Iraqi Cuisine
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Iraqi Cuisine

Pilav
Pilaf

There are various types of pilaf:

  • Plain rice pilaf
  • Yerköklü pilavı (carrot) pilaf
  • Perde pilav (pilaf cooked in yufka)
  • Pekleli pilav (Fava bean pilaf)
  • Kırmızı pilav (Red pilaf)
  • Burgul pılavı (Bulgur pilaf)
  • İçli pilav (“Stuffed” pilaf)
  • Karaharman pilavı
  • Biryani
  • Keşkek pilavı (pilaf made from hulled wheat)

Here we will concentrate on İçli, Pekleli and Karaharmanlı pilafs.

İçli Pilav
Stuffed Pilaf

Place oil, chicken or lamb liver or chopped meat, almonds, raisins, Kirkuk spice and salt into a pot. Saute until the meat has released its juices and browned, then add washed rice and stir a few times. Add water and simmer until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.

This pilaf is also used to stuff lamb, turkey and chicken. Cooked in a tandır (pit oven) or regular oven, the finished dishes are known as kuzu doldurması (stuffed lamb), eleşiş doldurması (stuffed turkey) or tavıh doldurması (stuffed chicken).

Pekleki Pilav
Fava Bean Pilaf

This is cooked in the same way as plain rice pilaf, but with the addition of dill and skinned fresh green fava beans. (After removing the shells, slit each bean with a knife and squeeze to remove the skin. It is easier if the shelled beans are plunged into boiling water for 10 seconds before skinning.) This dish is a favorite dish for picnics in spring when fresh fava beans are in season.

Karaharman Pilavı
Toasted Green Wheat Pilaf

To make “Karaharman,” still-green heads of wheat are blackened over a fire, then left in the open air to dry for a few days. When the grains are well dried, they are ground to bulgur grade. Because the grains are still green when they are toasted, they do not lose their color when cooked.

Also known as ferik, this product is cooked in the same way as bulgur.

Doğrama, Teşrib, Tirit

These are very popular foods among the Turks of Iraq. They consist of shredded tandır bread which is placed in a wide deep bowl, over which a soup/stew-like mixture with much broth is poured. The word doğrama comes from the Turkish word “to chop, shred, dice,” while the word teşrib is derived from the Arabic word “to drink” and refers to the liquid nature of the dishes. The various types known to the Iraqi Turks are:

  • Kelleküpe, kellepaça (lit. “head and feet”)
  • Sulu kebap (“kebab with broth”)
  • Bamya (okra) teşribi
  • Pekle (fava bean) teşribi
  • Burgul (bulgur) teşribi
  • Karaharman (toasted green wheat) teşribi
  • Tavıh (chicken) teşribi
  • Tamata (tomato) teşribi
  • Beyaz (white) teşrib
  • Kifte turşu (a stew with filled köfte)
  • Kurban aşı (lıt. “sacrificial animal stew” – a yahni of liver).


Here we will focus only on kelleküpe and sulu kebap.

Kelleküpe, Kellepaça

Kelleküpe (Literally “head and earrings;” “Kellepaça” means “head and feet”) is a dish made from the very well cleaned head, feet and trip of a sheep, lamb or goat, pieces of meat, rice, spices, almonds, raisins, sumac, garlic and ground meat.
The most difficult part of preparing this dish is the cleaning of the offal. Water is brought to a boil in a large kettle. The head is quickly dipped in this water, and the fur is removed by hand. The hair that cannot be removed by this method is later cleaned by singeing and washing. After the lower jaw of the completely washed head is cut away, the nose portion is removed with a cleaver. After the open spaces in the head and nose are cleaned by hitting the head on the ground, they are washed with a hose. A knife is used to clean the area between the hooves, then the hooves are removed. The head and feet are then soaked in water. The tripe is washed in many changes of water, then dipped repeatedly into boiling water and scraped with a knife until it is snow white. The tripe, together with the cleaned intestine, is then further cleaned with a mixture of salt, curry and sumac, known as a “teng.”

The soaked head and singed portions of the feet are then cleaned further with a pumice stone and washed in much water. The cleaned head and feet are then placed with the cut up meat and a beef bone into a pot, covered with salted water and left to simmer on low heat all night. The next day the bones, which have now released their fat, are removed, and the pot is removed from the heat. Meanwhile, the rice, hand-chopped meat, almonds, raisins, Kirkuk spice and a bit of cinnamon are combined to make a filling. The tripe is removed from the “teng” and divided into its various portions. These parts are then divided into hand-sized pieces, sewn into pouches, and filled with the prepared filling. These are known as “küpe,” the “earrings” of the dish.

Care is taken not to overstuff these pouches. The intestines are filled in a similar way, and they are placed aside. The broth with the head and feet is then reheated. Two or three ladles of the broth are removed; this will be used for a sauce later. The stuffed tripe and intestines are then added and left to cook. At this point, the broth taken for the sauce is mixed with crushed garlic and sumac and left to stand. After the stuffed tripe and intestines have boiled for 40-45 minutes, they are removed with a slotted spoon to serving plates. The sauce is strained of the sumac and garlic. After this is done, the dish is ready to serve.
The dish is served either in a single large, deep tray to be eaten collectively (in Kirkuk this is generally the case), or divided into individual dishes. These dishes are prepared with shredded bread, called “doğrama.” First the broth is poured over the bread, followed by the meat, and finally, the sauce. The stuffed tripe and intestine are served and eaten alongside the soup.

Sulu Kebab
Kebab with Broth

Clean and wash the meat, then put on to cook with salt and oil and the liquid given off by the meat. When the liquid has evaporated, add turmeric, stir a few times, then add a generous amount of hot water and boil until the meat is tender. Meanwhile, add crushed garlic to yogurt.

Shred tandır bread into deep dishes and wet with the broth, then arrange the meat over the top. Then pour the garlic-infused yogurt over the dish. An additional option is to fry the meat in hot oil before serving.

Grilled Meats and Kebabs

Kirkuk cuisine includes many varieties of grilled meats and kebabs. As most of these are also found in Turkey, I did not consider it necessary to mention them all.

Some of the grilled dishes and kebabs of Kirkuk include:

  • Zilbiye
  • Şifte (grilled köfte)
  • Segif
  • Sinide balığ (fish on a tray)
  • Közde balığ (fish cooked on hot coals)
  • Hamurda balığ (fish in dough)
  • Çamurda balığ (fish in clay)
  • Tikke (shish kebab)
  • Sac kebabı (kebab cooked in a sac, a shallow pan)
  • Kavurma (sauteed meat)
  • Bastırma (pressed meat)

Zilbiye

Make a dough from ground meat, onion, salt, Kirkuk spice, yeast and a generous amount of flour. After the dough rises, form into hand-size köfte and fry in hot oil. These are mostly served for breakfast, served along with tea.

İçli Kifte
Filled Köfte

The most common filled köfte of the Iraqi Turks include:

  • Pirinç kiftesi - Rice köfte, also known as Yahudi (Jewısh) kiftesi, şembe kiftesi and cifit kiftesi
  • Burgul (bulgur) kiftesi
  • Musul kiftesi
  • Helep (Aleppo) kiftesi, also known as hanımbudu (ladies’ thighs), kadınbudu (woman’s thighs), gelinbudu (bride’s thighs)
  • Patata (potato) kiftesi
  • Fırın (oven) kiftesi

Pirinç Kiftesi
Rice Köfte

This dish is made as two separate parts, a stew and the köfte.

Stew: Brown lamb with the bone in, with oil and salt  until the juices have been absorbed. Add diluted tomato or pepper paste, stir a few times and then add chopped vegetables in season (zucchini, eggplant, turnip greens, spinach etc.) and hot water. When it is nearly cooked, add a small amount of soaked rice to act as a thickener, and the juice of lemon. When completely done, you may combine a portion of the broth with pounded garlic to make a sauce.

İçli (filled) Köfte: Mix equal parts of washed and dried rice and cubed beef. Beat them in a mortar and pestle to a fine paste; this is the outer portion of the köfte. Meanwhile, chop some mutton with a little tail fat by hand. To this, add chopped onion, Kirkuk spice, and a bit of black pepper to make a raw filling. Just as with other filled köfte, make a shell out of the first mixture and fill with the second, seal and add to the stew. Boil covered for half an hour, then remove the köfte to a serving dish. In another dish, put shredded tandır bread and pour the sauce over the top; this is served alongside the köfte.

Burgur Köftesi
Bulgur Köfte

Wash meat well and chop by hand with a small portion of tail fat, then fry till the liquid is absorbed. Just before the liquid disappears, add chopped parsley, onion, Kirkuk spice, salt, almonds and raisins, to make the filling of the köfte.

Meanwhile, mix two to one bulgur and cracked wheat, wash and drain, and let stand for one or two hours. Then knead the mixture well, and fill with the meat mixture as with the rice köfte above. These are then cooked in the same sort of stew as the rice köfte or in boiling water.

To make “fırın kiftesi” (oven köfte), use the same ingredients for burgul kiftesi, but instead of stuffing individual köfte, spread half the shell mixture on the bottom of a baking pan, then add the filling, and top with the remainder of the shell, and bake in the oven.

The shell of “Halep kiftesi” (Aleppo köfte) is made from boiled rice; that of “patata kiftesi” is of boiled potatoes; after dipping in beaten egg, they are fried in oil.

Duru, Marga
Vegetable and Meat Dishes

In Kirkuk, the dishes known as duru are not eaten alone but rather always along with rice pilaf. The various types include:

  • Bamya (okra)
  • Patata (potato)
  • Green or dry beans
  • Pekle (fava beans)
  • Lobya (black eyed peas)
  • Kabak (zucchini)
  • Şıhmahşi (stuffed eggplant)
  • Latike (dried apricot dish)
  • Badıncan (eggplant)
  • Balkabağı (winter squash)
  • Soğan aşı (onion stew)
  • Kenger (cardoon or wild thistle)
  • Ayı kiftesi

The duru dishes of Kirkuk resemble the meat and vegetable dishe of Turkey, with some small differences, which mostly have to do with the use of onion. While in Turkey, onion is added to almost all vegetable dishes, only the last three of the dishes listed above contain it. Latike and the winter squash dish contain sugar, while the duru made from zucchini contains garlic.

Practical Dishes;

On the whole, the dishes of Kirkuk require much preparation. However in addition to such dishes there are also some practical dishes that can easily be made at home. These include the following:

  • Zılk kavurması (saute of chard)
  • Pencer kavurması (saute of mallow)
  • Ispanah kavurması (saute of spinach)
  • Perpine kavurması (saute of purslane)
  • Nohut kaynatması (boiled chick peas)
  • Kuru pekle kaynatması (boiled dry favas)
  • Kuru lobya kaynatması (boiled dry black eyed peas)
  • Şormaca
  • Mishaki
  • Kenger kızartması (fried cardoon/wild thistle)
  • Mihleme
  • Dombalan (keme) çeşitleri (mountain oysters)
  • Keşşam (tarhana) aşı (tarhana stew, see below)
  • Kervan aşı (“Caravan stew”)
  • Yehni (yahni)
  • Cırbıl (cılbır, poached eggs with yogurt)
  • Bulamac
  • Nenem aşı
  • Perpine aşı (purslane soup)
  • Yoğurt aşı (yogurt soup)
  • Termiye
  • Erüğ ezmesi (plum paste)
  • Cızlağ

Keşşam (Tarhana)

Keşşam is made in the summer from a dough of bulgur and strained sheep’s milk yogurt. This dough is divided into small balls, which are then flattened out into small discs and left to dry completely in the sun. These are then stored for winter use.

“Keşşam aşı” is made by soaking the discs a few hours in water, then boiling in water, stirring constantly, until they turn into a medium thick soup. Meanwhile, crushed garlic is sautéed in butter with red pepper. Tandır bread is shredded into a serving dish, and to this the soup is added, and topped with the hot butter, pepper and garlic mixture.

Breads

The following breads are known to the Turks of Iraq:

  • Tendür ekmeği (tandır- pit oven - bread)
  • Kündüçlü ekmek (sesame bread)
  • Etli ekmek (bread with meat)
  • Yağlı ekmek “dökmec” (oiled bread)
  • Cızlağlı ekmek
  • Hinne
  • Mada, moda ekmeği
  • Lavaşa (lavash, a very thin raised bread)
  • Yuhha (yufka) ekmeği (thinner than lavash and unleavened)
  • Nazkanan
  • Sammun
  • Bazar ekmeği (bazaar bread)

Tendür Ekmeği
Tandır (pit oven) bread

This is made from a leavened whole wheat dough. The dough is wrapped tightly and allowed to rise for several hours. It is then divided into balls (known locally as künde) and lined up on a work surface near the tandır, or pit oven, which is an essential part of every Kirkuk home. These are rolled out into flat rounds and cooked by sticking them onto the walls of the tandır.

This bread can be kept for over a week without going stale, and is mostly used for the dishes known as teşrib or doğrama described above.

Turşu
Pickles

Nearly all of the pickles made in Turkey are made in Kirkuk as well. In addition to these, there are two more types which are very popular there, pickled turnips and another type known as “sazik.”

Şalğam Turşusu
Pickled Turnips

Peeled turnips, black carrot (a beet-red carrot common in the region) and beets are chopped and put into a vessel. The green stem ends of a few of the turnips are crushed in a mortar and pestle, then wrapped in a clean cloth with a slice of bread [which starts the fermentation]. This is placed into the vessel and enough water to cover is added. The lid is shut tightly. The pickles are ready in about a month.

Sazik

Turnips are cut into small pieces along with some of their greens. Cracked wheat, salt and water are added, and they are ready to eat in four or five days.

Tatlılar
Sweets

As most of the sweets made in Kirkuk are also known in Turkey as well, I will not list them all, but rather mention some which are little known or completely unknown in Turkey:

  • Külçe and dırnahlı 
  • Köpme 
  • Zellabiye 
  • Kırmızı helva (red halvah)
  • Beyaz helva (white halvah)
  • Tahin helvası (tahini halvah)
  • Pendir helvası (cheese halvah)
  • Kündüç helvası (sesame halvah)
  • Hurma helvası (date halvah)
  • Şalğam kaynatması (boiled turnip dessert)
  • Ellüçe 
  • Şurüp (syrup)

Hurma Helvası
Date Halvah

Ripe dates are pitted and cooked in butter and mashed until they are reduced to a paste. To this, water and tahini are added, and the mixture is spread into wide serving dishes.


Ceremonial Dishes:

Some ceremonies in Iraq have special foods associated with them. These occasions are:

  • Arafat
  • Bayram (the Feasts of Islam)
  • Hicri yılbaşı  (Islamic New Year’s)
  • Aşüre (The Month of Muharrem)
  • Düğün (Weddings)
  • Yas (Mourning)
  • Mevlit (Chanting of the Mevlit, a work describing the Prophet’s life)
  • Zekeriya (a special meal consisting of forty dishes which a woman makes and invites friends to in order to have a wish fulfilled)

As there are a great number of dishes and associated occasions, I think it better to fully address them in another article. Here, I will describe “halim,” made during Aşure, the first ten days of the month of Muharrem.

Halim Aşı, Herise, Aşüre

The day before, put on hulled wheat, known as döğme, to soak. Place into a large pot with water to cover well, and cook until it the kernels have burst. Add pieces of meat and a few almonds in their shell, and allow the meat to cook till tender. When serving, sugar, hot butter and cinnamon are added.

The almonds are removed and cleaned, then put into money pouches or safes. In this way, they are believed to bring abundance.

The richness of a cuisine is without a doubt measured by the abundance of its dishes, their flavor, and the degree to which that cuisine has spread among peoples. As Turkish food does not mean only the foods of Turkey proper, the foods of the Turks, which have spread to every corner of the earth, should be determined one by one and listed in their entirety. In this way we believe that Turkish cuisine, which today is considered to be third among world cuisines, will move farther up on the list.


Sources:

Bulletins of the 3rd International Turkish Folklore Congress, Vol V., pp. 7-18.


*Professor, Teaching Faculty of the Hacettepe University Turkish Language and Literature Department.

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