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==Variations==
==Variations==
[[File:EgFoodKofta.jpg|thumb|right|Cigar-shaped kofta (Egypt), in a pita with [[French fries]] and [[salad]]]]
[[File:EgFoodKofta.jpg|thumb|right|Cigar-shaped kofta (Egypt), in a pita with [[French fries]] and [[salad]]]]
The meat is often mixed with other ingredients, such as rice, [[bulgur]], vegetables, or [[Egg (food)|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 (food)|fish]] or vegetables rather than red meat.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Abdel Fattah|first1=Iman Adel|title=Bites Fil Beit: Koftet el Gambari – Shrimp kofta|url=http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/12/05/bites-fil-beit-koftet-el-gambari-shrimp-kofta/|website=Daily News Egypt|access-date=19 April 2015|date=5 December 2013|archive-date=3 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503022013/http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/12/05/bites-fil-beit-koftet-el-gambari-shrimp-kofta/|url-status=live}}</ref> The size can vary from "size of an orange to the size of a golf ball."<ref name=":2" /> They can be shaped into [[patties]], meat balls, or cigar-like shapes.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}
The meat is often mixed with other ingredients, such as rice, [[bulgur]], vegetables, or [[Egg (food)|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 (food)|fish]] or vegetables rather than red meat.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Abdel Fattah|first1=Iman Adel|title=Bites Fil Beit: Koftet el Gambari – Shrimp kofta|url=http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/12/05/bites-fil-beit-koftet-el-gambari-shrimp-kofta/|website=Daily News Egypt|access-date=19 April 2015|date=5 December 2013|archive-date=3 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150503022013/http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2013/12/05/bites-fil-beit-koftet-el-gambari-shrimp-kofta/|url-status=live}}</ref> The size can vary from "size of an orange to the size of a golf ball."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Fatima|first=Bushra|date=2015-06-30|title=Pakistanis' love for the succulent kofta curry|url=http://tribune.com.pk/article/28384/pakistanis-love-for-the-succulent-kofta-curry|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710044838/https://tribune.com.pk/article/28384/pakistanis-love-for-the-succulent-kofta-curry|archive-date=10 July 2020|access-date=2020-07-05|website=The Express Tribune|publisher=[[The Express Tribune]]|language=en}}</ref> They can be shaped into [[patties]], meat balls, or cigar-like shapes.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}


Uncooked versions include some types of ''[[kibbeh]]''<ref name=":0" /> and the Armenian dish [[Çiğ köfte|chee kofta]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 January 2018|title=Cypriot meatballs-Keφτεδες|url=https://greekfoodalchemist.com/cypriot-meatballs-keftedes/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603214049/https://greekfoodalchemist.com/cypriot-meatballs-keftedes/|archive-date=3 June 2020|access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2021}}
Uncooked versions include some types of ''[[kibbeh]]''<ref name=":0" /> and the Armenian dish [[Çiğ köfte|chee kofta]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=24 January 2018|title=Cypriot meatballs-Keφτεδες|url=https://greekfoodalchemist.com/cypriot-meatballs-keftedes/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603214049/https://greekfoodalchemist.com/cypriot-meatballs-keftedes/|archive-date=3 June 2020|access-date=18 August 2021}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=August 2021}}
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File:Akcaabatkofte.jpg|Akçaabat meatballs (''Akçaabat köftesi''; Turkey)
File:Akcaabatkofte.jpg|Akçaabat meatballs (''Akçaabat köftesi''; Turkey)
</gallery>
</gallery>

===Albania===
In [[Albania]], specialized shops called ''qofteri'' offer ''qofte''. They are considered to be a specialty of [[Korçë]], where they are called ''kernacka''. Qofte are usually served on a metal plate, salted, and topped with fresh raw onions with bread. Beer is the most popular beverage accompaniment.

===Central Asia===
In Central Asia, kofta is cooked with liberal amounts of [[tail fat]].<ref name= osfc>{{cite book |first=Jill |last=Tilsley-Benham |chapter=Sheep with Two Tails: Sheep's Tail-Fat as Cooking Medium in the Middle East |title=Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery |year=1986 |publisher=The Cooking Medium |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ohdhy5fiYbwC&pg=PA48 |page=48 |isbn=9780907325369 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=10 January 2016 |archive-date=2 January 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102063001/http://books.google.com/books?id=Ohdhy5fiYbwC&pg=PA48 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Balkans===
In the former Yugoslav republics, present-day Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, North Macedonia and Slovenia, they are called ''kjofte'', ''ćufte'', ''ćufteta'', ''čufti'', or ''mesne okruglice''. 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.

===Bulgaria===
In [[Bulgaria]], kyufte is usually made from pork, beef, or veal, or a mixture of the three. They are usually served as a ''[[meze]]'' with salads, fried potatoes or ''[[tzatziki]]''.

===Cyprus and Greece===
In [[Greece]] and [[Cyprus]], kofta are known as ''keftedes'' or ''keftedakia'' ({{lang-el|κεφτέδες, κεφτεδάκια}}) and are usually cooked by being fried and eaten with [[tzatziki]] or [[yogurt]].{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

The name is also given to fried vegetarian fritters, such as kolokytho-keftedes (courgette fritters), [[tomatokeftedes]] (tomato fritters), horto-keftedes (wild green fritters), etc.<ref>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</ref>

===India===
[[File:NargisiKofta.jpg|thumb|right|Karachi-style Nargisi kofta]]
[[File:Fish Kofta..JPG|thumb|right|Fish kofta curry from the [[Indian subcontinent]]]]
[[Sushruta Samhita|Sushrutha Samhita]] mentions meatballs made of ground meat and was termed pishtha.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/IndianFoodTraditionAHistoricalCompanionAchayaK.T./page/n91|title=Indian Food Tradition A Historical Companion|last1=Achaya|first1=K. T.|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195644166|pages=54|date=December 1997}}</ref> Koftas in the [[cuisine of the Indian subcontinent]] 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 cuisine|British]] dish [[Scotch egg]] may have been inspired by the [[Indian cuisine|Indian]] dish Nargisi kofta, where [[Boiled egg|hard-boiled eggs]] are encased in a layer of spicy kofta meat.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RL6LAwAAQBAJ|title=The Oxford Companion to Food|last=Davidson|first=Alan|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-967733-7|pages=724|language=en|access-date=28 March 2021|archive-date=14 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514144822/https://books.google.com/books?id=RL6LAwAAQBAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Bengal]], a region of eastern India, koftas are made from prawns, fish, green bananas, cabbage or meat, such as minced [[goat meat]].

===Israel===
In [[Israel]], meat kofta 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 variety 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 [[dumpling]]s, and was coined after the mention in the [[Jerusalem Talmud]], written ''circa'' 200 CE.<ref name="hebrew_academy">{{cite web |url=http://hebrew-academy.org.il/2013/03/14/%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%92-%d7%9e%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%97%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%97/ |title=Maachalim LaChag |date=14 March 2013 |script-title=he: מאכלים לחג |trans-title=Holiday Food |language=he |publisher=The Academy of the Hebrew Language |access-date=24 January 2017 |archive-date=24 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224215957/http://hebrew-academy.org.il/2013/03/14/%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%9b%d7%9c%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%9c%d7%97%d7%92-%d7%9e%d7%aa%d7%95%d7%9a-%d7%a8%d7%a9%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%95%d7%a0%d7%97%d7%99%d7%9d-%d7%91%d7%aa-%d7%9e%d7%90%d7%94-%d7%95%d7%90%d7%97/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Jordan and Palestine===
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. Kofta in the Palestinian Community is very similar to the Jordanian kofta. It also pronounced as kafta, is made of minced meat, usually beef or veal, or a mixture of beef with lamb. It contains herbs, finely chopped onions and spices, and it is either flattened on a tray and called ''suneyet kofta'', or made into patties; the kofta is then either baked or cooked and simmered with tomato sauce, [[tahini]] sauce, date syrup, pomegranate syrup, or tamarind syrup, and typically accompanied by potatoes or other vegetables. Another common variety of Palestinian kofta is a ''kofta bi batata'', which consists of a bed of thinly sliced potatoes in layers under flattened kofta baked in a tray.

===Lebanon===
In [[Lebanon]], kafta is usually prepared by mixing the ground beef with onion, parsley, allspice, black pepper, and salt.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://shahiya.com/english/recipes/basic-kafta-975|title=Basic Kafta Recipe by dianak|access-date=7 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404201102/http://shahiya.com/english/recipes/basic-kafta-975|archive-date=4 April 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia===
In [[Morocco]] , [[Algeria]] and [[Tunisia]], kufta may be prepared in a [[Tagine]].

===Pakistan===
In [[Pakistan]], koftas are made from ground beef with onion, [[spice]]s and salt. They are served with a rich curry, commonly made of mutton, chicken or beef mince. Kofta curries are enjoyed with rice, but a variety of [[flatbread]]s can also compliment the dish. Nargisi kofta with hardboiled egg encased in spicy kofta is also popular. These dishes also make up part of formal dinners.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|last=Fatima|first=Bushra|date=2015-06-30|title=Pakistanis' love for the succulent kofta curry|url=http://tribune.com.pk/article/28384/pakistanis-love-for-the-succulent-kofta-curry|access-date=2020-07-05|website=The Express Tribune|publisher=[[The Express Tribune]]|language=en|archive-date=10 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200710044838/https://tribune.com.pk/article/28384/pakistanis-love-for-the-succulent-kofta-curry|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Romania===
In [[Romania]], a local variety of kofta is 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 potato]]es. The [[Romanian Jews]] prepare a version of lofts which has a large amount of garlic and parsley, along with a small amount of sugar. Their traditional kofta is often served with an [[eggplant salad]], and is sometimes called "garlic torpedoes" in the West.

===Turkey===
[[File:Akcaabatkofte.jpg|thumb|right|Akçaabat meatballs (''Akçaabat köftesi''; Turkey)]]
According to a 2005 study undertaken by a private food company, 291 different kinds of ''köfte'' (being the Turkish word for kofta) were found in [[Turkey]], illustrating the importance of the dish in the [[Turkish cuisine]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Türkiye'nin tam 291 köftesi var |trans-title=Turkey has 291 meatballs |url=http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2005/03/08/cp/gnc108-20050306-102.html |newspaper=[[Sabah (newspaper)|Sabah]] |language=tr |date=6 March 2005 |access-date=28 June 2017 |archive-date=22 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222223950/http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2005/03/08/cp/gnc108-20050306-102.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Turkish variations include a meatball stew called ''[[sulu köfte]]''; ''batırık köftesi'', a vegan variety that uses [[tahini]] as a binding ingredient instead of the usual egg; ''[[çiğ köfte]]'', made with [[bulgur]] and sometimes raw meat, and ''içli köfte'', a deep-fried bulgur paste shell stuffed with [[kibbeh]]; and many others. ''' Akçaabat meatballs''' ({{lang-tr|Akçaabat köftesi}}) is a grilled dish of minced meat, found traditionally in [[Akçaabat]], [[Trabzon Province|Trabzon]].

===Ethiopia===
kofta is usually eaten in the Oromo region it is served with rice and sometimes with greek yogurt and berbere chilli powder


==See also==
==See also==

Revision as of 12:31, 24 August 2021

Tabrizi kofta (Iran) includes yellow split peas and potatoes for vegetarian koftas as well as minced meat
Vegetable kofta curry served with rice in India

Kofta is a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes found in the Indian subcontinent, South Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Central Asian cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of ground meat - usually beef, chicken, lamb or mutton, or a mixture - mixed with spices or onions. 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 cigar-shapes. Sizes vary from that of a golf ball to that of an orange.

History

Recipes for kofta are included in the earliest Arab cookbooks.[1] The earliest recipes are for large ground lamb meatballs glazed in a mixture of saffron and egg yolk.[1] This method spread to the West and where it is referred to as "gilding" or "endoring".[2]

Etymology

The word kofta comes from Persian kufta (کوفته, ‘rissole’).[3] The languages of the region have adopted the word with minor phonetic variation.

Variations

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

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.[4] The size can vary from "size of an orange to the size of a golf ball."[5] They can be shaped into patties, meat balls, or cigar-like shapes.[citation needed]

Uncooked versions include some types of kibbeh[1] and the Armenian dish chee kofta.[6][better source needed]

Notable variations include the unusually large Azerbaijani (Iranian) Tabriz köftesi, having an average diameter of 20 cm (8 in).[2]

Notable examples

  • Karachi-style Nargisi kofta
    Karachi-style Nargisi kofta
  • Fish kofta curry from the Indian subcontinent
    Fish kofta curry from the Indian subcontinent
  • Akçaabat meatballs (Akçaabat köftesi; Turkey)
    Akçaabat meatballs (Akçaabat köftesi; Turkey)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Brown, Ellen (2020). Meatballs : the ultimate cookbook (First ed.). Kennebunkport, Maine. p. 11. ISBN 1-64643-014-X. OCLC 1139766078.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  2. ^ a b The Oxford Companion to Food, s.v. kofta
  3. ^ Alan S. Kaye, "Persian loanwords in English", English Today 20:20-24 (2004), doi:10.1017/S0266078404004043.
  4. ^ Abdel Fattah, Iman Adel (5 December 2013). "Bites Fil Beit: Koftet el Gambari – Shrimp kofta". Daily News Egypt. Archived from the original on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  5. ^ Fatima, Bushra (30 June 2015). "Pakistanis' love for the succulent kofta curry". The Express Tribune. The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Cypriot meatballs-Keφτεδες". 24 January 2018. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 18 August 2021.
  7. ^ Fatima, Bushra (30 June 2015). "Pakistanis' love for the succulent kofta curry". The Express Tribune. The Express Tribune. Archived from the original on 10 July 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  8. ^ Davidson, Alan (2014). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. p. 724. ISBN 978-0-19-967733-7. Archived from the original on 14 May 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  9. ^ Achaya, K. T. (December 1997). Indian Food Tradition A Historical Companion. Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 0195644166.
  10. ^ The Oxford Companion to Food, s.v. kofta
  11. ^ 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

External links

Look up kofta in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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