To make the Iraqi and Kurdish dumpling soup kubeh, Melanie Shurka dedicates hours. There are the broths to make, such as the beet-based selek or the lemon-infused hamusta enhanced by rounds of zucchini and Swiss chard. But more time is dedicated to making the dumplings themselves.

She and her cooks in New York City braise beef until it has collapsed on itself. Small palmfuls are then carefully tucked into a dough of semolina and ground bulgur, shaped into a ball with the corners of the dough kissing, and finally rolled out into a disk that’s plunged into hot broth.

The process requires skills that can only be taught by someone who has entrusted their recipe and technique to another. Perhaps because this dish is so difficult to make, Shurka, who is half Israeli and half American, has become the first person to dedicate a restaurant, fittingly named “Kubeh,” to it in the U.S.

She brought it to the U.S. not from the soup’s original home, but from its adopted one, Israel, where it’s a comfort food staple made by gifted home cooks for the Sabbath and in small restaurants that dot some of the country’s outdoor markets, most notably the one in Jerusalem.

An Iraqi-Kurdish-Israeli Dumpling Soup Makes Its Way To America

Photos: Rebecca Fondren