Kofta

Tabrizi Kofta (Iran) includes yellow split peas as well as minced meat

A vegetarian kofta

Akçaabat köftesi (Turkey)

Paneer-based kofta (Kolkata, India)

Vegetable k ofta curry, served with rice (India)

Finger-shaped kofta (Egypt), in a pita with French fries and salad

Fish kofta curry (Pakistan)

Kofta is a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes found in South Asian, Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Central Asian cuisine. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced or ground meat—usually beef, chicken, lamb, or pork—mixed with spices and/or onions. In South Asia and the Middle East, koftas are usually made from lamb, beef, mutton or chicken, whereas Turkish Cypriot, and Balkan versions may use pork, beef, lamb, or mixture of the three. In India, vegetarian varieties include koftas made from potato, calabash, paneer, or banana. In Europe, kofta is often served as fast food sandwich in kebab shops.

Koftas in India are usually served cooked in a spicy curry/gravy and are eaten with boiled rice or a variety of Indian breads. In Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan, koftas are served with a spiced gravy, as dry variations are considered to be kebabs. Shrimp and fish koftas are found in South India, West Bengal, some parts of the Persian Gulf, and parts of Egypt.

Names and etymology

The word kofta comes from Classical Persian kōfta (کوفته), meaning "rissole", from the verb kōftan (کوفتن), "to pound" or "to grind", reflecting the ground meat used for the meatballs.

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Variations

The meat is often mixed with other ingredients, such as rice, bulgur, vegetables, or eggs to form a smooth paste. They can be grilled, fried, steamed, poached, baked or marinated, and may be served with a rich spicy sauce. Koftas are sometimes made from fish or vegetables rather than red meat, especially in India; deep-fried kofta made from shrimp is known in Egypt. Variations occur in North Africa, the Mediterranean, the Balkans, and India. According to a 2005 study done by a private food company, there were 291 different kinds of kofta in Turkey. In the Arab world, 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 include the unusually large Azerbaijani (Iranian) Tabriz köftesi, having an average diameter of 20 cm, (8 in).

Koftas in South Asian cuisine are normally cooked in a spiced gravy, or curry, and sometimes simmered with hard-boiled eggs. Vegetarian koftas are eaten by a large population in India. The British dish Scotch egg may have been inspired by the Indian dish Nargisi kofta ("Narcissus kofta"), where hard-boiled eggs are encased in a layer of spicy kofta meat. In Bengal, a region of eastern India, koftas are made from prawns, fish, green bananas, cabbage or meat, such as minced goat meat.

In Albania, there are specialized shops called Qofteri, which offer qofte and beer.

In Central Asia, kofta is cooked with liberal amounts of tail fat.

In Bulgaria, kofta is usually made from pork, beef or veal, or a mixture of the three. They are usually served as a meze with tarator.

In the former Yugoslav republics, present day Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia, they are called ćufte or ćufteta. They are made of any single meat including fish, or mixture of meats, mixed with finely chopped onions, breadcrumbs, eggs, and seasonings. They are most often made by first being browned and then simmered in a roux made with paprika called crvena zaprška "red roux", or in a tomato sauce similar to Italo-American meatballs.

In Greece and Cyprus, kofta is usually fried and eaten with tzatziki or yogurt.

In Israel, meat kufta is part of the Mizrahi Jewish cuisine, and is made of minced meat, herbs and spices, and cooked with tomato sauce, date syrup, pomegranate syrup or tamarind syrup with vegetables or beans. A fish version is prepared with minced fish, coriander, dried peppers (bell peppers and chili peppers), onion, black pepper and salt, and is usually cooked in a tomato stew with chickpeas or white beans. The word kufta in Modern Hebrew, however, is used to describe a broad variety of dough dumplings, and was coined after the mention in the Jerusalem Talmud, written circa year 200 CE.

In Lebanon, kafta is usually prepared by mixing the ground beef with onion, parsley, allspice, black pepper and salt.

In Morocco, kufta may be prepared in a tagine.

In Pakistan, kofta is made from ground beef with onion, spices and salt. Nargisi kofta with hard boiled egg encased in spicy kofta are also popular.

In Jordan, they are usually made of beef, chicken, lamb or a mixture of chicken and beef with allspice, parsley, mint, onion, black pepper and salt and are fried in olive oil or cooked in tomato or pomegranate stews.

In Romania, there is a local variety of kofta, known as chiftele or chiftea. They are usually made from minced pork, mixed with mashed potatoes and spices, then deep-fried. They are served with pilaf or mashed potatoes.

See also

• Bobotie
• Ćevapi
• Frikadeller
• Hamburger
• Kabab koobideh
• Meatball
• Mititei
• Şiş köfte
• Sulu köfte

External links

• The dictionary definition of kofta at Wiktionary