Kyufta: the recipe. Kyfta Armenian, Azerbaijani: how to cook

The dish of kyufta is traditional for the cooking of the countries of the Middle East. It is particularly popular in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. But, as the recipe for these meat balls spread throughout the world from South Asia to the Balkans, at the present time there are a lot of regional varieties of teftelek. Only in one Turkey 291 ways of how to prepare a kyufta are fixed. And in Bengal this dish is vegetarian. It is made from rice, vegetables and fruits. In this article, we will cite recipes from Azerbaijani, Armenian, Persian cutlets.

What is kufte?

This dish is first encountered in ancient cookbooks in Arabic. It is now difficult to say where the kyufta recipe was born. According to etymology, it answers kūfta in Farsi - "grind", "flog". So the ancient recipe offered to do with the meat of a young lamb. Probably, the dish was invented by the Seljuks, who conquered the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Turks ennobled the recipe by adding spices to the meat and - the main highlight - saffron. The peoples of the countries that the "Brilliant Port" has won have adopted the traditional recipe, adapting it to their tastes and ordinary products. So there were even Ukrainian pancakes from pork. And in Russia a similar dish is called meatballs. Popular kufte and in Central Asia.

Kufte hulu

The phrase koofteh hulu literally translates as "peach meatballs". But with meat, meat balls are related only by size. That is, every meatball should look like a small peach. But the sweetness in this dish, of course, is felt. It is given to the meat raisins and young carrots. It is believed that this particular recipe for kyufta is the most authentic, which gave rise to late variations. Bulb shall be chopped finely and rescued to a golden hue. Natreme 450 g of carrots. To the onions, add half a glass of raisins, add salt and fry for a few minutes. The second onion is sliced and we knead it with an egg, a pinch of turmeric and a spoon of flour from chickpeas. Add 450 g of finely chopped meat - beef or turkey. Mass carefully vzobem. All components of the mixture should unite, and meat - completely lose veins. If the mass remains sticky - add more flour from the Turkish peas. Take a handful of this stuffing. We blind the meatball. With your finger, we make a hole in the ball, where we will put a spoon of filling - onions and raisins. Seal the hole. So let's do the whole stuffing, laying meatballs on baking paper. We will dissolve in a pan three glasses of water with 100 g of sugar and a large spoonful of salt. In this solution we bring the carrots to a boil. In vegetable oil, fry the kyufta to brown crust. As soon as the water boils, pour it meatballs.

Iranian kyufta: cooking sauce nanaw dagh

The secret of the dish is in its refreshing gravy. Spread a spoonful of butter and the same amount of dried mint. You need to let the dish soak with its smell. Now add the onion left from the stuffing of kyufta with raisins. Cover with a lid and simmer on low heat for half an hour. Then pour into a frying pan a third of a glass of lime or lemon juice and cook for about ten minutes. Next, the recipe kyufta in Iran offers us to fry meatballs on a dish. If the sauce remaining in the frying pan is too liquid, bring it to the desired density with flour from the Turkish peas chickpeas. Fill them with meatballs and serve.

Azerbaijan cafta

We start to prepare the dish ahead of time. We will soak for a night one hundred grams of turkey peas. Then it is washed, poured fresh water and set to cook. Lamb (400 g) with small pieces. Lazy people can pass it through a meat grinder along with a bulb. Half a glass of rice washed, add to the meat, along with a teaspoon of mint, a pinch of pepper and salt. From this stuffing we form a fryadelle the size of a tennis ball. As a filling, put inside the soaked dried apricots. When the chickpea is completely cooked, add the meatballs and two large potatoes cut into the pan. Water should be enough to make the kufta Azeri exactly cooked, and not fried. Cook until soft potatoes. Meatballs by this time should float up. A pinch of saffron is poured over with boiling water, let's brew. We add it to the broth. When serving, sprinkle the dish with cilantro greens.

Kufta Bozbash in Azerbaijani

This dish can be called "three in one": soup, meat and garnish. Chickpeas (200 g) soak overnight. Lamb breast (about 200 g) and a bulb pour a half liters of water and put on a big fire. When the boil, remove the foam and put the Turkish peas. Continue to cook on low heat for about an hour. Solim broth and filter. In parallel, we steal a pinch of saffron. Two tablespoons of rice soaked in cold water for an hour. Polkilo lamb and 130 grams of kurdjuk we pass through a meat grinder along with onions. Season with mince salt and spices, add raw rice and a spoonful of turmeric. Mass we take in hands and with effort we throw about a table-top. This procedure results in air bubbles leaving the stuffing. We put the mass in the refrigerator for an hour and a half. We cut four plums in small pieces. Wet in the warm water hands form kyufta bozbash, in Azerbaijani - "big meatballs." We stuff them with a piece of plum. We put the meatballs into broth. Do not disturb the first five minutes, but just move the pan. Cook for about a quarter of an hour on a small fire under the lid. Then we throw into the pot three cut large potatoes. Add saffron to the broth. Pre-marinate two Hovsan bulbs (or shallots) in wine vinegar. In a deep bowl we spread the kyufta, brisket, potatoes, chickpeas. Fill with filtered broth. Sprinkle with dried mint and bagel. Separately with a flat cake we serve pickled onions.

Kyfta Armenian

This is perhaps the most original recipe for meatballs. After all, the Armenian kyufta is prepared not from mutton, but from beef, or even better - from a kilo of pulp of first-class veal. The cut must be divided into layers and carefully repulsed. The original recipe prescribes doing this on a stone table with a wooden hammer. As a result, a viscous, stark-like mixture without veins should be obtained. Milk (three quarters of a glass) is mixed with two tablespoons of flour, one egg, a pinch of salt and spices and whipped thoroughly. Two bulbs diligently grind. We introduce them into minced meat, as well as milk "cocktail". For the flavor, we'll add another glass of Armenian cognac. All this is kneaded to homogeneity. We roll balls out of this mass. Kyfta Armenian is smaller than its "sisters" (Persian and Azerbaijani), the size of a ping-pong ball. We put a pot of water on the fire. Solim it. We lower the meatballs into cold water. After boiling, cook for about half an hour. We catch it with a noise, move it to a dish, pour it with melted butter, sprinkle with chopped greens.

Turkish kufta

Half a kilo of minced meat is mixed with two grated potatoes, chopped onion and chopped greens. We drive the egg. Stir, salt and pepper. We form cutlets. We drop them in breadcrumbs and fry in deep-fried until they are delicious. This recipe kyufta in Turkish gave birth to our Slavic cutlets.