I cannot express in words how truly delicious homemade kuba is. Kuba is meat encased in a fried rice-paste mixture. Kurdish kuba is made in dumpling form (and Kurds are very proud of their kuba dumplings). Arabic kuba is made like a quesadilla, with the meat in between two “tortillas” made from rice paste.
Nowras makes it by – let’s see if I deciphered Shon’s English correctly – first boiling rice and mashing it up to make a paste.
Then she sets the rice aside, and boils ground meat with spices and salt.
(There’s a lot of boiled meat eaten here in Kurdistan. It usually takes some getting used to, but for kuba it’s perfect.)
Then, she takes a pinch of the meat, wraps it in the rice paste, and fries it into a dumpling.
She then puts the kuba dumplings into a bocadillo-type roll, and adds tomato and cucumber.
Nowras brings the kuba sandwiches, wrapped in cellophane, to work every day. And she brings, like, 5 and hands them out to whichever teacher looks hungry at the moment.
I need to shadow this woman in the kitchen. Mmmmmmmmmm.
In Mutual Weirdness 
Hi Rachel – have not read everything, but sounds like you are having quite the adventure. Love your positive attitude comes across very strongly in your writing. School starts Tuesday. I’m excited to see the students and share this blog with them. We had “AVID Welcome Back” night today. It was great to see so many of the new fresh students and to see the older students lead, welcome, and re-assure the froth. Well back to my lesson planning. Take care!
Hi Rachel! Thank you for inviting me to your blog. I am up late (becoming a habit) and have read from the beginning. You have a wonderful outlook on your experience! I completely agree that you should immerse yourself in the culture, and the only way to do that is to learn their language. I see Mike replied above so I won’t be repetitive. BUT I am also very excited to share your experience with my AVID kids next week. You are going to be a wonderful teacher! Thanks again for including me – your name on my email list brought an immediate smile to my face 🙂
Rachel, Start that recipe book soon! McKenzie took cooking lessons once a week in Peru. Perhaps you can find a place like that where you are? I need to read your older posts and catch up on your experiences!! You are making a difference in this small world! Very proud of you!