Kurdish cuisine

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Various Kurdish dishes Xwarin-shingal1.jpg
Various Kurdish dishes

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 neighbours in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Greece, Armenia and Turkey.

Contents

Culinary customs

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 Traditional Kurdish bread, a crusty white loaf that is baked on a round hot iron.jpg
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 peppers, tomato, onions and chillies. [5]

Dishes and foods

Dairy products

Yoghurt, or mast in Kurdish, [6] is considered the most popular fermented dairy product amongst Kurds. Doogh (or do in Kurdish) and kashk are two popular dairy products made from yogurt.

Cheeses

Lorik Urda.png
Lorik

The Kurdish people make many types of cheese using sheep, goat, or cow milk. The traditional cheeses made by Kurdish people are the following:

An image of Jaji, also known as Van herbed cheese Otlu peynir from Van.jpg
An image of Jajî, also known as Van herbed cheese
  • Lorik — a traditional Kurdish whey cheese that is made by reheating whey that is left over after cheese production. The cheese has a soft texture and is commonly eaten fresh, especially during spring and summer. [7] Before refrigerators existed, lorik was mixed with wild mountain herbs and stored in containers for consumption during the colder seasons. This preserved form was called Lorik u Giya (meaning “Lorik with herbs”) and is still popular in Kurdistan today. [7]
  • Jajî (Van herbed cheese) — sometimes known as Penîre Giyayî, is a Kurdish herbed cheese made from raw sheep’s milk and mixed with many varieties of mountain herbs, giving it an aromatic flavor. [8] The cheese is produced at the villages of Van Province by Kurdish women who gather the herbs by hand each spring. [8] The cheese, however, is marketed and sold by the Turkish name Van Otlu Peyniri [9] (meaning Van herbed cheese) and the Kurdish name jajî is almost never used. [8] However, Kurdish people living in Iraq also eat and make the cheese, and do use the term jajî to refer to it specifically.

Rice dishes


Stews


Bread

In Kurdistan, bread can be found in various forms. Their ingredients differ as well as their shapes, densities, and textures. [10]


Stuffed vegetables

Stuffed vegetables are widely known as pelpêç or îprax (sarma) or pel (dolma) [11] in Kurdish regions.

Meat

As nomads and herders, lamb and chicken have been the main dishes of Kurdish cuisine for centuries. [12] Dishes with meat involved include:

Dessert

Non-alcoholic beverages

Kurdish traditional teacup Glass of Tea.jpg
Kurdish traditional teacup

See also

Notes

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

References

  1. ↑ "Kurdistan's cuisine". Krg.org. 2010-06-27. Archived from the original on 2014-10-19. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  2. 1 2 3 "Kurdistan's cuisine". Krg.org. 2010-06-27. Archived from the original on 2012-02-18. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  3. ↑ "Middle East". Web.archive.org. 2008-02-01. Archived from the original on February 1, 2008. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  4. ↑ "The food that launched civilization". saradistribution.com. 2012-05-05. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  5. ↑ "Iraqi Kurdish, Life Style". London: Guardian.co.uk. 2007-04-07. Retrieved 2012-05-21.
  6. ↑ "Kurdish-English dictionary" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  7. 1 2 Sarkis, Dala (2026-05-28). "Lorik: The Kurdish Whey Cheese That Wastes Nothing". Kurdish History. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  8. 1 2 3 Sarkis, Dala (2026-05-27). "Jajî: The Kurdish Mountain Cheese Sold Under a Turkish City's Name". Kurdish History. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  9. ↑ Sabir, Sherko (2026-05-29). "Penîrê Giyayî: The Kurdish Wild-Herb Cheese of Wan". Kurdish History. Retrieved 2026-08-03.
  10. ↑ "Culture Tuesday: an Exploration of Kurdish Cuisine". 21 January 2021. Archived from the original on 1 February 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  11. 1 2 "Kurdische Spezialität". 6 December 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  12. ↑ "Kurdish Food" . Retrieved 28 July 2021.

Bibliography

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