A Highlight of Armenian Cuisine

A dish my father grew up with and can now look back on so fondly is a versatile dish throughout the Middle East. What am I talking about? Keufteh. More specifically his favorite dish Houm Keufteh or Raw Keufteh. Now I can't say how this dish tastes because I haven't tried it, yet. It's on my must try list. So I figured if I blogged about it maybe it would get me motivated to make it. We shall see. In any case here it is.

Houm Keufteh

1 cup fine bulghur
1/2 pound very lean boneless leg of lamb, ground 3 times

1 small onion, finely chopped, or 1 medium clove garlic, pureed

Salt, freshly ground black pepper, and Middle East red pepper* to taste

1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

1/4 cup finely chopped scallions

1/4 cup finely chopped green pepper

2 tomatoes, cut into eighths

*A combination of 4 parts sweet paprika and 1 part ground hot pepper flakes make an acceptable substitute

Soak the bulghur in cold water to cover about 5 mins. Drain in a colander lined with double thickness of cheesecloth. Enclose the bulghur in cheesecloth and squeeze dry. Place in a bowl and add the lamb, onion, and salt and black pepper and red pepper. Knead the mixture about 8 mins. Add 2 tablespoons each of the parsley, scallions, and green peppers. Knead 1 to 2 mins longer until the mixture is well blended and smooth. Taste for seasoning. Form into patties and place on serving platter. Season with remaining chopped parsley, scallions, and green pepper. Garnish with the tomatoes. Serve immediately.

Serves 4

Since this dish contains raw meat make sure your meat is of good quality and safe to consume raw.

I found this recipe about a year ago in The Cuisine of Armenia by Sonia Uvezian. It sounded absolutley delish. So enjoy and hopefully I will too.

-Amber Sampson-