We’re sure he won’t mind us telling you this – well, we’re telling you anyway, aren’t we – but our lovely friend Anıl, Mr Tech Expert, foXnoMad, has a bit of a penchant for (or addiction to) çiğ köfte. He loves the stuff.
A few years ago, he came to stay with us in Fethiye for a few days and çiğ köfte was very much a feature of his stay.
If we left Deep Blue Bar, no matter what ridiculous time it was, we stopped off for çiğ köfte.
He joined a gym for the time he was in Fethiye and, each night as he was on his way back, he’d message, “I’m stopping for çiğ köfte. Do you want some, too? Well, I’ll bring some anyway.”
Yes, it seems çiğ köfte is back on the Turkish street food scene in a big way (there are now numerous places in the centre of Fethiye where you can drop by to pick some up) and Anıl, for one, is very happy about that!
But the version you’re most likely to find these days is that one that is suitable for vegetarians and vegans, too. The version we first tried was not quite like that.
Çiğ Köfte – The Original
We were first introduced to çiğ köfte many years ago by a Turkish friend who invited us round to his house for a ‘çiğ köfte night.’
Raw
Çiğ means raw…and we soon realised we were going to be eating a version of traditional meat köfte – but raw!
Can’t say we much fancied it – raw meat didn’t really sound too appetising – but we’re up for most things, so we went along.
Barry had to get involved in the process – it must be a man thing, the production process – and all was explained to him as he and our friend worked hard, kneading the mixture in the night air.
Good quality, lean meat had been ordered from the local butcher and had been minced three times.
On a huge circular tray, this meat was mixed with fine bulgur wheat, biber salça (red pepper paste), finely chopped onions, fresh herbs and various spices.
Knead
As Barry and our friend kneaded and kneaded, the spices and the heat from their hands slowly softened the bulgur wheat and ‘cooked’ the meat.
All perfectly safe…if you know what you’re doing that is.
Eventually, the mixture was ready and small sections were taken off and shaped into separate köfte.
Now for the eating bit: we were given one cos lettuce leaf, a couple of çiğ köfte and a wedge of lemon.
“Put your köfte in the middle, spread it around a bit, squeeze your lemon juice over the top and then roll your lettuce.”
So we did, and we ate it – super spicy – and we ate more, and we enjoyed it.
Foodie Experience
And most importantly, we lived to tell the tale! A true foodie experience for us.
And that is the only time we’ve ever eaten çiğ köfte in its original form.
Due to increasingly stringent food regulations around the world, the explosion of çiğ köfte places around many of our Turkey haunts are producing etsiz çiğ köfte.
The çiğ köfte is made from bulgur wheat and the meat is omitted.
Great news for the vegetarians and vegans of the world.
And, for the meat eaters, it’s not so bad either.
A true usta (master) of çiğ köfte will make such a high quality mixture that you wouldn’t even realise the meat isn’t there.
And, more recently, the meaty çiğ köfte is also making a bit of a comeback. Look out for it being advertised in the windows of kebab places.
Orhan Usta: A Master Of Çiğ Köfte
Istanbul
While it is lovely to tour around Turkey, trying out all the local foods, money and time mean it’s not always possible to do that – but, happily, in Turkey, there is a not-necessarily-second-best solution: Istanbul.
A cross section of people from just about every town and city of Turkey live in Istanbul and have inevitably transferred their local cuisine with them.
This means a whole variety of regional restaurants, lokantas and, of course, fabulous Istanbul street food.
While we were in Istanbul one time, we again met up with Anıl who was very excited to tell us he’d tracked down his favourite çiğ köfte guy after a few days of looking for him.
“Come on. Let’s go and eat çiğ köfte. You’ll love this one.”
We do like the vegetarian version of çiğ köfte, it’s just that we’re perhaps not (no, we’re definitely not) quite as enthusiastic about it as our Mr Foxnomad.
We were in Galata and the çiğ köfteci was over the bridge in Eminönü.
Well, we’d had our fill of kokoreç by Galata Tower so a quick hop across the Galata Bridge for another little street food treat wasn’t going to do any harm. Let’s go…
We found Orhan Usta by one of the entrances to the Egyptian Spice Bazaar, squashed into an impossibly small corner of work space but doing a brisk trade in çiğ köfte dürüm.
It’s not that he moved around a lot, Orhan Usta – he’d been there, in this little corner, for around 20 years, apparently.
The reason Anıl had struggled to track him down is because it’s one of those once-it’s-gone-it’s-gone situations.
As soon as he’d sold up, Orhan Usta took himself off home and Anıl had been getting there too late.
We were there in good time and Anıl and our çiğ köfteci had a little chat whilst I asked if I could take some photos.
Not everyone appreciates you taking your camera out and photographing them or their wares. Orhan Usta was different though…
“Have you got video? Do a video. Stand here.”
‘Here’ is part of that already impossibly small work space.
I wedged myself into a tiny nook and made a short video of Orhan Usta taking us through the çiğ köfte dürüm process.
“First the çiğ köfte, then the lemon, then the parsley. Now a little heat.”
There was a little glint in his eye at this point. Orhan Usta did a mean hot, bitter sauce.
Guess he thought we might not be able to deal with it.
“Is she getting the sound,” he asked Anıl at this point. I was trying not to answer because I didn’t want my dulcet tones ruining the video.
“She’s not getting my voice.” I am, I am.
“Now the lettuce. Now we roll it up. There you go.”
And that was our çiğ köfte dürüm. Pure zingy, spicy loveliness.
So much did Anıl enjoy his that, as we chatted with Orhan Usta (he’s a very amiable chap), he ordered another.
It was probably the best we’ve had to date, but what makes it so special?
Çiğ köfte originated in east Turkey and Orhan Usta is originally from the east Turkey city of Gaziantep.
Gaziantep is also famous for its pistachio nuts and Orhan Usta uses these nuts in his çiğ köfte.
“But not just any pistachios,” he said. “They’ve got to be the very small ones.”
And then there’s the salça (tomato or red pepper paste).
This is such a huge part of Turkish cuisine that you buy it by the jar (or bucket) load from supermarkets and markets.
Orhan Usta’s salça wasn’t from a jar, though. He made his own and all his peppers and tomatoes were sundried first.
He sold his salça in tubs and dipped pieces of lavaş into it for us to try.
Such simple joy in being able to sample these homemade foods in a tiny little corner of a humongous city.
But it was the piled up bags of chilli flakes we had our eyes on. These are homemade, too. There’s medium hot, hot and very hot.
We felt we’d hung around this little stall for a long time; our çiğ köfte dürüm were long since polished off so the least we could do is make a purchase.
Well, if you’ve seen most of our Turkish recipes, chilli flakes (pul biber) are never going to go to waste in our house are they?
We bought a bag of hot and a bag of very hot.
“Put them in a jar and keep them in the fridge and they’ll be okay for about a year,” he said.
That’s exactly what we did but we doubted they’re going to be there for a year!
“Thanks a lot and see you next time,” we said as we were leaving.
“Well, don’t leave it too long. I’ll only be here another couple of years and then I’m going to retire to Antalya and do nothing but fishing!”
We hope he got his dream!
Where To Find Çiğ Köfte
- Çiğ köfte has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in the 21st Century and is now a very popular street food.
- You will also find specialist çiğ köfte eateries around towns and cities in Turkey. They’re often packed with school lids at lunchtimes. A healthy alternative to döner kebab and burgers.
- If you want to try the meat version of çiğ köfte, look out for signs in the windows of eateries specialising in kebabs. Some will offer meat çiğ köfte on certain days.
Mike
Sunday 14th of April 2024
Great article. I used to love the meat version when I first came to Turkey in 1984. I now make my own Mercimek Köfte, which I love. But what the difference between a vegetarian çiğ köfte and mercimek köfte?
Turkey's For Life
Monday 15th of April 2024
Hi Mike, we have a recipe for mercimek köfte on the blog. https://www.turkeysforlife.com/2020/03/lentil-kofte-recipe-mercimek.html Çiğ köfte is bulgur wheat only. No lentils. Also, it's the mix of kneading with the hands and the salça and various spices that 'cook' the fine bulgur what. No actual cooking process involved. It's actually a lot of work. :)
budget jan
Thursday 30th of July 2015
He makes it look so easy and simple. I can well imagine the burst of taste. I can also imagine you buying up the hot chilli flakes and them disappearing quickly from your fridge.
Turkey's For Life
Friday 31st of July 2015
Easy to make the dürüm, but long time to make the çiğ köfte, Jan. :) Yeah, we've still got a good few chilli flakes left yet but they're not gonna last a year. :)
Turkey's For Life
Tuesday 28th of July 2015
He was funny, Krista, and very passionate about his own çiğ köfte. Guess that's why he wanted us to film him putting a dürüm together - to show everyone. :)
Krista Bjorn
Monday 27th of July 2015
What a great guy. :-) I love his running commentary, wanting everything to be just so. :-)
Brittany Peterson
Saturday 25th of July 2015
I am so glad you posted this- now I really need to go try it (and definitely get some of the pul biber too!). I love that he uses pistachios in the cig kofte, such a great idea!
Turkey's For Life
Sunday 26th of July 2015
Thanks a lot for your comment, Brittany. Yeah, we've seen çiğ köfte recipes using walnuts in the past but not pistachios. Guess he wants to show off his Gaziantep side of life. :)