Kavurma is a broad type of fried or sautéed meat dish found in

Turkish cuisine Turkish cuisine () is the cuisine of Turkey and the Turkish diaspora. It is largely the heritage of Ottoman cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of Mediterranean, Balkan, Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern Eur ...

. The name also refers to canned or preserved versions of a similar dish, prepared by dry frying the meat to render down the fat. Similar dishes are known in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

kuurdak Kuurdak ( ky, куурдак, kk, қуырдақ, Qýyrdaq, tk, gowurdak; Говурдак, , uz, qovurdoq, mn, Хуурдаг), transliterated with various spellings, is a traditional meat dish made in Central Asia. The name comes from a no ...

Etymology

Its name comes from the Turkic word for the technique of frying, ''qawirma'' (" fried thing")Perry, C. "Korma, Kavurma, Ghormeh: A family, or not so much?" in Hosking (ed.) ''Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2009'', p.254 which subsequently was adopted into other languages such as

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, and

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
''

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

. ("kavurma" (frying) is decidedly a Turkish word and ..it is widely used with minor changes in Arabic, Persian and Urdu") Through these, the word - ''kavurma'' in the modern

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

- was the root of the names for other widely different dishes, such as the braised

korma Korma or qorma (; ; ) is a dish originating in Indian subcontinent, consisting of meat or vegetables braised with yogurt ( dahi), water or stock, and spices to produce a thick sauce or gravy. Etymology The English name is an anglicisation of Hind ...

of the

Indian Subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...

,"korma, n.". OED Online. June 2013. Oxford University Press the stewed

qovurma Qovurma is a cooked dish that is part of the cuisine of Azerbaijan. There are several varieties, all of which involve stewing meat with fruit, herbs, or vegetables. Despite sometimes being translated as "kourma", the dish has no culinary relati ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and the stewed ghormeh of

Iranian cuisine Iranian cuisine () refers to the culinary practices of Iran. Due to the historically common usage of the term "Persia" to refer to Iran in the Western world,Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 ( ...

.Perry, C. "Korma, Kavurma, Ghormeh: A family, or not so much?" in Hosking (ed.) ''Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2009'', p.254 Despite the use of the same root word, it is quite possible that the dishes themselves are not related.Perry (2009), p.256

Ingredients and technique

In Turkey, ''kavurma'' or ''saç kavurma'' refers to a dish made by sautéing or frying onions and meat such as

lamb Lamb or The Lamb may refer to: * A young sheep * Lamb and mutton, the meat of sheep Arts and media Film, television, and theatre * ''The Lamb'' (1915 film), a silent film starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr. in his screen debut * ''The Lamb'' (1918 ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...

, hare or other game briskly over a high heat. Peppers such as

urfa biber Urfa biber (also known as isot pepper, ) is a dried Turkish chili pepper of the type ''Capsicum annuum'' cultivated in the Urfa region of Turkey. It is often described as having a smoky, raisin-like taste. Urfa biber is technically a red (chili) ...

are nearly always used, and the dish is cooked and often served in a shallow two-handled pan or ''saç'' which has its origins in the cooking utensils used by nomads. ''Çoban Kavurma'', "

shepherd A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

's kavurma", similarly comprises meat fried with onion, tomato and

capsicum ''Capsicum'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the Solanum, nightshade family Solanaceae, native to Americas, the Americas, cultivated worldwide for their chili pepper or bell pepper fruit. Etymology and names The generic name may come f ...

, while ''sahanda kavurma'' is served in a small metal pan called a ''sahan''. Eksili kofte - Sac kavurma

A related dish, also known as ''kavurma'', involves frying the finely minced meat slowly to render down the fat in a technique analogous to

confit Confit (, ) (from the French word '' confire'', literally "to preserve") is any type of food that is cooked slowly over a long period as a method of preservation. Confit, as a cooking term, describes when food is cooked in grease, oil, or suga ...

.Perry (2009), p.255 Like confit, the meat can then be stored in jars or other containers sealed with a layer of fat: commercially produced versions are available from Turkish grocers. This type of "winter" ''kavurma'' was in the past an important part of the diet of the Turkish military,''Proceedings of the Armed Forces International Nutrition Conference'' (1958), Interdepartmental Committee on Nutrition for National Defense, p.14 and was particularly used in times when fresh meat was scarce. It was often prepared from the meat of sheep slaughtered in the autumn, for storage during the winter,Halıcı (1999), p.39 when small amounts would be used to flavour vegetable and cereal dishes. In

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

and

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, the same preserving method is known as ''awarma'', and as ''qāwurma'' in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, though in the latter the word is also used for the simple sautéd meat dish also found in Turkey. The same confit-like technique is also used in

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

to preserve lamb or camel meat.

Meatless kavurma

In parts of northern and western Turkey ''kavurma'' refers to a vegetable dish. Like other versions, it begins by frying onions, but then adds chopped vegetables, often including

pickled Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food's texture and flavor. The resulting food is called ...

vegetables, along with water and cooking everything together. It is possible that this meatless form of ''kavurma'' has its origins in older fast day dishes of the region.

References

{{Cuisine of Turkey, kavurma Turkish cuisine Turkish words and phrases food preservation