Week 51 – Part 1: Kurdish Food
December 24, 2010
My love of food brought me to Babani’s for Kurdish cuisine for one of my new experiences this week.
As Babani’s is located just a few blocks from where I work in Downtown St. Paul, I recruited a couple of co-workers to join me for a Kurdish lunch Tuesday. Stephanie and “Phil” were a little hesitant about trying Kurdish fare, but the lure of food excitement couldn’t keep them away (apparently “Phil” doesn’t want to be exposed on the Internet as someone who eats lunch).
Babani’s is quaint restaurant with high ceilings and decorated in authentic cultural pictures and knick-knacks. We decided to order 3 dishes and share, we ordered:
Kubay Sawar – Crushed wheat made into a dough and filled with lean ground beef, spices, and onion then sautéed in olive oil. This dish was first made famous in Nineveh – Modern day Mosul, Iraq.
Kubay Brinj – Similar to Kubay Sawar, this rice “dumpling” is filled with lean ground beef, special spices, olive oil and parsley, then quick fried to a crisp brown shell.
Nineveh Saute – Kurdish Saute of mushrooms and tomatoes in olive oil with pepper and other Kurdish seasonings with chicken.
Everything was great. I thought the dishes would use a lot of Middle Eastern spices that my palette isn’t used to yet; I could taste cumin in the Kubay Sawar, other than that the dishes were rather mild tasting. We all agreed the Kubay Brinj would do well at the Minnesota State Fair – deep fried, mild flavored and tender meat in the middle.
A plus to Babani’s is the store next door, City Pickers Presents Antiques and Affordable Thrift. On the outside, City Pickers has giant statues and a huge 80’s boom box blaring – awesome. On the inside, not a whole lot in there except a very nice man who smokes like a chimney; you may cough from second-hand smoke when you enter the store.
INFORMATION:
Babani’s Kurdish Restaurant
544 St. Peter St.
St. Paul, MN. 55402
651-602-9964
"Phil" at Babani's
Kubay Sawar
Kubay Brinj
Nineveh Saute
Stephanie and "Phil" enjoying Babani's
City Pickers Presents Antiques and Affordable Thrift
