Kobete – A Sephardic recipe from our Israeli family. Similar to Turkish kobete, but made with a filling of meat, tomatoes, potatoes and pine nuts.
On our recent trip to Israel, my husband took a walk on the street where he grew up– Ness Ziona, which translates to Miracle of Zion. It’s a cute little street in Tel Aviv, not far from our hotel on the edge of the Mediterranean sea. As he neared the apartment building where he was born, he was flooded with memories of his mom’s cooking. She was Sephardic, seventh generation Israeli from Haifa, so many recipes my husband grew up with had a distinctly Sephardic influence. None of her home-cooked recipes made him happier than kobete.
Kobete is a meat-filled savory pie, a filling and hearty entree for a cold winter day. Similar kobete meat pies are made in Turkey with seasoned chicken as a filling. My husband’s father lived in Turkey for a short time on his way back to Israel, and the Turkish influence made an impression on their family cuisine. Their family recipe for kobete is different than the standard Turkish version; it features seasoned ground beef, potatoes, tomatoes and pine nuts. It is very tasty. Every winter, without fail, my husband requests it. As soon as we got back from Israel, I knew I had to make it for him.
Note: A reader pointed out that kobete is made in Turkey, but the dish originates in Crimean Tartar cuisine. My husband’s father’s family was from Crimea, so it seems clear that this family recipe is also influenced by their roots in Crimea. Fascinating!
This is a heavy entree, so best reserved for colder weather. The savory spiced meat, tomato and potato filling is hearty and full of flavor. A flaky, golden, sesame-coated crust bakes around the filling. I think this may very well be my husband’s all-time favorite dish. If he is having a rough week, a warm batch of kobete never fails to cheer him up. It’s cozy comfort food, just right for a chilly evening.
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Kobete - Sephardic Savory Meat Pie
Ingredients
- 1 package frozen puff pastry
- 2 pounds fresh tomatoes, diced
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes (2 large baking potatoes), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 pound ground beef or ground lamb, or a mixture
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
- Salt and pepper
- Dash of cayenne pepper
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1/4 cup pine nuts (optional)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
NOTES
Instructions
- Make sure your ingredients are prepared, diced and measured out before you begin. Take the puff pastry out of the freezer to defrost (usually takes 30-45 minutes). Place a rack in the lower part of the oven and place baking sheet on it. Preheat oven and baking sheet to 425 degrees F. While the puff pastry defrosts, prepare the filling using the following steps.Place diced tomatoes in a colander and sprinkle them with 2 tsp of sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Let them sit while you prepare your other ingredients.Warm 2 tbsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet. Sauté the onion for about 5 minutes until it begins to soften. Add minced garlic and sauté for another minute until aromatic. Mix in the diced potatoes. Cover the pan and let the potatoes cook for 8 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes, until the potatoes start to get tender and onion turns golden. If the potatoes begin to stick, add a little water to the skillet and continue stirring to loosen them.
- After 8 minutes, pour the potato and onion mixture into a large mixing bowl and set aside. In the same skillet, add your ground meat, cumin, paprika, turmeric, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste (I usually use ¾ tsp of salt and ¼ tsp of pepper). Sauté the meat for a few minutes, breaking apart the meat with a metal spatula, until it is half-cooked—half pink, half browned, and well mixed with the seasonings.
- If you’re using pine nuts, toast them for a few minutes in a small skillet.Drain off the excess liquid from the tomatoes in the colander, squeezing them in the colander firmly to extract excess juice.
- Pour the ground meat into the mixing bowl with the potatoes, then add the chopped parsley, the drained tomatoes and the pine nuts. Stir to blend all ingredients.
- Roll out your two puff pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface to rough 11x15 inch rectangles. Lightly grease the baking dish. Gently spread one piece of puff pastry over the bottom of the baking dish.
- Pour the meat mixture into the puff pastry in an even layer.
- Lay the second piece of puff pastry over the top of the dish. Trim off the excess dough.
- Fold the edges over to make a ridge and seal using the tines of a fork.
- Whisk together the egg yolk with 2 tsp of water. Brush the top of the pie with a thin layer of the egg yolk.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Pierce the top of the pie a few times to vent.
- Place the assembled pie onto the preheated baking sheet in the bottom of the oven. Bake the kobete for 30 minutes at 425 degrees F, then reduce heat to 350 degrees F. Continue baking for 30-40 minutes longer until the crust is golden brown and cooked through. Keep an eye on the pastry, if it's browning too quickly cover with a layer of foil. When finished cooking, remove from oven and allow pie to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before slicing. Serve warm.
Nutrition
Well, the Kobete was yummy. I added diced carrot, celery, and 6 oz. white button mushrooms. I like vegetables. Also added more tumeric and cumin. I like spices, too. Made sure I cooked down the juices so it wasn’t too moist. Anyway, the family loved it. Mom wanted some curry powder in it, or garam masala. She loves curry flavoring with beef (we add it to our beef stew, for instance). We loved the puff pastry crust, and used the leftover trimmings to make some tiny cinnamon rolls (butter, sugar, cinnamon). Kids loved them!
Please comment if leftovers from this pie can be successfully frozen?
Or, if I make and divide recipe into 2 – 8×8 pans, can one pie be frozen unbaked?
Only 2 people eating, It looks too delicious to wait for a family feast!
You can freeze, but I recommend cooking the filling through completely if you plan to freeze. I would freeze it unbaked right after assembling for best results, so your two-pie solution sounds like the best way to go– though you may need more puff pastry, as I’m not sure one package will be enough for two 8×8 pans. If you do this, don’t add the egg wash before freezing – instead, add it after you take it out of the freezer before baking, and then bake the pie as described in the recipe. You may need to bake it a bit longer to cook through, but I don’t have an exact timing for you. Good luck!
One of my favourite foods in the world is French Canadian Tortiere, so I’m definitely going to make this – love the fact it’s a 2 crust pie, and puff pastry!
My love of Tortiere is exactly why I, too, have this recipe in my “to do” file! I make my Tortiere the way my mother-in-law did, and I’m so glad that I was able to preserve her recipe while she was still cooking. (No, it wasn’t written; I helped her one year, wrote everything down – all measurements approximate! – then tried it on my own and recorded quantities.) I’m going to make the Kobete for some friends with adventurous palates. Looking forward to it!
Greetings from Panama! I made this recipe and it was wonderful. I didnt make any changes. It looked exactly as pictured and tasted great! Will definetely repeat!
Excellent taste and easy to make. I would like to know if there could be a substitute vegetable, for the onions, my son is allergic to them. Thank you Kim McIntyre
Hi Kim, you can feel free to simply omit the onions, or you can substitute a mixed of finely diced celery and carrots– sauté until tender, then proceed with recipe.
Hi Kim,
have you tried leeks? they’re from the same family as onions but very much milder.
My MIL cannot eat onions either. I substitute radishes….
Hi Tori
I made this tonight for first time great hit with my husband he loved it. I will definitely make this again during the coming holidays when my adult children visit. I will add fresh coriander next time instead of parsley but from us in London big thanks yum!
Rachelle
I am trying this tonight! I hope to come back and leave a very positive review!
Oh my! This is amazing and I will certainly be adding it to my cookbook! My husband and I prefer more spices, so I will notch them up a bit next time, but this is wonderful and I highly recommend it to serve to company. It was the perfect time to use my Galilee Green olive oil. ? Thank you Tori!!?
This sounds delicious. Can this recipe be made ahead of time? What would you recommend?
Hi Ronna, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! The filling can be made ahead, but should be cooked through instead of half pink. Tori doesn’t suggest putting the filling in the crust ahead of time, as it might become soggy. Best to fill the crust just before baking.
Thank you for saving my reputation.
When I cook a meat pie I had bribe my family to eat it.. Kobete give me many thumbs up and become on demand by my family.
In my second kobete I added 1 cup peas and half cup corn as per my crowed request.
Very goòd. 3/4 kids like it and husband loves it. Did not add cayenne. Should have made 2.
I have worked all over the world, but one of my most interesting assignments was when I was working for a bank in Tel Aviv. I loved the food and I loved the people.
I am sure this dish will take me back, if not in body then in soul.
Thanks for sharing.
This is a cold- weather meal, but we can’t get decent tomatoes here (new england) this time of year. What would you think about draining and squeezing good quality canned tomatoes?
Also, for vegetarians, I have used the “crumbles” for a similar dish and they work wonderfully. You might add a bit more onion/garlic/oil because they are a bit more bland and dry than ground meat. But the texture is perfect.
Hi Lynn, Tori’s assistant Ashley here! We have not tried the recipe this way so I can’t say for certain, but I don’t see why you can’t use canned diced tomatoes, as long as you follow Tori’s directions for draining and squeezing them out. Again, I can’t promise this will have perfect results, but I don’t see why not!
And thanks for your vegetarian suggestion!
As an addendum to Ashley’s comment – if you do use canned tomatoes, you will need to drain them very thoroughly with cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel per the recipe instructions, otherwise the crust will become soggy.
As a follow-up, since I also don’t have fresh tomatoes in the winter, how about using sun-dried tomatoes?
Sun dried tomatoes have a much more potent flavor that will change the filling entirely– maybe not in a bad way, in fact it might even be good, but it won’t have the traditional flavor of the original dish.
Looks delicious! How do you pronounce the name kobete?
The way my husband pronounces it is koh-bee-teh. 🙂
Would definitely try. I’m going to slim down a a tad with ground dark meat turkey, ane spice up with turkey sausage (hot or sweet). Thanks. I know it’s going to be loved big time.
Sounds great!
I’m hoping to make this wonderful looking recipe for our Shabbat meal this week. Since there are vegetarians, I was going to use the fake ground beef. Do you envision any problem with that? Thank you!
Hi Sherri! Good question. I don’t use that faux ground beef very often, so it’s difficult to say if any modifications would need to be made. It will probably work fine– can you let me know how it goes? I’m sure other vegetarians would love to know!
oh, fake meant, usually soy is good but you need to add liquid as there is none, nor is there fat in the soy. so i am not sure but perhaps 1/2 cup of water or tomatoe juice/sauce etc. i., e . perhaps a can of diced tomatoes. i speak from experience using the soy.. first time.. oy vey. okay. let us all know how it turns out.
i will definitely let you know how it goes Tori. Alexis thanks for the tips…i always add an ungodly amt. of oil because it obviously has none and it soaks it right up. will update next week!
This is such an interesting recipe, somewhat like an empanada except for the puff pastry.
I think I will try this with a small amount of nice chopped black olives.
What do you think?
Tori, I love your recipes and family histories.
Black olives would be good! Just don’t use too many, unless you’re cutting back on the salt in the filling– they’re quite salty.
Can you use ground chicken or turkey instead of beef? Does this dish freeze?
Hi Marcia– yes! If it were me I would use dark meat ground chicken, it will give the filling more flavor and moisture. Also if using poultry I would cook it through in the skillet to ensure food safety; it does cook more in the pie, but I’m always extra cautious with poultry. I haven’t frozen this particular recipe, but based on previous recipes I would say this will probably freeze well.
I am interested in making this in a smaller size. Have you done so before? If so do our have adjusted cooking times?
Thank you
Hi Darlene– I haven’t made a smaller pie, but I have used the filling for bourekas before, which creates individual hand-pies. If you want to try that, here are instructions for making bourekas, and simply use this filling: https://toriavey.com/how-to/how-to-make-bourekas-with-puff-pastry/ You could also try making a smaller pie, I’m guessing it wouldn’t take quite as long to bake through but I hesitate to give an exact timing without testing it myself.
This is going to happen in my kitchen. This week, it’s going to happen. 🙂
Enjoy Lisbeth! 🙂
Thanks Tory.
Reading your description is such a warm and comfort of a feeling. I am an Armenian from turkey and our recipies seem to intermix. I find comfort in your family stories and can relate to the feeling of tradition .
Thanks for sharing .
Abino, thank you for your kind note. Israel and Turkey are so close geographically, it’s no wonder the cuisine has some crossover. The Middle East is like an edible tapestry of amazing flavors. I love Turkish food!