Jump to content

Kofta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 82.17.238.199 (talk) at 09:02, 20 July 2011 (→Name: alphabetised, minor clean-up). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Kofta (Kufteh Tabrizi)

Kofta (see section Name for other names) is a Middle Eastern and South Asian meatball or meatloaf.

In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced or ground meat — usually beef or lamb — mixed with spices and/or onions. The vegetarian variety like lauki kofta, shahi aloo kofta are popular in India.

Ingredients

The meat is often mixed with other ingredients such as rice, Bulgur, vegetables, or eggs to form a smooth paste. Koftas are sometimes made with fish or vegetables rather than red meat, especially in India. They can be grilled, fried, steamed, poached, baked or marinated, and may be served with a rich spicy sauce. Variations occur in North Africa, the Mediterranean, Balkans and South Asia. In Pakistan, Koftas are made of beef and chicken. Nargisi kofta with eggs are also very popular in Pakistan. According to a 2005 study done by a private food company, there were 291 different kinds of kofta in Turkey, where it is very popular.[1] In Arab countries, kufta is usually shaped into cigar-shaped cylinders.

Early recipes (included in some of the earliest known Arabic cookbooks) generally concern seasoned lamb rolled into orange-sized balls, and glazed with egg yolk and sometimes saffron. This method was taken to the west and is referred to as gilding, or endoring. Many regional variations exist, notable among them the unusually large Iranian Kufteh Tabrizi, having an average diameter of 20 cm (8 in).[2]

Koftas in South Asian cuisine are normally cooked in a spicy curry and sometimes with whole boiled eggs. These kofta dishes are very popular with South Asian families and are widely available from many Pakistani and Indian restaurants.

When hard-boiled egg are encased in a layer of the spicy kofta meat, the result is called Nargisi kofta. The British dish Scotch egg is inspired from Nargisi kofta.[citation needed]

In Bengal, a region of East India, koftas are made with prawns, fish, green bananas, cabbage, as well as minced goat meat.

Name

The word kofta is derived from Persian kūfta: In Persian, کوفتن (kuftan) means "to beat" or "to grind" or meatball.[3] Template:Multicol

Template:Multicol-break

Template:Multicol-end

See also

References

  1. ^ Turkish Newspaper Article
  2. ^ Oxford Companion to Food, s.v. kofta
  3. ^ Alan S. Kaye, "Persian loanwords in English", English Today 20:20-24 (2004), doi:10.1017/S0266078404004043.
Look up kofta in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kofta&oldid=440451492"