The difficulty of içli köfte is in the shell. Dough that is too dry cracks as you open it, dough that is too wet falls apart in your hand. The right consistency holds as a ball in your hand without sticking to it. Keeping your hands wet is the second rule; a shell opened with dry hands will always tear.
Ingredients
For the crust
For the filling
For frying
Method
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Soak the bulgur
Mix the bulgur, semolina and salt and add the hot water. Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
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Cook the filling
Fry the onion in butter for 8 minutes, add the mince and cook until it takes its liquid back up. Stir in the spices and walnuts, take off the heat, add the parsley and cool.
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Knead the dough
Add the mashed potato to the soaked bulgur and knead for 15 minutes. The dough should hold as a ball in your hand without sticking.
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Open the shells
Wet your hands. Take a walnut-sized piece and open the middle with your thumb into a cup shape. The wall should be as thin as you can get it.
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Fill
Put a teaspoon of filling inside, close the opening and taper the two ends to a point.
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Fry
Fry in hot oil over a medium heat for 6 minutes, until deep golden all over.
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Drain
Transfer to kitchen paper and let the excess oil drain off.
Tips
- Wet your hands again for every single shell. A shell opened with dry hands tears, and a torn shell bursts in the oil.
- The potato is what binds the dough; leave it out and the shell falls apart in the frying.
- They freeze raw. Fry from frozen over a medium heat for 9 minutes without thawing.
Nutrition
Values are per serving and approximate.