Kufta is a traditional culinary dish in the Middle East. It is especially popular in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. But, since the recipe for these meat balls has spread around the world from South Asia to the Balkans, at the present time there are a lot of regional varieties of meatballs. In Turkey alone, 291 ways of how to cook kufta are recorded. And in Bengal, this dish is completely vegetarian. It is made from rice, vegetables and fruits. In this article we will give recipes for Azerbaijani, Armenian, Persian cutlets.

What is "kufte"

This dish is first found in ancient cookbooks in Arabic. Now it is difficult to say where the kyuft recipe was born. According to etymology, it answers kūfta in Farsi - “grind”, “cut”. So the ancient recipe suggested doing with the meat of a young lamb. The dish was probably invented by the Seljuks who conquered the Byzantine Empire. The Ottoman Turks refined the recipe by adding spices to the meat and - the main highlight - saffron. The peoples of the countries conquered by the "Brilliant Porta" adopted traditional recipe, adapting it to your tastes and ordinary products. So even Ukrainian pork sicheniki appeared. And in Russia, a similar dish is called meatballs. Kufte is also popular in Central Asia.

Kufte hyulu

The phrase koofteh hulu literally translates as "peach meatballs". But with fruit, meat balls are related only by size. That is, each meatball should be shaped like a small peach. But the sweetness in this dish is undoubtedly felt. It is given to meat by raisins and young carrots. It is believed that this kyuft recipe is the most authentic, which gave rise to later variations. Finely chop the onion and saute until golden brown. Grate 450 g carrots. Add half a glass of raisins to the onion, salt and fry for a few minutes. Grate the second onion and knead it with an egg, a pinch of turmeric and a spoonful of chickpea flour. Add 450 g of finely chopped meat - beef or turkey. Whisk the mass thoroughly. All components of the mixture should come together, and the meat should completely lose its veins. If the mass remains sticky, add more chickpea flour. Let's take a handful of this stuffing. Let's make a meatball. With your finger, make a recess in the ball, where we put a spoonful of filling - onions with raisins. Seal the hole. So we will do with all the minced meat, laying the meatballs on baking paper. Dilute in a saucepan three glasses of water with 100 g of sugar and a large spoonful of salt. In this solution, bring the carrots to a boil. IN vegetable oil fry the kufta until brown. As soon as the water boils, pour the meatballs with it.

Iranian kufta: making nanaw dagh sauce

The secret of the dish is in its refreshing gravy. Put a spoonful of oil and the same amount of dried mint into the pan. You need to let the dish soak in its smell. Now add the onion with raisins left over from stuffing the kyuft. Cover with a lid and simmer over low heat for half an hour. Then pour a third of a glass of lime or lemon juice into the pan and cook for about ten more minutes. Further, the Iranian kyuft recipe invites us to fish out meatballs for a dish. If the sauce remaining in the pan is too thin, bring it to the desired thickness with flour. Pour the meatballs with it and serve.

Azerbaijani kufta

We start preparing the dish ahead of time. Soak one hundred grams of chickpeas overnight. Then we wash it, pour fresh water and set to boil. Lamb (400 g) cut into small pieces. The lazy can pass it through a meat grinder along with the onion. We wash half a glass of rice, add to the meat along with a teaspoon of mint, a pinch of pepper and salt. From this stuffing we form meatballs the size of a tennis ball. As a filling, we put soaked dried apricots inside. When the chickpeas are fully cooked, add the meatballs and two coarsely chopped potatoes to the pan. There should be enough water so that the Azerbaijani kufta is cooked, and not fried. Cook until potatoes are soft. The meatballs should float by this time. Pour boiling water over a pinch of saffron, let it brew. Add it to the broth. When serving, sprinkle the dish with cilantro.

Kufta bozbash in Azerbaijani

This dish can be safely called "three in one": soup, meat and side dish. Soak chickpeas (200 g) overnight. Pour lamb brisket (about 200 g) and onion with one and a half liters of water and put on a big fire. When it boils, remove the foam and put the Turkish peas. We continue to cook on low heat for about an hour. Salt the broth and strain. In parallel, we steam a pinch of saffron. Soak two tablespoons of rice in cold water for an hour. Half a kilo of lamb and 130 g of fat tail are passed through a meat grinder along with onions. Season the minced meat with salt and spices, add raw rice and a spoonful of turmeric. We take the mass in our hands and with effort we throw it on the countertop. This procedure leads to the fact that air bubbles leave the minced meat. We put the mass in the refrigerator for an hour and a half. Cut four plums into small pieces. With hands moistened in warm water, we form kufta bozbash, in Azerbaijani - "large meatballs". We stuff them with a piece of plum. Put the meatballs into the broth. We do not interfere with the first five minutes, but only move the pan. Cook like this for a quarter of an hour on low heat under the lid. Then throw three large potatoes into the pan. Add saffron to the broth. Pre-marinate two Hovsan onions (or shallots) in a deep dish, put kyufta, brisket, potatoes, chickpeas. Pour in strained broth. Sprinkle with dried mint and sumac. Serve separately with tortilla

This is perhaps the most original. After all, the Armenian kyufta is prepared not from lamb, but from beef, and even better - from a kilogram of first-class veal pulp. The tenderloin must be divided into layers and carefully beat them off. original recipe prescribes to do it on a stone table with a wooden mallet. The result should be a viscous mince-like mixture without streaks. Mix milk (three quarters of a glass) with two tablespoons of flour, one egg, a pinch of salt and spices and beat thoroughly. Finely chop two onions. We introduce them into minced meat, just like a milkshake. For flavor, add another glass. All this is kneaded until smooth. We roll balls from this mass. The Armenian kufta is smaller than its "sisters" (Persian and Azerbaijani), the size of a ping-pong ball. We put a pot of water on the fire. We salt it. Dip the meatballs in cold water. After boiling, cook for about half an hour. We catch with a slotted spoon, move to a dish, pour with melted butter, sprinkle with chopped herbs.

Turkish kufta

Knead a pound of minced meat with two grated potatoes, chopped onion and chopped herbs. We beat the egg. Mix, salt and pepper. We form cutlets. Roll them in breadcrumbs and deep fry until appetizing crust. This Turkish kufta recipe gave birth to our Slavic cutlets.

Meat dish from the East - kufta! These are large meatballs that can be made at home if you follow the recipe.

Azerbaijani national first dish.

• Meat - 300-400 g
• Rice - 0.5 stack.
• Potatoes - 3-4 pieces
• Cherry plum (dried) - 5-6 pieces
• Chickpeas - 100-150 g
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Spices (salt, pepper, turmeric, dried mint, sumac)
• Greens (cilantro, dill)
• Fat (mutton fat tail, to taste)

Soak the peas in the evening.

Put the soaked peas into the broth or water, boil until half cooked.

In minced meat (preferably lamb), put raw rice, salt, pepper. Salt should be added more than normal to minced meat.

Soak dried cherry plum for 5-10 minutes.

Pour water into a bowl and add salt - brine.

We take a little minced meat, put cherry plum in the middle, dip our hands in saline solution.

We make big meatballs.

Cut the potatoes into 2 pieces or better when the small potatoes are whole.

We put potatoes, whole onions, fat tail (thin sliced ​​​​plates) in the broth.

And meatballs. Season the broth to taste.

Recipe 2: Armenian kufta (with photo)

The classic kufta recipe suggests that a piece of meat is beaten with a wooden mallet on a stone to a state of homogeneous mass, but now more often this dish is cooked with a meat grinder - the meat is scrolled 5-6 times, and even better and faster with the help of a food processor - it grinds the meat to puree-like state in minutes. Next, the meat is flavored with cognac, milk, chopped onion, seasonings are added, minced meat is formed into a ball and boiled in boiling water, to which red dry wine is sometimes added. Armenian kufta is usually served on lettuce leaves, spreading into pieces butter and pomegranate seeds.

• Steam beef 1 kg
• Egg 1 pc
• Milk 0.5-1 glass
• Cognac 50 gr
• Onion 1 big head
• Salt, pepper - to taste
• To serve: lettuce, pomegranate

The steamed veal is cut into pieces. Finely chop the onion.

They grind the meat in the processor (or, as I already wrote, they scroll it several times in a meat grinder).

Add to mince a raw egg, mix, add cognac and milk, salt, pepper and spices, knead everything well.

Further, finely chopped onions are added to the minced meat, the minced meat is kneaded well, meat balls are formed, while wetting the hands in milk or water and slightly “beating the minced meat”, throwing the balls from hand to hand. From 1 kg of meat, I formed 5 balls.

Boil kyukhta in lightly salted water (if desired, add 100 ml of red wine to the water) until tender. The cooking time depends on the weight of the meat balls (from 30 to 50 minutes, meat balls weighing about 270 grams, I cooked 35 minutes).

Ready Armenian kufta is cut into plastics and served on lettuce leaves, slices of butter and pomegranate seeds are spread on top.

Recipe 3: Armenian Beef Kufta

K yufta is meat dish(essentially, giant meatballs) is very common in the Caucasus. The recipe for kyufta is quite ancient, and each nation of the Middle East can boast of its own cooking option.

Today we invite you to cook Armenian kufta with us.

• Beef (pulp) - 1 kg
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Egg - 2 pcs.
• Flour - 50 g
• Cognac - 50 gr
• Salt - to taste
• Black and red pepper - to taste
• Milk - 200 ml
• Butter - 80 g (for serving)

Let's prepare products for kufta in Armenian. Wash the beef flesh under running cold water. Let's take the skin off the onion. Milk can be replaced with water (used to soften minced meat). In some versions of kufta in Armenian, cognac (50 gr) is added.

We use a meat grinder and grind the meat. It is very convenient to use a food processor for this. If you have a manual device at hand, then the meat should be twisted 3-4 times.

Pour black and red pepper to the meat and salt.

Finely chop the onion. Let's add to the stuffing. Let's mix.

Put the finished kufta on a plate. Melt the butter on a small fire and pour the kyufta over it.

Recipe 4: Ishli Kufta (step by step photos)

Ishli kufta is a traditional oriental dish that has become widespread in Armenia and Turkey. It represents juicy cutlet, which is prepared from minced meat.

In fact, Ishli kyufta is a double cutlet, because both the filling and the dough are prepared with the addition of a large amount of meat. Traditionally in the East, this dish was prepared from young veal, but as time passed, they began to cook kufta from different kind meat, including beef. Since this dish has an ancient history, it also has many cooking variations, both in Armenian and Turkish. In the global network you can find a huge number of recipes for ishli kufta, and in this article we will talk about the most successful way of preparing this oriental dish in our opinion.

This dish belongs to the category of recipes that are difficult to prepare only the first time, and then everything will go like clockwork.

• Minced meat - 600 gr
• Medium size onion - 2 pcs.
• Salt, pepper to taste
• Parsley - 2 bunches
• Chopped walnuts - 200 gr
• Butter - 100 gr

• Bulgur - 750 gr
• Minced meat - 400 gr
• Eggs - 2 pcs.
• Onion - 2 pcs.
• Tomato paste - 2 tablespoons
• Hot pepper paste - 1 teaspoon
• Flour - 0.5 cups
• Water - 0.5 cups

Let's make a reservation right away that if you are cooking idli kufta for the first time, you should take the ingredients in smaller quantities, since the filling should not be left for later, it will simply become unsuitable for further cooking.

It is necessary to cut the peeled onion into small cubes and finely chop the parsley.

Put the butter in a heated frying pan and melt it.

Next, lower the chopped onion there and let it brown to a golden hue. The next step in the recipe is to put the minced meat in a pan with onions. The big advantage of this recipe is that the ingredients do not need to be tediously boiled, but only fried over a fast fire. Mix the minced meat with onions well and fry it until all the meat juice has evaporated from the pan. The classic recipe for ishli kufta says that at the very end the minced meat must be salted and pepper added to it.

As soon as all the juice has come out, add greens and finely chopped walnuts. Mix well all the added ingredients and fry them on the stove for another 3-5 minutes. Next, remove the pan from the heat and leave the minced meat to cool. While the meat is cooling, start preparing the dough.

So, let's move on to the second stage of preparation and go kufta. We rub 2 onions on a coarse grater. In the grated onion, add 2 eggs, half a glass of flour, tomato paste, spicy pepper paste, bulgur, half a teaspoon of salt. Mix all the ingredients well with your hands, gradually adding water as needed. Some housewives, who adhere to the traditions of Armenian cuisine, do not add water to the dough itself, but only moisten their hands with water and stir the dough. The dough should be elastic like plasticine.

Roasting ishli kufta. Now you need to moisten your hands with water and start cooking cutlets. To do this, take a little dough and begin to roll a ball with a diameter of 5-6 cm.

Further, according to the recipe, it is necessary to make a recess (the so-called funnel) in the balls in order to be able to put 2-3 teaspoons of the filling there (previously prepared minced meat in a frying pan). Now you need to tamp the filling and glue the dough, fastening the formed edges together. Next, the ball needs to be shaped like a lemon as in the photo. Having blinded all the cutlets, put them on a tray and put them in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes so that they become more dense and do not crumble when frying. The main thing in the recipe was kufta - so that the filling and dough turn out juicy and the cutlet does not fall apart during the cooking process.

Pour vegetable oil into a frying pan with a layer of 2-3 cm and heat it on the stove. We spread the resulting cutlets on a preheated pan and fry them on both sides. Since the filling inside is already prepared in advance, it is enough to fry the cutlets until a golden crust forms on each side.

We put the finished cutlets on a plate covered with a paper towel or napkin in order to absorb excess fat.
Ishli kyufta should be served on a large platter with vegetables and herbs. If desired, cutlets can be cut in half - so it will be much more convenient to eat them. Along with this dish, according to the classic recipe, you need to put lemon juice on the table, since each cutlet is watered with it before use: this will give the dish a piquant sourness. Sometimes hostesses instead lemon juice preparing homemade feijoa sour sauce. As you can see, the preparation of this recipe takes time and a little skill, but the result is delicious and hearty meal Armenian cuisine.

Bon appetit!

Recipe 5: Turkish kufta (step by step)

Ingredients.

• brisket (mutton) - 200 gr;
• fat tail -135 gr;
• lamb meat - 0.5 kg;
• onion (preferably Govan) - 170 gr;
• potatoes - 3 large pieces;
• chickpea beans - 180 gr;
• rice groats - 40 gr;
• plums - 4 pieces;
• saffron - a pinch;
• salt to taste;
• black pepper to taste;
• a pinch of turmeric

Additionally:

• shallots - 4 pieces;
• wine vinegar - 50 ml;
• mint - a pinch;
• saffron leaves - a pinch;
• barberry pinch.

We lower the washed brisket and onion heads into a container of water and place it on a powerful fire. After boiling, add the chickpeas (previously left in the water for at least 8 hours) and leave on low heat for 1 hour, regularly removing the foam.

After we add salt, then we filter the resulting broth through a sieve, after removing the onions from it. Pour boiling water over saffron and place next to a warm stove.

Dry thoroughly washed lamb meat and fat tail fat with a clean cloth and turn with onions through a meat grinder. Then add salt, pepper. Add rice and turmeric to the minced meat left in the water for an hour. Mix all ingredients.

Periodically lowering our hands into warm water, we sculpt balls weighing approximately 200 grams from the cooked minced meat (before that we leave the product in the freezer so that the mass thickens). Fresh cherry plum or plum (it is allowed to use dried fruits) cut into pieces and put in balls.

Dissolve half a tablespoon of turmeric in the broth. Then carefully lower the formed balls into the boiling liquid and leave for 5 minutes. After that, you can carefully mix everything and remove the resulting foam.

The balls are boiled for 10-15 minutes, always under a closed lid and over low heat. After put the potatoes, cut into cubes.

We add a couple of tablespoons of the saffron solution to the dish so that it becomes a slightly yellow tint. We remove the saucepan from the stove.

Soak onions in wine vinegar for 10-15 minutes.

The broth should be passed through a sieve again to remove the rice grains and pieces of onion that have separated from the balls and chickpeas. Place kufta, brisket, chickpeas and potatoes in a separate bowl. Cover them with broth. If desired, the dish is seasoned with dried mint leaves, barberry. Kufta is served with pre-pickled onions and fresh bread.

Recipe 6: Azerbaijani kufta

Bozbash, the recipe of which I want to offer you, is an Azerbaijani lamb soup. But we will cook not just bozbash, but kyufta-bozbash, which translates as soup with meatballs. This is an everyday and very satisfying Caucasian dish. However, everything related to this cuisine turns out to be very satisfying and tasty.

Undoubtedly, the most delicious bozbash is cooked on a tandoor, but since such ovens are not provided in modern kitchens, we will cook on a regular stove. But instead of a saucepan, I still recommend using a cast iron (cauldron) in order to somehow observe the tradition of cooking. Since this is Caucasian cuisine, kufta will need lamb and spices, as well as pita bread for serving.

• Lamb 500-550 g
• Rice 100 g
• Fat tail fat 100 g
• Onion 2 pcs.
• Chickpeas 100-150 g
• Lamb ribs or brisket 150-200 g
• Potato 2 pcs.
• Water 2 l
• Dried mint to taste
• Saffron to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• Sumac to taste

Soak the chickpeas in the evening, and then boil them for 30-40 minutes. Also, boil the rice until half cooked and rinse it well.

Place the lamb bones in a pot and cover with cold water. Put on the stove with medium heat. When the water is about to boil, remove all the foam and reduce the heat. Boil the broth for at least 1.5 hours.

We clean the onion from the husk. It is ideal to use Hovsan onion, which has a delicate sweetish taste. You can replace it with shallots or take regular onions. Finely chop one onion and add to the broth.

Grind the pulp, lard and the second onion in a meat grinder. The correct kufta is made from minced meat, so it can be chopped in a food processor or with knives.

Add rice, a good pinch of mint and ground black pepper to taste. You can use dried or chopped fresh cilantro instead of mint. But it is mint that goes perfectly with lamb. Instead of rice, you can add part of the chickpeas to the minced meat, but it will also need to be chopped.

We knead the minced meat and send it to the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes, so the meat will marinate, absorb the released juice, and the meatballs will be juicier, and it will be easier to work further with chilled minced meat.

This time is enough to insist saffron. To do this, grind a teaspoon of spice in a mortar with a good pinch of salt and pour a ladle of broth.

Mix and leave to infuse. Saffron will give the dish a beautiful shade and incredible aroma.

We take out the chilled minced meat from the refrigerator. We wet our hands in water. We take about 100-150 g of minced meat and form meatballs or large meatballs. We try to make the surface smooth. Before taking a new portion of minced meat, we wet our hands.

In the middle of each meatball we put cherry plum (pitted). Instead of cherry plum, dried apricots or prunes are sometimes put. But it is cherry plum that gives a pleasant sourness, which helps to neutralize fat. Also, a little cherry plum can be added to the broth when laying products.

After the broth is cooked, you need to remove the bones from it. If you want the bozbash to be transparent, then the broth must be filtered, and then returned to the cast iron again. We put meatballs and chickpeas in the finished broth.

We take a strainer and through it we pour saffron into a cast iron. If desired, add cherry plum and barberry. Often this soup is boiled with potatoes. To do this, we clean it and cut it lengthwise into four parts. We put the potatoes in the soup and mix gently, or rather, just stir the contents of the cast iron with a spoon.

Cover with a lid and simmer for at least 40 minutes. Bozbash should not boil, but languish. The longer the kyufta cooks, the juicier and tastier it will be. When the soup is ready, we take a deep plate, put kyufta and add bozbash with a ladle so that both potatoes and chickpeas are in the plate.

Sprinkle with mint or cilantro, as well as sumac or chopped barberry and serve with pita bread. You can also add fresh, very finely chopped onions.

Recipe 7: kyufta at home

Kyufta is a meat dish (in fact, giant meatballs) is very common in the Caucasus. The recipe for kyufta is quite ancient, and each nation of the Middle East can boast of its own cooking option. Today we invite you to cook Armenian kufta with us.

• Beef (pulp) - 1 kg
• Onion - 1 pc.
• Egg - 2 pcs.
• Flour - 50 g
• Salt - to taste
• Black pepper (we have peas) - to taste
• Milk - 200 ml
• Butter - 80 g (for serving)

Let's prepare products for kufta in Armenian. Wash the beef flesh under running cold water. Let's take the skin off the onion. Milk can be replaced with water (used to soften minced meat). In some variants of kufta in Armenian, cognac (20 ml) is added, we decided not to use this ingredient.

How to cook kyufta in Armenian: use a meat grinder and grind the meat. It is very convenient to use a food processor for this. If you have a manual device at hand, then the meat should be twisted 3-4 times.

We used peppercorns in cooking, so we will crush it in a wooden mortar. You can use already ground. Let's go to the meat. Salt.

In a bowl with minced meat pour the entire portion of milk (or, as mentioned above, water). Let's put the eggs in there. Let's add flour. Mix until smooth. The mass is quite viscous.

Finely chop the onion.

Let's add to the stuffing. Let's mix.

The resulting meat mass is divided into approximately four parts. With wet hands, form large meat balls. Bring water to a boil in a suitable saucepan. With a large spoon, carefully lower the huge meat billet into boiling water. Cooking kufta in Armenian should be 30 minutes.

Put the finished kufta on a plate. Let's melt the butter on a small fire. Let's pour oil on kufta in Armenian style.

Bon appetit!

Kufta is a traditional dish of countries located in the Middle East and South Asia. It gained particular popularity in Turkey, Azerbaijan and Armenia. There are many regional differences in the preparation of this dish, but it is made mainly from lamb or beef.

The calorie content of the dish is small - about 90 kcal per 100 g, so you can eat it without fear of getting better. Consider with a photo how to cook kufta in your own kitchen step by step in several ways.

Kyufta-bozbash is an amazingly tasty thick soup with large stuffed meatballs of beef or lamb. It is based on minced meat, scrolled with a meat grinder or chopped, various herbs and chickpeas.

Composition of products:

• Potato - 2 tubers;
• Onions for minced meat and for frying - one each;
• Minced lamb - half a kilo;
• Turmeric - one small spoon;
• Chickpeas - half a glass;
• Dried basil - 2 large spoons;
• Salt, dried mint, dried dill - to taste;
• Cherry plum (prunes, dried apricots) - 4 pieces;
• Rice - 50 g;
• Chili pepper (ground) - a quarter of a small spoon.

Cooking scheme:

1. First of all, soak chickpeas in water for at least 3 hours;
2. Next, place the peas in a saucepan with water, add salt to taste and cook for about half an hour;
3. We put ready-made minced meat in the dishes (mix beef and lamb fat). Add chili pepper (hot), finely chopped onion, salt, dried basil and rice. But you can not put rice, but instead add boiled and chopped chickpeas;
4. We will form large meatballs from minced meat, which should be the size of a fist. In the center of each blank we put dried fruits: prunes, cherry plum (best), dried apricots;
5. We put in the prepared chickpea broth potatoes, cut into large quarters and meat preparations;
6. Kufta soup is made with frying. Fry a finely chopped onion in vegetable oil and add turmeric. But saffron is best suited to this dish;
7. We add the frying to the soup, but we will not mix it so that the integrity of the meat component is not violated. Cook the soup over low heat for about 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are ready;
8. When the Azerbaijani-style kufta is ready, add dried basil, mint and dill.

The recipe for kufta is different in each region, and each family can cook this dish in its own way.

Armenian kufta recipe

Kufta in Armenian is a traditional and favorite dish of Armenia and is the pride national cuisine. It can be tasty and quickly cooked at home.

Ingredients:

• One egg;
• Cognac - 50 g;
• Beef (pulp, lean and without tendons) - kilogram;
• Flour - two large spoons;
• Onions - two heads;
• Pepper black and red ground - to taste;
• Butter and salt - to taste;
• milk or cold water- 3/4 cup.

Cooking instruction:

1. At the beginning of the process, grind the beef to a mushy state. To do this, scroll the pulp 5-6 times with a meat grinder or chop in a food processor. At the same time, add water or milk to the stuffing. When it becomes homogeneous, put it in a container and add flour, cognac, egg, chopped onion, pepper and salt;
2. It is necessary to knead everything thoroughly for 20 minutes;
3. Pour water into a saucepan, put on fire, salt. We divide the prepared composition into four equal parts, each share is divided into four more parts. Wet hands with water and form balls of minced meat. Gently lower the cooked meat products into boiling water;
4. Cook for about 30 minutes and remove the resulting foam;
5. After that, remove the balls from the water and cut them.

The dish is served hot and poured with melted butter.

Kufta in Turkish

Turkish kufta is prepared in the form of meatballs and served with bean or bean puree. This delicious dish is not too tiring to prepare and does not take much time.

Puree Ingredients:

• Garlic - a clove;
• Thick Greek yogurt - 1/2 cup It can be prepared independently or replaced with thick sour cream;
• Beans - two cans;
• Ground cumin and ground black pepper - 1/4 teaspoon each;
• Sesame tahini paste - one large spoon;
• 1/4 to 1/2 small spoon of salt.

Meatball Ingredients:

• The egg is not large;
• Shallots - finely chopped head;
• Minced beef, lamb or pork - half a kilo;
• Corn starch - 1.5 large spoons;
• Grated ginger - a teaspoon;
• Garlic - three finely chopped teeth;
• Olive oil - a large spoon;
• Salt, ground cinnamon, ground allspice - 1/2 teaspoon each;
• Ground coriander and ground cumin - 1/4 teaspoon each;
• For uniformity of minced meat - two tablespoons of water;
• Ground black pepper - 1/8 of a small spoon.

To finalize the dish, you will need:

• Chopped clove of garlic;
• Olive oil - 2-3 tablespoons;
• Bunch of fresh mint, finely chopped
• Pine nuts - two tablespoons;
• Chili pepper (flakes) - 1-2 teaspoons.

Step by step preparation:

1. Drain the liquid from the bean jar, put the beans, garlic, cumin, Greek yogurt and tahini in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with black pepper and salt to taste. We temporarily remove the dishes with the mixture to the side;
2. We wash the bowl of the food processor and dry it with a paper towel, put the minced meat in it. Let's add shallots, olive oil, garlic, cornstarch, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, coriander, black pepper and salt;
3. We grind until a homogeneous mixing of all components, and then at low speeds of the combine we get a pasty mass, all the time adding water to it. This gives the stuffing juiciness and uniformity;
4. We heat the oven to 220 degrees;
5. We cover the baking sheet with parchment. We take 1.5 small spoons of minced meat, form small meatballs, put them on a baking sheet at an average distance from each other;
6. We bake in a preheated oven until a brown shade and a dense consistency of meatballs;
7. We take them out of the oven. We heat two large tablespoons of olive oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium flame and put our dish in it;
8. Add pine nuts and brown them until golden;
9. Then add fresh mint, minced garlic and chopped chili;
10. The food should be then a few more seconds on the fire, then season it with pepper;
11. We spread the puree in a large bowl and put meatballs with pine nuts on it, pour olive oil and garnish with chili peppers.

The unique original dish is ready. You can put it on the table and start trying.

Turkish kyufta soup

This Turkish soup is prepared with a wide variety of spices and is amazingly tasty and fragrant.

You will need:

• Peas - 3 tablespoons;
• 3 potatoes;
• Lamb brisket - kilogram;
• 2 onions;
• Butter - 50 g;
• One apple;
• Pomegranate juice - 70 ml;
• Dried apricots or prunes - 10 pcs;
• Tomato paste - 2 large spoons;
• Greens, salt, red peppercorns and black pepper - to taste.

How to cook kufta:

1. We wash the brisket and cut into several pieces;
2. We throw the lamb into a saucepan with cold water and boil to a boil, while removing the foam. We reduce the flame to an average level, fill in the peas and continue cooking for another hour and a half;
3. Put the meat pieces in a colander, filter the broth and put on a slow fire;
4. We cut the meat into even smaller pieces, add them to the pan with chickpeas, add 25 g of butter and fry everything together, then take out the lamb, put it in the broth and boil for half an hour;
5. Fry the onion in a pan with the remnants (25 g) of butter, add peppercorns and tomato paste. Fry the ingredients for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to the broth;
6. We cut the washed and peeled potatoes into cubes and run them into the soup;
7. We cut the apple and dried apricots into small slices and add to the rest of the ingredients;
8. We fall asleep chopped greens, salt and pepper the dish;
9. Pour pomegranate juice into a saucepan and boil the food for another 10 minutes.

This soup is ready. We serve it to the table and treat the household.

Video: Azerbaijani kufta recipe

One of the most popular dishes in the Middle East and the Caucasus. There are many regional differences and peculiarities in the preparation of this dish. I will show you how to cook kufta in Azerbaijani style.

Kyufta are large meatballs from lamb (most often) or mixed minced lamb or beef. Minced meat should be fatty, but if only beef is taken, then I advise you to at least add softened butter to the minced meat. Previously, when there was no meat grinder in everyday life, meat was beaten on a wooden plank with a wooden hammer specially designed for this. By the way, minced meat was prepared in this way not only for kyufta, but also for dolma ( stuffed vegetables), stuffed cabbage, etc. Mom said that dishes prepared from minced meat beaten off with such a hammer turned out to be very, very tasty. This wooden hammer is still kept with us, but it is not an easy task to beat the minced meat with it - it takes a lot of time and effort. It is easier to scroll the meat in a meat grinder.

So, for kyufta, the meat is scrolled through a meat grinder along with onions and a piece of soaked bread. A handful of pre-soaked round rice, mint (dried or fresh), a pinch of turmeric (optional), salt and freshly ground black pepper are added to the minced meat. A little (2-3 tablespoons) of warm water is added and mixed well. Then you should beat the minced meat on the bottom of the dish to get a smooth homogeneous mass. Many people add a raw egg to the minced meat for a bunch. The inexperienced may do so, but in classic recipe Azerbaijani kufta is not added to minced meat. If you beat it well, then the meatballs will not fall apart during the cooking process.

Divide the minced meat into several equal-sized parts, from which to form balls. In the middle of each ball, make a depression with your thumb and put 1 dried cherry plum there. Then we do this: we take the ball in our hands and with force (moderate) we throw it from one palm to another several times (for 3-4 minutes). If you make the balls somehow, they will fall apart during cooking. I also beat each meatball on the bottom of the bowl. We put the formed meatballs on a flat wide plate and put it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes so that the balls grab. Chilled and seized meatballs put in slightly boiling salted water, to which saffron is added for a pleasant color (you can put grated fresh tomatoes). Keep in mind that the broth should not boil too much, otherwise it will become cloudy and unappetizing. Then boiled chickpeas and potatoes are added.

Cook kufta over medium heat. At the end, the kufta is checked for salt and, if necessary, salt) and boiled until the potatoes are ready. OK it's all over Now! Hope I didn't forget anything :)