Kurdish cuisine

Kurdish cuisine^[a] consists of a wide variety of foods prepared by the Kurdish people. There are culinary and cultural similarities of Kurds and their immediate neighbours in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey.

Culinary customs

Various Kurdish dishes

Kurdish kulere served with yogurt and Kurdish cheese

Kurdish cuisine makes abundant use of fresh herbs and spices.^[1]

Traditional Kurdish bread, a crusty white loaf that is baked on a round hot iron, Hawraman

Sweetened black tea is a very common drink, along with bitter strong coffee. Another favourite Kurdish drink is Mastaw (ماستاو) or Ava Mast, which is yogurt and salt mixed with water. The fermented version of this is called Dô (Doogh).^[2]

Staples of Kurdish cuisine are Berbesel, Biryanî (بریانی), Dokliw (دۆکوڵیو), Kelane (کەلانە), Kulerenaske (ناسکە کولێرە), Kube (کوبە), Parêv Tobûlî, Kuki (meat or vegetable pies), Birinç (white rice (برنج) alone or with meat or vegetables and herbs), and a variety of salads, pastries (شیرینی), and drinks specific to different parts of Kurdistan. Other popular dishes are Makluba(مەقلوبە), kofta (کوفتە), shifta (شفتە), shilah/maraga, spinach with eggs, wheat & lentil soup (شۆربای گەنم و عەدەس), beet & meat soup, sweet turnip, cardamon cookies, bulgur pilaf, mehîr, hûr û rûvî, pel (yaprakh) (یاپراخ), chichma this dish is common in Erbil (Hewlêr), tefti, niskene (نیسکێنە) and nane niskan.^[3]

Sawar (ساوەر), a traditional dish among Kurdish farmers, is made of wheat grain that is boiled, sun dried and pounded in a mortar (curn) to get rid of the husk. The wheat is then crushed in a mill (destarr). The resulting grain food can be boiled and served.^[4]

Tepsî (تەپسی) is a dish of aubergines, green peppers, courgettes and potatoes in a slightly spicy tomato sauce. Teşrîb (تشریب) consists of layers of naan in a sauce of green pepper, tomato, onions and chillies.^[5]

Erbil yogurt

Dishes and foods

Dairy products

Yoghurt, or mast, as it is called in Kurdish,^[6] is considered the most popular fermented dairy product in Kurdistan.

• Lorik, Kurdish cottage cheese
• Jajî, or Van herbed cheese, popularly produced in the Kurdish villages in Van Province, Turkey

Rice dishes

• Perde pelav
• Biryanî
• Birinca sor (red rice)
• Birinc bi maş (mung beans and rice)

Perde pelav پەردە پڵاو

Stews

Kurdish bean stew (metfiniya fasoliya)

Bread

Kelane کەلانە

In Kurdistan, bread can be found in various forms. Their ingredients differ as well as their shapes, densities, and textures.^[7]

Sewik سەوک

Stuffed vegetables

Stuffed vegetables are widely known as pelpêç or îprax (sarma) or pel (dolma) ^[8] in Kurdish regions.

• Pel (dolma)
• Pelpêç^[8] or îprax (yaprak or sarma)

Meat

As nomads and herders, lamb and chicken have been the main dishes of Kurdish cuisine for centuries.^[9] Dishes with meat involved include:

• Kutilk, also used in the following stews:
  • Tirşik
  • Kutildewk
  • Avşirînk
• Putête çap
• Kebab
• Qelî, Kurdish stir-fry
• Meqlûbî
• Skewered meat (i.e. chicken, mutton, beef, etc.)

Dessert

• Gilûl, cooked yoghurt and rice topped with a layer of date molasses
• Xebîse, brown cookies unique to the city of Amedi
• Kade, ceremonial cookies usually with a date, walnut, or coconut filling
• Arxavk, a paste made from flour and water which can be done savory or sweet
  • Kurds also use arxavk as a kade filling
• Apple salad (chopped apples in mayonnaise) is a popular appetizer in Kurdish cuisine
• Peqlave

Non-alcoholic beverages

• Kurdish coffee (Qehweya kezwanê or Kafêya Kurdî)
• Çay
• Dew or do^[2]
  • Also used in stews such as kutildewk
• Avamast or mastaw^[2]
• Raisin juice

Kurdish yoghurt drink (Dew/mastaw)

Related cuisines

• Afghan cuisine
• Albanian cuisine
• Arab cuisine
• Armenian cuisine
• Assyrian cuisine
• Azerbaijani cuisine
• Balkan cuisine
• Balochi cuisine
• Bosnian cuisine
• Bulgarian cuisine
• Caucasian cuisine
• Central Asian cuisine
• Cypriot cuisine
• Georgian cuisine
• Greek cuisine
• Iranian cuisine
• Levantine cuisine
• Mediterranean cuisine
• Mesopotamian cuisine
• Middle Eastern cuisine
• North Indian cuisine
• Ottoman cuisine
• Pakistani cuisine
• Tajik cuisine
• Turkish cuisine
• Turkmen cuisine
• Uzbek cuisine

See also

• Kurdish coffee, a hot drink made from terebinth

Notes

1. Sorani Kurdish: چێشتی کوردی, romanized: çêştî Kurdî; Kurmanji Kurdish: پێژگەها کوردی, romanized: pêjgeha Kurdî