Chee kufta, Turkish çiğ köfte (, literally "raw meat patty") is a raw meat dish in Turkish, very similar to kibbeh nayyeh and to a lesser extent to steak tartare. It is made with either beef or lamb, and usually served as an appetizer in both Armenian and Turkish cuisines.
History
According to lore, çiğ köfte was invented in Urfa at the time of
prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). When
Nemrud (Nimrod) collected all firewood in Urfa in order to build a monumental
execution pyre, the wife of a hunter had to prepare venison raw. She mixed the meat with bulgur, herbs and spices and crushed the mixture with stone implements until it was palatable.
Meat differences
In the beef variant, ground beef is used. Tendons and fat are removed before grinding the beef. Relatively expensive high-quality beef has to be used so that the meat can be safely served raw.
London broil or
top round are recommended choices for the ground beef.
In Turkey, there are two no-meat versions for vegetarians. In Siverek district of Şanlıurfa, scrambled eggs are used instead of meat. And kısır, a specialty of Gaziantep region , although it resembles çiğ köfte in its conception, with more numerous and exclusively non-animal ingredients, is a dish that stands on its own.
Turkey
Çiğ köfte means 'uncooked
köfte'. It can also be written as one word,
çiğköfte. It is a favorite Turkish snack and a specialty of southeastern Turkey, especially
Şanlıurfa.
Bulgur is kneaded with chopped onions and water until it gets soft. Then tomato and pepper paste, spices and very finely ground beef are added. This absolutely fatless raw mincemeat is treated with spices while kneading the mixture, which is said to "cook" the meat. Lastly, green onions, fresh mint and parsley are mixed in.
One spice that is associated with çiğ köfte, and with Şanlıurfa as a whole, is isot, a very dark, almost blackish paprika, prepared in a special manner, and which is considered as indispensable for an authentically local preparation of çiğ köfte (and also of lahmacun). Although, isot is famous as the special dried pepper that is locally produced by farmers of Şanlıurfa, in fact, it is a general word used for pepper in Şanlıurfa.
A favorite way of eating çiğ köfte is rolled in a lettuce leaf, accompanied with good quantities of ayran to counter-act the burning sensation that this very spicy food will give.
Popular culture references
In an episode of
Taxicab Confessions set in
Las Vegas, a young male Armenian tourist confirms to the cabdriver that his buddy (also a young male Armenian) is right that he would marry a woman who could prepare good chee kufta.
See also
Keema, a family of dishes made of ground meat
References
Friends of Anatolia, Issue 3, April 25, 2005
External links
Recipes for chee kufta (khema), Adventures in Armenian Cooking, St. Sarkis Armenian Apostolic Church.
History of chee kufta , ''Çiğ köfte Ne Zaman Ortaya Çıktı?
Category:Meat dishes
Category:Middle Eastern cuisine
Category:Turkish words and phrases
Category:Western Armenian cuisine
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Category:Köfte
Category:Meze
