Armenian kufta. Azerbaijani kufta Armenian kufta original recipe
Caucasian cuisine (including Azerbaijani) is one of my favorites. As promised earlier, I am posting a recipe for a delicious dish of Azerbaijani cuisine - Kufta-bozbash (Turkic “kyufta” - meatball, or meatball, Azerbaijani bozba? - “gray head”). This dish is prepared and eaten not only in Azerbaijan - it is found in both Armenian and Georgian cuisine, and if you delve deeper, then, probably, among all the peoples inhabiting the Caucasus.
And there are many variations too. Various sources give figures from 200 to 290 types of kyufta. This soup replaces both the first and the second. In its homeland, it is also interesting to eat it - the broth is served first, and the rest (meatballs, peas, potatoes) is served separately.
This dish is served separately with pita bread, vegetables (tomatoes and cucumbers), onions and, if in season, a plate of fresh herbs (cilantro, purple basil). This dish even has seasonal variations - in the summer version, fresh tomatoes are placed in it and sprinkled with fresh cilantro, and in winter, tomato paste is added (as an option - without it at all), and instead of fresh cilantro - dried mint. And instead of fresh cherry plum, they take dried one.
The dish itself is a thick soup made from lamb bone broth, with meatballs (lamb, rice, onions, cherry plum), chickpeas (also called “chickpeas”, “nokhut”) and potatoes. In Russia, lamb dishes are less popular than beef, pork and poultry because of the smell. Many people, having tried lamb once, then don’t eat it anymore. People are just unlucky. Lamb, in addition to being able to cook, you also need to eat it correctly!
It is always served hot and eaten immediately (unless, of course, it is cold meat or other cold snacks), but when it cools down, a not very pleasant smell and a white film of fat appear. Lamb is not prepared in reserve, like we have cabbage soup or borscht - it is prepared so that it can be eaten at once, fresh, just cooked. Some dishes - for example, piti (an equally famous Azerbaijani soup, and it is prepared almost the same way, only instead of kufta it contains pieces of meat) are served in portioned clay pots - “pitishnits”, in which it was also prepared. My wife is from the Caucasus, and she ate lamb as a child, in the form of kebab. I remember a roadside cafe with barely warm, tough and unpleasant-smelling meat on a skewer. Then she insisted for a long time that she did not like this type of meat. And now she eats lamb with great pleasure – thanks to the “kyufta-bozbash” soup :)
I myself tried this soup in its homeland, Azerbaijan. In the city of Nakhichevan.
Here is my version of this dish:
Lamb (shoulder or hind leg) – 400 g,
Water - 2.5 - 3 l,
Fat tail fat - 2 tbsp.,
Rice - 2 tbsp.,
Cherry plum - if you take fresh, then at the rate of 1 piece per one kufta ball,
if you take dried, then at the rate of 3 pieces per kufta ball,
Chickpeas - half a glass,
Potatoes - 6-7 pieces, at least the size of a walnut, maximum the size of a chicken egg,
Onions - 2-3 large heads,
Imereti saffron - on the tip of a knife,
Tomatoes - 2-3 pcs.
Cilantro - a handful of chopped greens on each plate,
Salt - to taste
Ground black pepper - to taste.
This dish has several nuances: it is better to do some preparations in advance - cook the broth on lamb bones (in principle, it is not critical, you can do without it) and soak the chickpeas.
Chickpeas are very strong peas, and you won’t be able to cook them just like that, without first soaking them! It doesn't fall apart even when boiled. To soak this representative of the legume family, you need to pour the required amount of chickpeas in a suitable container with cold water in the evening and soak it for 8 to 14 hours. By the way, in Azerbaijani cuisine there is a very tasty dish with boiled chickpeas - Toyuq kotleti (chicken cutlets with chickpeas).
So! The lamb bone broth is pre-cooked and the chickpeas are soaked too.
Place a pan of lamb bone broth on the stove and add the soaked and swollen chickpeas into the pan.
As soon as it boils, turn the heat down, skim off the foam (there’s foam even from peas!) and put the chopped tomatoes into the pan (it’s a good idea to remove the skin from them, but I was too lazy). The tomatoes will boil to dust - they need flavor and color.
Azerbaijani kyufta
Armenian kufta recipe
While the chickpeas are cooking, we have time. For our kuftya, cook the rice in salted water until half cooked. We make a saffron dressing - pour a pinch of saffron with boiling water in a glass (if you bought it from traders at the market, do not believe that it is saffron. This is its cheaper replacement - Imeretian saffron (aka marigolds, Tagetes), less fragrant and aromatic. But we this option is suitable.) and cover with, say, a saucer so that the aroma does not evaporate.
how to cook kofta
kufta photo
Finely chop the onion (we will need it both in the minced meat and in the soup) and peel the potatoes. In the original, the potatoes should be small, 4-5 cm in diameter. Aesthetics!
kufta recipe with photo
Ishli kufta recipe
Let's make minced meat for the kofta. While we were busy peeling the vegetables, the rice was cooked. Drain, rinse and add it to the previously chopped lamb (in a blender or meat grinder). There is also ground black pepper, salt and finely chopped onions.
how to cook kofta
kofta soup
kofta dish
Azerbaijani kufta recipe
Stir the resulting mixture until smooth. And we make our kyuftas from it. They should be the size of a large chicken egg. Inside each meatball we put either one fresh (pitted) cherry plum (wild, sour ones are needed) or three dried ones. I made it with both fresh and dried, naturally fresh tastes better. Sourness is important.
Here is an option with dried cherry plum:
armenian cuisine kufta
Armenian dish kufta
But with a fresh one:
Here are our kuftas:
While we were enthusiastically stuffing dried cherry plum into the minced meat, the chickpeas reached the “desired condition.” Cook the peas for an hour until they become soft. To do this, we deftly remove the pea from the pan with a spoon and try it - the finished chickpeas should have a slight crunch. Yeah! This means it’s time to put the potatoes and kufta in the pan.
Cook for another 10-15 minutes and add finely chopped onion, black pepper to the soup (actually, the original is peppercorns, but I put coarsely ground ones - it gives the taste, and there is no need to fish it out) and finely chopped fat tail. You can do it without it, but this is an option for those who don’t eat lamb and will cook from beef.
Taste for salt and add to taste. And the final touch is the saffron dressing! Pour it into the soup, let it boil, turn off the heat and cover the saucepan with the soup! ALL!
NO! Not all! We're setting the table! The hostess takes out the plates, cuts the greens (the soup poured into the plate is sprinkled with fresh herbs - cilantro before serving), takes out from the refrigerator a steamed decanter of table wine No. 21. Put two or three kuftas, peas, a couple of potatoes into the plate, fill it with broth and sprinkle with cilantro . This soup is served with lavash (Bummer! I didn’t get any lavash on the way home from work! It’s a shame!) We pour ourselves 50 grams. from a steamed decanter - after all, it’s Friday evening!
Bon appetit! Health to you! Best regards, Sergey Zverev.
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A dish such as kufta is considered to be an Armenian dish, but there are Turkish, Azerbaijani and even Tajik kuftas. Each nation has its own dish and its own characteristics of its preparation. But all these recipes have something in common. Kufta are large meatballs made from the most delicate minced meat prepared in a special way. In some recipes, kofta is prepared as a soup. In others, as a liquid second course, with the addition of potatoes and porridge. Minced meat for meatballs also varies. Kufta is prepared from lamb, veal, and poultry (chicken or turkey).
Kufta recipe with photo
To prepare the dish, take lamb, veal or poultry meat. In the old days, housewives prepared minced meat for kofta on a special log for cutting meat. Special knives were heated in hot water. Heavy knives were used to grind the meat into mince. To make the minced meat wet, add a little water to the meat and beat the meat with hot knives until it becomes liquid minced meat. In our time, such sacrifices are useless. The sirloin is twisted in a meat grinder several times, obtaining a homogeneous, wet minced meat.
Today I will introduce you to the basic recipe for this delicious dish.
There is a kofta recipe where wheat porridge or chickpeas are added to the broth along with potatoes. This makes the dish richer, more satisfying and thicker. Everyone can try their own option and choose the most suitable one.
how to cook kofta in Armenian
Ingredients:
- meat - 1 kg (lamb, beef),
- onions - 2 pcs.,
- dried mint - 0.5 teaspoons,
- salt - to taste,
- ground coriander - 0.5 teaspoons,
- ground black pepper - 1 pinch,
- Utskho-suneli - 0.5 teaspoons,
- saffron - 2 g,
- potatoes - 4 pcs.,
- bay leaf - 1-2 pcs.,
- tomato paste - 1 tbsp. spoon.
Cooking process:
So, I will prepare veal kofta. Cut the meat into small pieces. Diced onions.
Pass onions and meat pieces through a meat grinder. Pour a glass of drinking water into the resulting minced meat. Stir and mince the minced meat again. Now add salt, coriander, dried mint, and spices to the minced meat.
Mix meat with spices. Now you need to beat the minced meat. Remember how you stirred paints in water as a child. Stir the minced meat in the same way, each time scooping it into your palm, turning it over and picking it up again. We need the minced meat to reach a soufflé state. If necessary, add a little more water. Place the kneaded minced meat in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Peel the potatoes and cut into slices.
While the meat base is cooling, steam the saffron in boiling water.
Pour water into a large deep saucepan. There should be a lot of water so that the kofta can float freely in the broth. Place the pan on the fire and let it boil. After boiling, add salt. Form the chilled minced meat into meatballs the size of a woman's fist.
Add saffron tincture to boiling salted water. Wet your hands in water. Take a portion of minced meat for 1 kofta and form a tight ball. In fact, the minced meat will be very liquid, but the formed meatball should be uniform, without cracks. Place the meatball in boiling water. Cook 3-5 meatballs at a time.
Place meatballs in water. Wait 1-2 minutes. Carefully lift the meatballs from the bottom with a spoon so that they do not stick. Place the chopped potatoes into the boiling broth.
Cook until the potatoes are done. The kufra can be removed from the broth if it floats to the surface and cooks for another 5 minutes. Place new balls into the broth. From all the minced meat I got 8 balls. The potatoes continued to cook, and I removed the meatballs and added a new portion. At the very end, add a little tomato to the broth. It will add a complete flavor to the broth.
Place a few pieces of potatoes and a couple of meat balls in a deep bowl. If the balls are too large, you can cut them. Sprinkle with herbs and serve.
Sometimes sour cream sauce or matsoni-based sauce is served with kufta.
Armenian kyufta: recipe with photo from Varvara Sergeevna.
Kufta is an oriental dish! It is prepared everywhere in many countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia. There are several types and methods of preparation And I don't like this dish, but I'll tell you the method that I liked. Trying to remember the delicious dish that I was able to try in one Azerbaijani cafe, I wanted to repeat it, but perhaps I added rice in vain. Although many recipes show cooking this dish with rice. Therefore, everything is according to your wishes.
Also, kufta prepared in Azerbaijani style has a pleasant mint taste. It is served with clear broth, peas and herbs. But in Uzbekistan, kofta is prepared with vegetables and red pepper. The dish is very bright and tasty. Try it!
Ingredients:
First you need to soak the peas overnight. In the morning, rinse well and cook. 
Cut the lamb into small pieces.
Pass through a meat grinder along with the onion.
Add washed and uncooked rice, a little dry mint, pepper and salt. 
Pre-soak the dried apricots in water until soft and cut into 4 pieces each, if they are large. Form large balls from the minced meat, unlike meatballs and meatballs, approximately 5-6 cm in diameter. Place a quarter of dried apricots inside each ball. To prevent the kufta from falling apart during cooking, you need to wet your hands in very salty water. 
Place the kufta in the pan with the peas, which should already be cooked almost until done. 
Place the coarsely cut potatoes in there. Cook until the potatoes are ready. The kyufta should float. You can add one carrot to the broth, but this is not at all necessary.
Pour boiling water over the saffron and let it brew for 10 minutes. 
Add the strained saffron to the broth with the kofta. It will give the dish a very beautiful yellow color. 
Everything is ready, you can pour into plates and serve, sprinkled with herbs. 
Bon appetit!
Caucasian cuisine is a set of national dishes of the peoples living in the Caucasus. These are Georgians, Abkhazians, Lezgins, Ossetians, Armenians, and Azerbaijanis. Each nationality prepares food according to its national traditions and religious beliefs. But the common link is the love for the abundant and varied presence of spices and herbs. The use of various aromatic herbs makes many dishes of Caucasian cuisine piquant and beloved. About flour and sweet dishes, it’s a completely different story.
Dishes of Caucasian cuisine are divided into complex and simple based on cooking technology. The originality of Azerbaijani cuisine attracts people with its unusually tasty dishes, which are therefore loved by many. They confidently and firmly took their place on tables in many regions of our country. These are popular kebabs, lula kebab, dolma, a wide variety of pastries, cheeses and fermented milk drinks.
But always and everywhere the basis will be chopped or minced lamb or beef, chickpeas and herbs. We present to your attention Kufta Bozbash soup - the apotheosis of Azerbaijani cuisine. It is worth mentioning that there is no exact recipe for this miracle soup. Each family prepares it with its own twist, but there is a common component - these are delicious, giant kofta meatballs cooked together with chickpeas.
Recipe Information
Cuisine: Caucasian.
Cooking method: frying, cooking.
Total cooking time: 1 hour
Number of servings: 3 .
Ingredients:
- minced lamb – 600 g
- basil, mint (dried) – 2 tbsp.
- cherry plum (or dried apricots, prunes) – 4 pcs.
- turmeric (or saffron) – 1 tsp.
- potatoes - 2 pcs.
- chickpeas – 0.5 cups
- onion (for minced meat) – 1 pc.
- onion (for frying) – 1 pc.
- rice – 50 g
- dried dill - to taste
- ground chili pepper – 1/4 tsp.
- salt - to taste.
Preparation
It should be noted that chickpeas always require pre-soaking. Ideally, soak it in water overnight. During this time, it will swell wonderfully and cook faster. Tip: in the east, pre-soaked and washed chickpeas are stored in freezers, which is very convenient. It's time to cook, I took out a bag of semi-finished chickpeas and, without defrosting, dropped them into boiling water.
Not every family puts tomatoes in this soup, but after trying it with tomatoes, you will understand how right the first cook was who added them there. Cut the tomatoes into small cubes.
Place them in a frying pan and add finely chopped onion to them. Add vegetable oil. Don't overdo it. The fact is that the minced meat itself is already quite fatty, so the soup does not need excess oil.
Fry the tomatoes with onions and add all the spices. The frying is now ready.
In a separate bowl, combine the minced meat with rice. Add ground onion, favorite spices and dried herbs to the minced meat. Don't forget to add salt.
Form large koftas with your hands. Place prepared fruit in the middle of each ball. You can choose prunes, dried apricots or cherry plums. Close the hole with minced meat, forming a ball.
Add the dressing to the prepared chickpea broth.
Place the kyufta there. Please note that there is no need to stir the soup so that the meatballs do not fall apart.
Potatoes need to be cut into fairly large pieces.
For a special flavor, we recommend bell pepper. The dish can then be served with or without it, but the aroma and taste will remain.
At the end of cooking the soup will look like this.
Finally, dried and fresh herbs are added to the soup.- Bon appetit! Start your collection of Azerbaijani recipes with Kufta-bozbash.
Ishli kufta is an incredibly tasty traditional dish of Armenian cuisine, without which not a single celebration in its homeland is complete. There is no housewife in Armenia who does not know how to cook this dish. And if you haven’t tried ishli kufta yet, especially for you we will tell you how to make it and reveal the secrets of preparing an authentic Armenian dish.
How to cook ishli kyufta in Armenian - recipe?
Ingredients:
For shell:
- minced meat (pork and beef) – 650 g;
- – 1 glass;
- large egg – 1 pc.;
- refined vegetable oil – 30 ml;
- ground sweet paprika – 1 teaspoon;
- ground black pepper – 1 teaspoon;
- salt – 1 teaspoon.
For filling:
- minced beef – 500 g;
- – 1 glass;
- onions – 350 g;
- refined vegetable oil – 70 ml;
- ground black pepper - to taste;
- fresh herbs;
- lemon.
Preparation
Wash the bulgur, pour boiling water over it and leave for seven to ten minutes. After this, drain the water and grind the semi-finished cereal in a blender or pass it through a meat grinder. Add vegetable oil, minced meat, eggs, ground paprika, black pepper and salt to the ground mass and mix well until a sticky consistency is obtained. If necessary, you can add a little flour for viscosity. Place the shell mixture in the refrigerator for a while, and while it cools, prepare the filling.
To do this, first fry in a dry frying pan, and then grind the walnuts using a rolling pin or in a blender. We clean the onions, chop them into very small cubes and sauté in a frying pan with refined vegetable oil until translucent. Then add the minced beef (it should be quite fatty) and fry it along with the prepared onion, thoroughly kneading the lumps. Place nuts into the prepared minced meat, add finely chopped fresh herbs, season everything with ground black pepper (do not add salt), mix, remove from heat and let cool completely.
Now we form the ishli kyufta. After wetting your hands with water and lemon juice, take about a tablespoon of the mixture for the shell with bulgur, form a flatbread, about five millimeters thick, put an incomplete tablespoon of the filling with nuts in the center and, closing the edges, sculpt a product shaped like a lemon. In this way we make the remaining “cutlets” and place them in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes.
During this time, pour about one liter of purified water into the pan, heat it to a boil and put the chilled ishli kofta into it one at a time. Boil the dish over low heat for ten minutes, and then remove it to a sieve and let it drain.
There is also the option of preparing ishli koftas with subsequent frying. In this case, boil the products in boiling salted water for only three minutes, and then fry them in a heated frying pan with 
sufficient amount of refined oil.
Serve the dish with lemon slices, fresh vegetables and herbs, after pouring additional lemon juice.
Very often in Armenian cuisine, feijoa sauce is served with ishli kofta. To prepare it, you need to place the washed fruits in a blender bowl, add peeled garlic cloves to taste, a little fresh herbs, salt and vegetable oil and beat for a few seconds to obtain a spicy sour substance, which is the sauce.
