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Culture Tuesdayis a weekly column in which Best of Vegan EditorSamantha Onyemenam explores different cultures’ cuisines across the globe through a plant-based and vegan lens. Before you start exploring vegan Kurdish recipes, you might want to click hereto read her original column aboutKurdish cuisine.
Culture Tuesday – 10 Vegan Kurdish Recipes You Need To Try
This is a complementary piece to the article on Kurdish Cuisine. This piece consists of 10 vegan-friendly Kurdish recipes from Kurdish foodies and recipe developers. It includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner dishes as well as treats, dessert, appetizers, and side dishes. This complementary piece will introduce you to a variety of delicious Kurdish meals.
Kutilke Brince by Legally Plant Based
Vegan Kutilke Brince, also known as Kutilke Halabe, is a filled dumpling cooked in boiling water or stock. This version is made in South Kurdistan and also by Iraqis. Its dough/shell is made from fine bulgur wheat. However, some cooks choose to combine the bulgur wheat with durum wheat semolina. It usually contains ground meat, but for this vegan version, Seiran substitutes the traditional meat filling with a sweet-salty-savoury mushroom and lentil filling. She also air fries the kutilk instead of cooking it in boiling water. An alternate recipe in which she cooks the kutilk in boiling water can be found here.
Click here for the full recipe.
Shlay Paqla by @kurdishbestfood
Shlay Paqla is a simple, yet nutritious and healthy stew made by stir-frying thinly sliced broad beans then cooking it further in boiling water with some sautéed tomato paste, vegetable stock powder, and black pepper. The final stew can be eaten alone, served with a flatbread, or with rice.
Click here for the full recipe.
Brinji Sor by @halatsophie
Brinji sor, also known as ‘red rice,’ is made by cooking basmati rice in a broth consisting of water, a tomato sauce (which can be made from onions and tomato paste), and stock. The resulting dish has an orange-red hue.
Click here for the full recipe.
Bacanreşk bi Mast û Sîr by Legally Plant Based
Bacanreşk bi Mast û Sîr, which translates to, ‘Aubergine (Eggplant) with Yoghurt and Garlic,’ is a simple Kurdish dish made by frying round aubergine slices until golden then salting them and topping them off with minced garlic and yogurt (vegan Greek-style yogurt for this plant-based version).
Click here for the full recipe.
Shorbay Chewaner by Kurdish Kitchen
Shorbay Chewaner is the beetroot and spinach soup that kifta is often cooked in. To be served alone, Zoya and her mum tend to include curry spice chickpeas as a topping for the soup. The soup, itself is made from onions, grated beets, spinach, tomato purée, water, salt, herbs, and spices. It is a nutritious, hydrating, and warming soup.
Click here for the full recipe.
Samoon by @kurdishbestfood
Samoon is a diamond-shaped yeasted flatbread traditionally baked in a stone oven, but it can also be baked in a conventional home oven. It is encrusted with sesame seeds giving it a subtle nutty flavor.
Click here for the full recipe.
Nok by Kurdish Kitchen
Nok, which means, ‘chickpeas,’ is a chickpea, rosemary, and turmeric soup is another soup in which kifta is often cooked. It is made by sautéing onions, chopped fresh rosemary, ground turmeric, and cooked chickpeas then simmering the sautéed mixture in vegetable stock for at least a half-hour.
Click here for the full recipe.
Tirşka Batata by Legally Plant Based
Tirşka Batata is a potato stew made by sautéing onions, turmeric, tomatoes, tomato paste, and potatoes then cooking the mixture further with vegetable stock till the potatoes are tender and the liquid of the stew is flavourful and thickened to the desired consistency. The stew is served with rice or bread for a hearty, warm, delicious meal.
Click here for the full recipe.
Nawasaji by Kurdish Kitchen
Nawasaji is a lightly fried flatbread that is somewhat a cross between naan bread (a common Kurdish bread of Indian origin) and a doughnut. It is a sweet bread. However, its sweetness is offset by its aromaticness which comes from the nigella seeds sprinkled on top of the bread dough which perfume the bread as it bakes.
Click here for the full recipe.
Luqma Qazi by @b_hawramy_food
Luqma Qazi is a sweet dessert/snack that is rather similar to a doughnut glazed in syrup. Its dough is yeasted and left to rise prior to deep frying in circular shapes and doused in syrup. It is often served at events and during religious holidays.
Click here for the full recipe.
Author: Samantha Onyemenam.
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