Kurdish cuisine

Kurdish cuisine ( ku, or ''Xwarina Kurdî'') consists of a wide variety of foods prepared by the Kurdish people. There are cultural similarities of Kurds and their immediate neighbours in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, and Armenia. Kurdish food is typical of western Asian cuisine.

Culinary customs

The Kurdish diet includes a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Lamb and chicken are the primary meats. Breakfast is typically flat bread, cheese, honey, sheep or cow yogurt, and a glass of black tea. For lunch, lamb and vegetables are simmered in a tomato sauce to make a stew usually served with rice and savory dishes are usually served with rice or flat bread (Naan). Kurdistan has a climate and soil suited to grapes, pomegranates, figs, and walnuts. Kurdish honey has a clear light taste and is often sold with the honeycomb. Kurdistan also produces dairy products from sheep and cow milk. Kurds make many types of kofta and kubba, dumplings filled with meat.

Kurdish cuisine makes abundant use of fresh herbs.

Sweetened black tea is a very common drink, along with bitter strong coffee. Another favourite Kurdish drink is "mastow" (Sorani) or "Ava Mast", which is yogurt and salt mixed with water. The fermented version of this is called Do ( Doogh). Both beverages are often served with the addition of dill, mint, pennyroyal or seeds from the Pistacia kurdica tree.

Staples of Kurdish cuisine are berbesel, biryani, dokliw, kellane, kullerenaske, kutilk, parêv tobouli, kuki ( meat or vegetable pies), birinç ( white rice alone or with meat or vegetables and herbs), and a variety of salads, pastries, and drinks specific to different parts of Kurdistan. Other popular dishes are makluba, kofta, shifta, shilah/maraga, spinach with eggs, wheat & lentil soup, beet & meat soup, sweet turnip, cardamon cookies, burgul pilaf, mehîr, hûr û rûvî, pel ( yaprakh), chichma this dish is common in Erbil (Hewlêr), tefti, niskene and nane niskan.

'' Sawarr'', a traditional dish among Kurdish farmers, is made of wheat grain that is boiled, sun dried and pounded in a mortar ('' curn'') to get rid of the husk. The wheat is then crushed in a mill ('' destarr''). The resulting grain food can be boiled and served.

''Tapsi'' is a dish of aubergines, green peppers, courgettes and potatoes in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. '' Tashreeb'' consists of layers of naan in a sauce of green pepper, tomato, onions and chillies.
A typical Kurdish breakfast consists of cheese, butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers, reçel (jam/marmalade; a preserve of whole fruits) and honey usually consumed on top of kaymak. Sausage, baked goods and even soups can be taken as a morning meal in Kurdistan. Perhaps more so than traditional breads such as pide, a crusty white loaf is widely consumed. A common Kurdish speciality for breakfast is called menemen, which is prepared with roasted tomatoes, peppers, olive oil and eggs. Invariably, black tea is served at breakfast.

Dishes and foods

Dairy products

In Kurdistan, yoghurt is called mast. ,and considered the most popular fermented dairy product which produced from cow milk or a mixture of sheep and goat milk using the traditional method. Dairy products also comprise a large portion of traditional Kurdish food.

Keşk known as Kashk is a fermented and strained sour yogurt that can be consumed on its own as a cheese, or used as an ingredient in soups.

Cheeses

The Kurds produce many varieties of cheese, mostly from sheep's milk. Kurdish cheese has been traditionally prepared from raw milk and it is ripened in goat's skin bags.

* '' Pista''
* ''Kars kasseri''
* '' Wan herbed cheese'' ( Wan herbed cheese)
* '' Torak''
* '' Salamura''

* Penîrê Kopê
*Penîrê salk
*Daleme

Soups and ''ash''

* '' Şorbeşîr''
* '' Şorbe''
* '' Şorba ser û pê''
* '' Mahluta''
* ''Şorbe nisk'' ( lentil soup)
* '' Gêrmiya Êrişte'' (thyme dumpling soup)
* '' Germîya sîr'' (winter rice soup)
*Terkhina
*Halimaw
*Milky rice
*Qaziane
*Dokliw
*Yogurt ash
*Sanga sir

Bread

* '' Nanê Loş'' (Lavash)
* '' Nanê tarîganê'' ( Rye Bread)
* '' Nanê tîr'' ( Yufka)
* '' Nanê Tenûr''
* '' Nanê Hewramî''
* '' Nanê Kulêrê''
* '' Kilorîk'' ( Simit)
* '' Lahmacun''
* '' Purgaç'' (Shepherd's Bread)

* Kalane bread
*Bersaq
*

Pilav and pasta

In Kurdistan, bread can be found in various forms. Their ingredients differ as well as their shapes, densities, and textures.

* ''Biryani''
* '' Brinji sor''
* ''Girar, Sawer''
* '' Keşke''

Pastries

* '' Borakê Panêr'' (Cheese Borek)
* '' Lawzena''
* ''Kurdish Borek'' ( Kürt Böreği)
* '' Kahi silq''
* '' Pelûl, Paloola''
* '' Tirşyat]''

Vegetarian dishes

* '' Fasolya''
* '' Kartolên Pîvazan'' (Kurdish Potato-Onion Sauté)

Vegetable dishes

* '' Shlai kolaka''
* '' Tirş û pîvaz'' (Tirshoopiaz)
* '' Lobiyên Çêkirî'' (Kurdish Stewed Beans)
* '' Bamî'' (Kurdish okra stew)

Kebabs

* '' Urfa Kebap''
* '' Ciger şîş''
* '' Cergwez''
* '' Biraşka şîşê''

Egg dishes

* '' Hêk ê bacanê sor'' (Eggs in tomato)

Meze and salads

* ''Cacik'' (Jajeek, Tzatziki)
* '' Seleta Palpena'' (Purslane Salad)
* '' Seleta denka beqla''
* '' Şilkena''
* '' Seleta Şivana'' (Classic Kurdish Salad)
* '' Tirş û pivaz'' (Tirshoopiaz)

Stuffed vegetables

Stuffed vegetables are widely known as Pelpêç (Sarma) or Pel (Dolma) in Kurdish regions. It is slowly simmered and they fill the house with an irresistible scent of fresh herbs, aromatics, and tangy lemons.

* '' Pel'' (Dolma)
* '' Pelpêç '' (Yaprak or Sarma)

Meat dishes

As nomads and herders, lamb and chicken have been the main dishes of in Kurdish cuisine for centuries.

* '' Doghava''
* '' Ecîn, Çîgê goşt or Kutilka Rihayê'' ( Çiğ köfte)
* '' Kutilk''
* '' Rihik'' (Kurdish beef)
* '' Givîşk'' (Kurdish rice and beef sausage)
* ''Biryani ya mirîşka'' (Kurdish chicken biryani)
* '' Kepari''
* '' Teşrîba Mirşkê'' (Chicken with sumac)
* '' Helîma Ardan'' (Kurdish Roux)

Fish

* ''Mazgouf''

Desserts

* '' Bastiq''
* '' Eşûran'' (Ashura)
* '' Fetîr''
* '' Helaw''
* '' Hesîde''
* '' Loqme or Bamik''
* '' Luqmeqazi''
* '' Paklawa''
* '' Pirtik''
* '' Qetmer''
* '' Rewani''
* '' Şilikî''
* '' Şîrîna kûçe''
* '' Xoşav''
* ''Zerde''

Non-alcoholic beverages

* '' Dew''
* '' Mastaw''
* ''Kurdish coffee'' (Qehweya Kezwanê or Kafêya Kurdî)
* '' Ava Sûsê''
* '' Chai'' (Çay)
* '' Gulav'' ( Rose Water)
* '' Lebzîne''
* '' Ava Kişmîş'' (Raisin drink)

Holiday celebrations

During the festival of Newroz, Kurds enjoy picnics in the countryside, eating traditional food, often with dolma, and dancing the traditional Kurdish dance called Halperke.

Kurdish people also enjoy Eid food such as chicken, rice, dolma and biryani.

Related cuisines

* Armenian cuisine
* Assyrian cuisine
* Azerbaijani cuisine
* Balkan cuisine
* Caucasian cuisine
* Central Asian cuisine
* Cypriot cuisine
* Greek cuisine
* Iranian cuisine
* Levantine cuisine
* Mediterranean cuisine
* Mesopotamian cuisine
* Middle Eastern cuisine
* Ottoman cuisine
* Turkish cuisine
* Turkmen cuisine

See also

* Kurdish coffee, a hot drink made from terebinth

References

Bibliography

* Barzinji, Ala, ''Traditional Kurdish Food: An insight into Kurdish culinary heritage'', 2015, .
* Sinjari, Emel, ''The Kurdish Cookbook'', 2016, .
* Zebari, Chiman, ''My Life, My Food, My Kurdistan'', 2015, .
* Nikolovski, Goce, ''Taste of Kurdish Cuisine: Part 1'', 2016, .

External links

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Turkish cuisine
Iraqi cuisine
Syrian cuisine
Iranian cuisine
Middle Eastern cuisine
Levantine cuisine
Mediterranean cuisine