Local Dishes

1. Kutilk

   Kutilk (the general name for stuffed dishes; dolma is one of them)

   Usage

   kutilk is the umbrella term for stuffed dishes, with dolmeh/dolma being only one of its kinds. Fillings go into peppers, aubergines, onions, squash, tomatoes and vine leaves; other kinds are shaped from grain, lentils, chickpeas or minced meat. In winter it is made from dried vegetables

   Grammar Note

   "dolma" goes back to Greek dolmadakî or Georgian tolma, borrowed into Kurdish via Persian and Turkish

2. Kutilka dîlanê

   Kutilka dîlanê (round bulgur-shell dumpling with a filling)

   Usage

   A very old dish, also known as kutilk, kutlik, kutilka Mêrdînê or kutilka suryaniyan. Rolled into balls — a handful-sized one, a hen's-egg-sized one, or smaller. Some regions call it kufte, kiftika mezin or dolmeha mezin. The Serhed version is served in its own butter and sauce

3. Kufte

   Kufte (the general name for meatball dishes)

   Usage

   A major group in Kurdish cooking, with hundreds of kinds eaten around Meledî (Malatya), Sêwas, Ezirgan, Gurgum, Riha (Urfa) and Dîlok (Antep). The same name runs from the Balkans to India

   Grammar Note

   Some regions call kufte "kutilk", but kutilk names one kind of kufte, not the whole group

4. Biryan

   Biryan (whole lamb slow-roasted in a sealed tandoor or earth pit)

   Usage

   A dish of the Botan region, above all around Sêrt (Siirt) and Bidlîs (Bitlis). The gutted lamb is stuffed with spices, rice and onion, sewn shut and cooked in a sealed tandoor — or, in villages, buried under 2-3 cm of earth over a wood fire for about two hours. The boned meat is pulled into strips and eaten with patîle bread. Mostly a summer dish, since digging under winter snow was hard

   Grammar Note

   Not the South Asian biryani (a rice dish). The same Botan dish is also called parêv

5. Serûpê

   Serûpê (stew of sheep or cattle heads and trotters)

   Usage

   A pot dish made from the heads and feet of sheep or cattle. It is hard and slow to prepare, and the animals are not cheap, so it now counts as a prestige dish. One variant is called narîn or norîn, and the dish is also known as "serûpêya filehan / ermeniyan" (the Christians'/Armenians' serûpê)

6. Keledoş

   Keledoş (dried-yoghurt and garlic stew poured over torn bread)

   Usage

   keledoş (keldoş) belongs to the Serhed and Botan regions and is grouped with the garlic-and-yoghurt dishes. Keşk (dried yoghurt) is boiled with grain, chickpeas, meat and herbs dried for winter, then poured over torn bread. In Serhed it is made from garlic and yoghurt with black pepper sizzled in butter over the top. Around Çewlîg (Bingöl) and in eastern Kurdistan, rolled dough replaces the baked bread

7. Girar

   Girar (a yoghurt-and-grain pot dish)

   Usage

   One of the pot dishes (xwarinên quşxaneyê), eaten in Agirî (Ağrı) and across the Serhed region — it tastes better when the yoghurt is home-made. A variant made with dew (buttermilk) is called girara dew

8. Şîvedîz

   Şîvedîz (lamb, fresh garlic and chickpeas simmered in yoghurt)

   Usage

   The name means "supper of the dîz (pot)". It is found in Dîlok (Antep), Riha (Urfa), southern Kurdistan and Mêrdîn (Mardin), well known in both Kurdish and Syriac cooking. Diced lamb is browned, then simmered with fresh garlic and chickpeas; yoghurt beaten with egg is trickled in at the end. Starting it the night before improves the taste

9. Doxave

   Doxave (buttermilk soup with chickpeas and small meatballs)

   Usage

   A dish of the Botan region. It is built on dew (buttermilk), with chickpeas and small meatballs of minced meat dropped in. Around Culemêrg (Hakkari) it is also called doxeba

10. Xingal

    Xingal (a dish of torn sheet dough)

    Usage

    Made from pelhevîr (rolled sheet dough), taking its name from the Kurdish verbs xingalkirin / xingalîbûn. Regional spellings include xinkal, xînkal and xingel; Armenians say xingal and the Georgian form is khinkali

11. Meftune

    Meftune (a pot dish of Amed / Diyarbakır)

    Usage

    A pot dish (xwarinên quşxaneyê) shared with neighbouring cuisines. The word "meftûne" means falling in love — the dish is loved as much as its name suggests. It is especially popular in Amed (Diyarbakır)

12. Pitî

    Pitî (meat and chickpeas stewed in a pot)

    Usage

    A pot dish of meat and chickpeas, eaten above all among Kurds in Armenia and the former Soviet republics. In Serhed it is called pitî, pitê or pêtî. It has also passed into Azerbaijani cooking

13. Helîse

    Helîse (wheat and meat pounded together into a thick porridge)

    Usage

    Also called herîse and keşkek, and found above all in the Wan (Van) region. Made from dan (wheat), boneless meat, fat, chickpeas, merge, mint, butter, salt and water

14. Şorbenîsk

    Şorbenîsk (lentil soup)

    Usage

    One of the best-known soups in Kurdish cooking: water and lentils (nîsk), with some cooks leaving the onion out, seasoned with spices. The general word for soup is "Şorbe"

15. Şorbeya keşkê

    Şorbeya keşkê (winter soup of dried yoghurt)

    Usage

    Also called şorbeya çortanê and germiya keşkê, a mostly winter soup boiled from keşk or çortan (two different products, treated as synonyms in some areas). They are dried in summer or autumn for the winter. Keşk is renowned around Dilok, Meledî, Sêwas, Ezirgan and among the Kurds of central Anatolia

    Grammar Note

    Often equated with Turkish tarhana, but Kurds do not use the word "terhane"

16. Tutmaş

    Tutmaş (yoghurt soup with squares of dough)

    Usage

    A yoghurt soup made with squares of dough, belonging to both Kurdish and Iranian cooking. The dough is rolled thin in autumn and sun-dried. Around Çewlîg, Ezirgan, Xarpêt (Elazığ), Sêwas and Erzîrom it was a winter breakfast. Turkish calls it tutmaç

17. Pêçange

    Pêçange (thin dough rolled finger-shaped and fried)

    Usage

    Also called kilora bêçiyê, from pêçî ("finger") and pêçandin ("to roll"). A single sheet of dough is filled with cheese, butter, tomato, parsley, pepper or minced meat, rolled into a cigarette or finger shape and fried. Popular across Kurdistan; Turkish borrowed it as paçanga böreği

18. Sêmûçe

    Sêmûçe (triangular pinched pastry)

    Usage

    Also spelled sêmûşe, a kind of kilor in Kurdish and other Iranian cuisines. The name is sê ("three") plus mûçe ("to pinch") — pinched shut three times. The dough is folded into a triangle and the corners pinched. It is the same kind of thing as English samosa and Turkish pers böreği / samsa

19. Kilor

    Kilor (the general name for filled dough breads)

    Usage

    kilor is the umbrella name for breads made from şikeva (dough) — many regional names, each in fact a distinct kind. The sheet is rolled thin or thick, buttered or left dry, filled, then baked in a tandoor, on a sêl griddle or in a pan

    Grammar Note

    boreg (Turkish börek) is only one kind of kilor, and calling all kilor "boreg" under Turkish influence is a mistake — Turkish, in turn, calls this "kürt böreği"

20. Nanê tîr

    Nanê tîr (thin round griddle bread)

    Usage

    Also called nanê tîrî and nanê sêlê, this thin round Kurdish bread is made across the Middle East by Kurds, Syriacs, Persians, Arabs and Jews. It comes off the griddle stiff; you flick water onto it with wet hands and after three or four minutes it softens

21. Nanê loş

    Nanê loş (thicker flatbread slapped onto the tandoor wall)

    Usage

    One of the patîle flatbreads but with a thicker sheet. A hole is opened in the middle and a few drops of water added so it sticks, then it is slapped onto the glowing tandoor and bakes quickly. The loaves are piled uncovered so their own steam does not harden them

22. Patîle

    Patîle (pide-style bread, and the group name for such breads)

    Usage

    patîle is both the name of the pide loaf itself and the label of a group ("patîle and pîza") that also covers lehmecûn and pizza. Under Turkish influence some Kurds also say pîde

23. Lehmecûn

    Lehmecûn (thin flatbread baked with a minced-meat topping)

    Usage

    A "patîle with a sauce (meat topping)" in the patîle and pizza group; the name itself shows its Arab origin. In western Europe it is called "Turkish pizza" — a label owed to the 1960s labour migration from Turkey

24. Meze

    Meze (light small plates served before the main dishes)

    Usage

    meze is the light food and drink taken before the heavy dishes, sometimes alongside alcohol, and partly for tasting. It spread from ancient Greece and keeps nearly the same shape in Persian, Greek, Bulgarian, Serbian, Turkish and Arabic

25. Haydarî

    Haydarî (thick yoghurt meze with garlic and chilli)

    Usage

    A meze shared with neighbouring peoples; the name comes from "hay ji xwe hebe" (watch yourself): with garlic, spices and both red and long chillies, too much of it burns the mouth and upsets the stomach. Known throughout Kurdistan

26. Qisir

    Qisir (bulgur meze)

    Usage

    A meze of savar (bulgur) that can also count as a supper dish: bulgur, tomato, merge and garlic, with pomegranate seeds if you like. It reached Kurds, Turks, Azeris and Armenians from the Assyrians/Syriacs, and is best known around Meledî, Dîlok, Sêwas and Mêrdîn. There is no fixed recipe

27. Sîrmastok

    Sîrmastok (garlic-yoghurt sauce)

    Usage

    sîrmastok is the group name for sauces built on sîr (garlic) and mast (yoghurt), which can also come to the table as a dish in their own right. Garlic and yoghurt hold a special place in Kurdish cooking. In some regions any garlic-and-yoghurt dish gets called sîrmastok, which causes confusion

28. Şîrbirinc

    Şîrbirinc (milk-and-rice pudding)

    Usage

    Also called şîrizmok, şorbeşîrîn, şorbeşîr and gulol, this Kurdish and Balkan sweet has many variants, but the base is always şîr (milk) and riz (rice). Arabs, Syriacs and Turks eat it too, and it is known in Europe

29. Zerde

    Zerde (sweet rice coloured yellow with saffron)

    Usage

    A sweet rice dish whose Persian-derived name comes from zerbûn, "turning yellow". The Ezirgan version also uses chickpeas, and different regions add different spices alongside the saffron

30. Peqlewe

    Peqlewe (baklava)

    Usage

    Also spelled baqlawa, beqlewe and beqlewa; the sweet carries the same name across Asia, southern Europe and North Africa. The Kurdish variant resembles the Armenian one

31. Qedayîf

    Qedayîf (shredded-pastry and nut sweet)

    Usage

    The same sweet as Greek kadaífi and Arabic kanafa, important in Kurdish, Arab, Anatolian and Balkan sweets. The Greek version uses hazelnuts, thin pastry and syrup; the Kurdish one adds walnuts. The cheese-filled version is called kanafeh or kunefe by Syriacs and Arabs, and is made the same way in parts of Kurdistan

32. Mertoxe

    Mertoxe (flour toasted in butter and sweetened with molasses)

    Usage

    An easy sweet, famous in Botan, Serhed and Xerzan and known all over Kurdistan: "to" and rûnê nivîşk (butter) are melted on a griddle (rûnbirêşk / tawe), flour is scattered over, a little water added, and it is eaten cold — doşav (grape molasses) can replace the water. Its simplicity made it a well-known dish among Kurdish fighters

    Grammar Note

    Also spelled Metoxe

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