Sulu Köfte
(soo-loo kuhf-teh)
Sulu Yemek & Tencere (The Weeknight Pot on the Stove)
Work the bulgur-laced ground beef. Roll it into marbles. Drop them into the simmering tomato-paste broth. Tuesday at six p.m. is the smell of a Turkish weeknight: tomato paste blooming in butter, earthy cumin, and a heavy Dutch oven on the stove. A smart, practical stew built to feed a family. The trick to keeping the meatballs from disintegrating is pure mechanics: use ground beef with enough fat to carry the flavor, and knead the hell out of it until the proteins bind. Keep the bowls deep, tear off bread, and wipe the bottom clean.
Before you start
Grate and drain the onion.
Grating the onion prevents structural fault lines in the meatballs, but it yields excess water. Give the grated onion a gentle squeeze before mixing so the meat doesn't get waterlogged.
Ingredients
- 80% lean ground beef1 lb
- fine bulgur or crushed short-grain rice1/4 cup
- yellow onion1 small
- egg1 large
- garlic1 small clove
- kosher salt1 1/2 tsp
- black pepper1 tsp
- ground cumin1 tsp
- Turkish red pepper flakes or standard red pepper flakes1 tsp
- fresh parsley2 tbsp
- all-purpose flour3 tbsp
- olive oil2 tbsp
- unsalted butter1 tbsp
- yellow onion1 med
- carrot1 large
- potatoes2 med
- tomato paste1 1/2 tbsp
- Turkish red pepper paste1/2 tbsp
- boiling water5 cup
- lemon1 med
Method
- 01
Knead the meat mixture aggressively.
In a large bowl, mix the ground beef, bulgur, grated onion, egg, garlic, 1 teaspoon of the salt, black pepper, cumin, red pepper flakes, and parsley. Use your hands to knead the mixture forcefully for 5 to 8 minutes until it becomes a tacky, cohesive paste.
- 02
Roll the meatballs and coat them in flour.
Pinch off small pieces and roll them tightly into marble-sized balls, dropping them onto a baking sheet dusted with the flour. Shake the pan back and forth until every meatball is evenly coated.
- 03
Sauté the vegetables for the stew base.
In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the chopped medium onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes, then add the diced carrots and cook for 2 minutes more.
- 04
Bloom the tomato and pepper pastes.
Clear a spot in the center of the pot, add both pastes, and fry for 2 minutes until they darken and smell deeply roasted. Stir them into the vegetables.
- 05
Build the broth and bring to a boil.
Add the diced potatoes, pour in the boiling water, and stir to dissolve the pastes. Season with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and bring the pot to a rolling boil.
- 06
Drop the meatballs into the broth without stirring.
Carefully add the floured meatballs one by one. Do not stir with a spoon or you will smash them; instead, grab the pot handles and give it a gentle shimmy.
- 07
Simmer until tender and slightly thickened.
Once the meatballs turn pale and firm up, lower the heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until the vegetables are tender and the bulgur has plumped.
Notes
Fat is flavor and structure.
Do not substitute lean beef or turkey; you need the 20% fat content to lubricate the meatball and keep it from becoming a rubbery bullet.
Source the right binder.
Fine bulgur (köftelik bulgur) hydrates quickly in the meat juices. If you only have coarse tabbouleh-style bulgur, skip it entirely and use crushed short-grain rice instead.
Try the traditional sour variation.
For an Ekşili Köfte, omit the pastes. When the stew finishes cooking in plain broth, temper 1 egg yolk and half a lemon's juice with the hot liquid, then whisk it back into the pot off the heat.
From Cook Turkish in America.