Analı Kızlı (Stuffed Bulgur Köfte in a Tart Sauce)

[sazji]

Analı Kızlı (Stuffed Bulgur Köfte in a Tart Sauce)

Serves 12 as Main Dish.

The name of this dish means "Mothers and Daughters," which refers to the larger stuffed bulgur köfte and the smaller plain ones. It is mostly known from the E. Mediterranean region of Turkey, in the area around the cities of Mersin and Adana.

This is a large recipe; I generally halve it and it still makes a lot. Bulgur swells....!

Don't let the "expert" classification put you off; learning to form and stuff the köfte does take some practice but you will have plenty of practice.

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Bulgur Shell

• kg fine bulgur
  
• g pounded meat (beef or lamb)
  
• c flour
  
• T pepper paste
  
• tsp salt
  
• egg
  
• black pepper, cumin to taste
  

Meat Filling

• kg finely ground meat (beef or lamb)
  
• kg finely chopped onion
  
• T pepper sauce (or less)
  
• g butter
  
• salt, black and red pepper to taste
  

Sauce

• c meat broth
  
• c cooked chickpeas
  
• T butter
  
• T dried mint
  
• med. lemons, juiced
  
• 2 Tomatoes, grated
  

Bulgur Shell

Moisten bulgur with water just even with surface of bulgur, let stand 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, cumin and pepper paste, and knead until mixture begins to hold together. Add Meat, flour and egg, continue kneading till the mixture holds together and is easy to form. It will take around 15 minutes.

Filling

Sautee meat with a very little bit of oil until the liquid is absorbed/steamed away, add onion. When it has stopped releasing water, add salt, black pepper, pepper sauce, butter and red pepper to taste, mix and sautee well, then remove from heat, cool and refrigerate until it sets hard (this will make the stuffing process much easier).

Make the "mothers and daughters." Some make them larger, some smaller. Ideally they should be the size of a large shooter marble, i.e. about bite size but I tend to make them larger because I don't have a week to devote to it... It's better if you have a couple people to do it, one to make the shells and another to stuff and close.

With wet hands, take pieces of the dough a little smalle than a walnut. Open by poking a finger into the center, then with thumb and forefinger (you can use whatever finger you want!) pinch the walls to thin them. Ideally they should be quite thin, half a centimeter or so especially if you make them small. It should be slightly oblong. Put in a teaspoon of the filling, close and smooth into a round ball.

Continue till the meat is gone; with the remaining bulgur make small köfte about the size of hazelnuts (daughters).

Sauce

Grate tomatoes into a bowl. Grate them with the skin on and the stem side in the palm of your hand; the flesh will go into the bowl and the skin will remain in your hand.

Put the broth in a large pot, add the cooked chickpeas and bring to a boil, add grated tomatoes. Add lemon, salt and pepper. Reduce heat, add small kofte and allow to simmer gently.

Meanwhile, in a small sautee pan, melt butter, and add the pepper paste and mint and add to the broth. Some people like to add a tablespoon of flour to the butter and toast a bit before adding the other ingredients.

You will cook the large köfte in batches, because there is no way they will all fit. Add around 1/3 of the köfte to the broth and simmer 10 minutes, carefully remove. Repeat with remaining köfte. Feel free to add more broth/lemon, pepper paste etc. if you like. I like a lot of sauce and generally make more. It should be like a slightly thick soup, tart and peppery but not burning with pepper. To me, what really makes this dish is the combination of red pepper, tartness and mint.

Keywords: Main Dish, Expert

( RG1979 )