Icli Kofte – Adiyaman

Ingredients

1/2 kg minced meat (lean dark meat, pounded on a meat stone with a mallet)
750 g raw bulgur (black bulgur for meatballs)
250 g unsalted tomato paste
1 tablespoon pepper paste
300 g chili pepper
4 onions (medium size)
2 heads of garlic
2 bunches of parsley
15 g spices (meatballs)

How It Is Made

Onion, garlic and parsley are chopped very small and kept in separate plates. The black meat of raw meatballs is cleaned with a knife so that there is not the slightest sinew or fat left on it, and then it is beaten with a meat mallet on a meat stone. When the meat is fully cooked, it is placed on a plate and kept waiting. Raw meatball meat, chopped onion and garlic, two types of tomato paste and pepper are placed in the raw meatball bowl and kneaded by hand until they mix well. Bulgur is added little by little to this mixture and turned upside down. Rub the meatballs into the basin with your palms and knead them, occasionally adding cold water, until they become soft. Add spices to the raw meatballs and continue kneading. When the kneading process is completed, parsley is added and turned upside down one last time. The prepared raw meatballs are squeezed by hand and served with other greens (watercress, pickles, radishes, etc.).

Source: Öncü,M. (2016). Adıyaman Cemile Culinary Culture. Adıyaman Promotion Foundation Publications (ATAV)