![NargisiKofta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/NargisiKofta.jpg)
Kofta is a family of
meatball
A meatball is ground meat rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many type ...
or
meatloaf
Meatloaf is a dish of ground meat that has been combined with other ingredients and formed into the shape of a loaf, then baked or smoked. The final shape is either hand-formed on a baking tray, or pan-formed by cooking it in a loaf pan. ...
dishes found in
Balkan
The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...
,
Middle Eastern
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...
,
South Caucasian,
South Asian
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
and
Central Asian
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a 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 the form ...
cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of
minced meatusually beef, chicken, pork, lamb or mutton, or a mixturemixed with spices and sometimes other ingredients. The earliest known recipes are found in early Arab cookbooks and call for ground lamb.
There are many national and regional variations. There are also vegetable and uncooked versions. Shapes vary and include balls, patties, and cylinders. Sizes typically vary from that of a
golf ball
A golf ball is a special ball designed to be used in the game of golf.
Under the rules of golf, a golf ball has a mass no more than , has a diameter not less than , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits. Like g ...
to that of an orange.
Etymology
In English, ''kofta'' is a
loanword
A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because ...
borrowed from which in turn is derived from
Classical Persian
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and u ...
, contemporarily . The earliest extant use of the word in the Urdu language is attested from the year 1665 in
Mulla Nusrati's ''ʿAlī Nāma''. It was first used in English in ''
Qanoon-e-Islam'' in 1832, and then by
James Wise in 1883. The languages of the region of the kofta's origin have adopted the word with minor phonetic variations.
Similar foods are called in other languages croquettes, dumplings, meatballs, rissoles, and turnovers.
History
The first appearance of recipes for kofta are in the earliest Arab cookbooks.
The earliest recipes are for large ground lamb meatballs triple-glazed in a mixture of
saffron
Saffron () is a spice derived from the flower of ''Crocus sativus'', commonly known as the "saffron crocus". The vivid crimson stigma (botany), stigma and stigma (botany)#style, styles, called threads, are collected and dried for use mainly ...
and egg yolk.
This glazing method spread to the West, where it is referred to as "gilding" or "endoring".
Koftas moved to India; according to
Alan Davidson nargisi kofta were served at the
Moghul court.
Koftas are found from the Indian subcontinent through Central Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans, and northern Africa.
Koftas are found in the traditional cuisines of Iran, Afghanistan,
Albania, Bulgaria,
Georgia,
Armenia,
Azerbaijan,
Greece,
India,
Morocco,
Pakistan,
Romania, and Turkey.
In Turkey it is "a preferred offering at communal gatherings of all kinds", according to Engin Akin.
In Armenia and Azerbaijan it is, along with
dolma
Dolma (Turkish for “stuffed”) is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with who ...
,
lavash
Lavash ( hy, լավաշ) is a thin flatbread usually leavened, traditionally baked in a tandoor (''tonir'') or on a ''sajj'', and common to the cuisines of South Caucasus, Western Asia, and the areas surrounding the Caspian Sea. Lavash is on ...
,
harissa
Harissa ( ar, هريسة ''harīsa'', from Maghrebi Arabic) is a hot chili pepper paste, native to the Maghreb. The main ingredients are roasted red peppers, Baklouti peppers (), spices and herbs such as garlic paste, caraway seeds, coriander ...
,
kebabs
Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish that originates from cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the category are popular around the wor ...
, and
pahlava
The Pahlavas are a people mentioned in ancient Indian texts like the Manu Smriti, various Puranas, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the Brihat Samhita. According to P. Carnegy, In the 4th century BCE, Vartika of Katyayana mentions the ''Sakah ...
, a dish of "clearly symbolic ethnic significance" often argued over by
gastronationalists attempting to claim it as one of their own country's traditional dishes that has been co-opted by the other country.
Kofta is a popular dish among
Assyrian people.
Variations
Generally meat is mixed with spices and often other ingredients such as rice,
bulgur
Bulgur (from tr, bulgur, itself from fa, بلغور, bolġur (bolghur)/balġur (balghur), groats ), also riffoth (from biblical he, ריפות, riffoth) and burghul (from ar, برغل, burġul ), is a cracked wheat dish found ...
, vegetables, or eggs to form a paste.
They can be grilled, fried, steamed, poached, baked, or marinated, and may be served with a rich spicy sauce or in a soup or stew.
Koftas are sometimes made from
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
or vegetables rather than red meat. Some versions are stuffed with nuts, cheese, or eggs.
Generally the size can vary from the "size of an orange to the size of a golf ball",
although some variants are outside that range; ''tabriz koftesi'', which average in diameter, are the largest.
They can be shaped in various forms
including
patties
A patty or burger (in British English) is a flattened, usually round, serving of ground meat and/or legumes, grains, vegetables, or meat alternatives. Patties are found in multiple cuisines throughout the world.
In British and American En ...
, balls, or cylinders. Some versions are uncooked.
Examples
*
Chiftele
Chiftele, plural form of chiftea, are flat and round meatballs from Romanian traditional cuisine. Chiftele are usually made from minced pork, mixed with mashed potatoes and spices, then deep-fried. Chiftele is served with pilaf or mashed potatoes ...
, a
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
version using ground pork mixed with mashed potatoes
*
Çiğ köfte
Çiğ köfte () or chee kofta is a kofta dish that is a regional specialty of southeastern Anatolia in Edessa (modern-day Urfa). The dish is served as an appetizer or meze, and it is closely related with ''kibbeh nayyeh'' from Lebanese cuisine.
...
, a
Turkish and
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
version made with
bulgur
Bulgur (from tr, bulgur, itself from fa, بلغور, bolġur (bolghur)/balġur (balghur), groats ), also riffoth (from biblical he, ריפות, riffoth) and burghul (from ar, برغل, burġul ), is a cracked wheat dish found ...
and sometimes raw meat
*
İnegöl köfte, a Turkish style
*
Islama köfte, a steamed kofta from Turkey
*
Kibbeh
Kibbeh (, also kubba and other spellings; ar, كبة, kibba; tr, içli köfte) is a family of dishes based on spiced ground meat, onions, and grain, popular in Middle Eastern cuisine.
In Levantine cuisine, kibbeh is usually made by pounding ...
, a category of dish in
Middle Eastern cuisine which includes koftas, sometimes served raw
*
Analı kızlı, a Turkish soup
*
Kofta curry, having meat or vegetable balls in a
curry
A curry is a dish with a sauce seasoned with spices, mainly associated with South Asian cuisine. In southern India, leaves from the curry tree may be included.
There are many varieties of curry. The choice of spices for each dish in trad ...
sauce. There are many variations using different ingredients for the balls, such as kofta curries made with
paneer
Paneer (), also known as ponir () is a fresh acid-set cheese common in the Indian subcontinent (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) made from full-fat buffalo milk or cow milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting sof ...
, chicken or
mutton
Lamb, hogget, and mutton, generically sheep meat, are the meat of domestic sheep, ''Ovis aries''. A sheep in its first year is a lamb and its meat is also lamb. The meat from sheep in their second year is hogget. Older sheep meat is mutton. Gen ...
; it derives from 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 ...
.
* Koofteh berenji, koofteh hamedani, koofteh nar,
koofteh tabrizi and koofteh shirin-e kermanshahi, Iranian variants.
* Nargisi kofta, an Indian dish in which a hard-boiled egg is wrapped in the kofta mixture
*
Pishtha, a meatball mentioned in the
Sushrutha Samhita
*
Şiş köfte, a kebab-style kofta from Turkish cuisine
*
Sulu köfte
Sulu köfte is a Turkish stew or thick soup ( çorba) with köfte. It consists of meatballs usually made with minced beef, mixed with rice or bulgur, onion and spices and boiled in their own gravy, with tomato sauce, olive oil and Turkish r ...
, a Turkish kofta soup or stew
*
Tabriz köftesi, an
Azerbaijani version unusual for its average diameter of
*
Tomatokeftedes, a
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
vegetarian version which uses tomatoes
[Aglaia Kremezi and Anissa Hellou, 'What's in the Name of the Dish' in Richard Hosking (ed.), ''Food and Language: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking 2009'' (London: Prospect Books, 2010) 206]
File:Kotlet on the pan.jpg, Kotlet from Iran
File:Koofteh tabrizi.jpg, alt=Three eight-inch meatballs in sauce, Iranian ''Tabrizi kofta'' include yellow split peas
Split peas are an agricultural or culinary preparation consisting of the dried, peeled and split seeds of ''Pisum sativum'', the pea.
Harvesting
The peas are spherical when harvested, with an outer skin. The peas are dried and the dull-coloure ...
and potatoes as well as minced meat
File:Kofte Chawal from India.jpg, alt=Sauced meatballs with rice, Indian vegetable kofta curry served with rice
File:EgFoodKofta.jpg, Egyptian cigar-shaped kofta in a pita
See also
*
List of meatball dishes
This is a list of notable meatball dishes. A meatball is ground or minced meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, bak ...
* ''
Bobotie''
* ''
Ćevapi
Ćevapi (, ), ćevapčići (formal: diminutive; , ) is a grilled dish of minced meat found traditionally in the countries of southeast Europe (the Balkans). It is considered a national dish of Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is also comm ...
''
*
Falafel
Falafel (; ar, فلافل, ) is a deep-fried ball or patty-shaped fritter in Middle Eastern cuisine (especially in Levantine and Egyptian cuisines) made from ground chickpeas, broad beans, or both. Nowadays, falafel is often served ...
* ''
Frikadeller
A frikadelle (plural frikadellen) is a rounded, flat-bottomed, pan-fried meatball of minced meat, often likened to the German version of meatballs. The origin of the dish is unknown. The term is German but the dish is associated with German, ...
''
*
Hamburger
A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...
*
Kabab koobideh
* ''
Mititei
Mititei () or mici (; both Romanian words meaning "little ones", "small ones") is a dish from the Romanian cuisine, consisting of grilled ground meat rolls in cylindrical shape made from a mixture of beef, lamb with spices, such as garlic, bla ...
''
*
Scotch egg
A Scotch egg is a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and baked or deep-fried .
Origin
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives the first instance of the name as of 1809, in an edition of Maria Rundell's '' A New System ...
*
Shami kebab
Shami kabab or shaami kabab is a local variety of kebab, originating from the Indian subcontinent. It a popular dish in modern-day Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi cuisines. It is composed of a small patty of minced meat, generally beef, but ...
*
Shish taouk
* ''
Yuvarlakia
Yuvarlakia, or giouvarlakia ( el, γιουβαρλάκια, from tr, yuvarlak, 'round' Λεξικό της κοινής Νεοελληνικής (''Dictionary of Common Modern Greek''), Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών ...
''
References
{{Cuisine of Greece
Urdu-language words and phrases
Arab cuisine
Assyrian cuisine
Balkan cuisine
South Asian cuisine
Central Asian cuisine
Middle Eastern cuisine
Meatballs
Middle Eastern grilled meats
hu:Török konyha#Húsgombócok