Wednesday 3 August 2011

How to Make Bulgur Köfte

Making Köfte (meatballs) out of bulgur is very easy and the base of several dishes in Turkey. You can either make them the hard way  by hand or just put everything into your food processor and process with the metal blade until the mixture comes together.


A plate of prepared köfte waiting to be cooked into one of the many recipes


The size of these should be no bigger than the size of the average catseye marble or smaller.


prepared dough

2 cups fine bulgur (simit)
flour
water
salt


Put the bulgur into your food processor bowl with the metal blade.  Add in about 2 tbsp of flour, salt (to taste) and about 4 tbsp of water.  Pulse until well mixed, look at the mix if it is dry keep adding in very small amounts, tablespoonfuls at a time and keep pulsing until the mix is soft and pliable. Use your judgement to decide the flour and water amounts.  This dough should be able to hold together when being cooked.


Wet your hands with water, some people use oil, try both and see what works better for you. Take marble sized pieces and squeeze together to make sure the mix is bonded then roll well into small balls.  Keep wetting your hands while you work your way through the mixture.  Dont make them too wet or your mixture will become too wet to work with.  You have to be confident and fast when working with this dough as it dries out quickly making it harder and harder to be able to form the köftes.  If your mix becomes too hard add in a very small amount of water and knead through or using very wet hands knead it again until it becomes pliable.


Two cups of fine bulgur is enough to feed a family or enough for a buffet sized dish.


To cook the köfte put a large saucepan filled with water onto the stove and bring it to the boil.  In the water add a splash of olive oil.  When the water comes to a rolling boil add the köfte.  They dont take long to cook.  When they come to the top which is in about a few minutes take a slotted spoon and lift out of the water and put onto a plate.


You can eat these as is with an olive oil, tomato based dressing or add the köfte into soupy dishes to make hearty meals.


Coming up on Friday I will give you a easy dish using these köftes..

3 comments:

  1. I must try it also.. thx for sharing :)

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  2. Can you put in some herbs or other flavourings?

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  3. I am giving tradditonal recipes so keeping that in mind you can either have plain like this or add in some pepper(tomato) paste. If you want to make Turkish style you can add in whatever you like.

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