Ingredients:
- 1 cup fine-grained bulgur*
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup semolina
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 cups water
- Salt to taste
*Bulgur(or bulghur) -also called cracked wheat- is available at specialty food stores or ethnic markets with different textures such as coarse, medium, and fine. For this dish, we specially pick out the fine-grained, or #1.
Stuffing:
- 2 sticks of unsalted butter or margarine
- 2 medium onions, finely chopped
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley**
- Salt and ground black pepper to taste
**We prefer flat-leaf parsley over the curly variety since flat-leaf is more traditional in Turkish cooking as well as having a stronger flavor.
Prepare Stuffing:
In a medium frying pan, saute the onions in melted butter. Add ground beef, tomato paste, parsley, salt and pepper. Once the meat is cooked, remove from the heat. Set aside and allow to cool.
Shell Preparation:
In a large bowl, soak bulgur in luke warm water. Slowly add flour, semolina, tomato paste and salt. Knead until you reach a doughlike consistency. Once everything’s mixed well enough, the bulgur mixture won’t stick to your hands as you knead.
Assembling:
- Take an egg-sized amount from the bulgur mixture and form into a ball . Make sure you wet your hands often during this process. With your finger, poke a hole in the ball which makes a space for the stuffing.
- Add 3 or 4 tablespoons of the stuffing and pinch the top to seal the ball. You can shape the ball into a football shape, or leave it as a ball. Traditionally, it is shaped into a football. These footballs are called “icli kofte”.
- Fill a deep saucepan with a quart of water and turn the heat up high. When it comes to a boil, put your footballs in a few at a time and boil for approximately 20 minutes.
- In a separate saucepan, melt the butter.
- Pour the melted butter on “icli kofte” and serve right away when it’s still hot.
You may serve with crushed red pepper, mint, sumac or lemon wedges.