Gabout

About This Recipe

Gabout are Kuwait's answer to the dumpling: hand-shaped dough parcels filled with spiced minced lamb, simmered gently in a beautifully seasoned lamb and vegetable broth. The name comes from the rounded shape of the dumpling, and the dish is a staple of Kuwaiti winter cooking and family tables. The broth itself — golden with turmeric and saffron, perfumed with loomi and cinnamon — is as celebrated as the dumplings it carries. Gabout is simultaneously a soup and a main course, ladled into large bowls and eaten with flatbread for dipping. It is the kind of dish Kuwaiti grandmothers make when someone is unwell, or when the family needs gathering.

Ingredients

Serves 5

• 2 cupsplain flour
• ½ tspsalt
• ½ cupwarm water (approx.)
• 300 gminced lamb
• 1 smallonion, finely grated
• 2 tbspfresh parsley, chopped
• ½ tspallspice
• ½ tspcinnamon
• ¼ tspblack pepper
• ½ tspsalt (filling)
• 500 gbone-in lamb, for broth
• 1.5 litreswater
• 2 driedblack limes (loomi), pierced
• 1 stickcinnamon
• 3 podscardamom
• 1 tspturmeric
• ¼ tspsaffron, bloomed in 2 tbsp water
• 1 mediumpotato, diced
• 1 mediumcarrot, diced
• 1 mediumtomato, chopped
• 1½ tspsalt (broth)

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the broth

   In a large pot, combine lamb bones with water, loomi, cinnamon stick, cardamom, and salt. Bring to a boil, skim foam, then simmer 40 minutes. Add potato, carrot, tomato, turmeric, and saffron. Simmer 15 more minutes until vegetables are tender. Remove bone-in lamb; shred any meat and return it to the broth.

2. 2

   Make the dumpling dough

   Combine flour and salt; gradually add warm water, kneading to a smooth, slightly stiff dough. Cover and rest 20 minutes.

3. 3

   Make the filling

   Mix minced lamb with grated onion (liquid squeezed out), parsley, allspice, cinnamon, pepper, and salt until well combined.

4. 4

   Shape the dumplings

   Roll dough thinly on a floured surface (~2 mm). Cut into 8 cm rounds. Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre, fold over, and press edges firmly to seal. Alternatively, gather the edges to form small pouches.

5. 5

   Cook in broth and serve

   Bring the broth to a gentle simmer. Drop in the dumplings in batches, cooking 8–10 minutes each until the dough is cooked through. Ladle broth, vegetables, and dumplings into deep bowls. Garnish with fresh coriander.

Variations

• •

  Fill dumplings with cheese and herbs for a vegetarian version, using vegetable broth.

• •

  Add chickpeas to the broth for extra substance.

• •

  Use semolina instead of plain flour for a slightly firmer dumpling.

• •

  Vegetarian: swap the protein for roasted king oyster mushrooms, smoked tofu or cooked chickpeas — adjust seasoning slightly upward to compensate.

Storage

Refrigerate broth and dumplings separately for up to 2 days. Do not freeze cooked dumplings; the dough becomes waterlogged. Uncooked shaped dumplings can be frozen and cooked directly in simmering broth from frozen, adding 3 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions