attachment for a mincing (or sausage) machine which is designed to make koupes. I had this machine for many years but only during my last visit to Cyprus in 2014, I learned that you can use it to make koupes.