İçli Köfte

Ingredients

• 400 g fine bulgur (köftelik ince bulgur)
• 100 g fine semolina
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 small onion
• 2 tbsp Turkish red pepper paste
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp salt
• 350 ml hot water
• 300 g minced lamb
• 2 onions
• 60 g walnuts
• 40 g butter
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 1 tsp Aleppo pepper flakes (pul biber)
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• Small bunch of parsley
• Sunflower oil, for deep frying
• Lemon wedges and yoghurt, to serve

Before you cook

• Finely chop the two onions and the walnuts.
• Chop the parsley.
• Put the bulgur, semolina, flour, 1 teaspoon of the salt and the cumin in a large wide bowl.
• Grate the small onion into the bulgur and add 1 tablespoon of the red pepper paste.
• Fill a jug with the hot water and set a bowl of cold water beside your work surface.

Steps

1. Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat.
2. Cook the chopped onions for eight minutes, until soft and golden.
3. Add the minced lamb and fry it for eight minutes, breaking it up, until the moisture has gone and it starts to catch on the pan.
4. Stir in the walnuts, the remaining red pepper paste, the allspice, Aleppo pepper, cinnamon and the remaining salt.
5. Cook for three minutes more, then stir through the parsley and spread the filling on a tray to cool completely.
6. Pour the hot water into the bulgur a little at a time, working it in with a spoon until it is all absorbed.
7. Knead the bulgur with wet hands for fifteen to twenty minutes, until it stops feeling grainy and becomes a smooth, stretchy paste that holds a fingerprint.
8. Pinch off a lump the size of an egg and roll it into a ball between wet palms.
9. Push a wet index finger into the ball and turn it slowly against your other palm, thinning the walls into a hollow cone.
10. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the cold filling inside, pinch the opening shut, and roll the shell into a lemon shape with pointed ends.
11. Shape the rest of the mixture the same way, wetting your hands each time, and lay the köfte on a floured tray.
12. Heat the frying oil in a deep pan to 170°C.
13. Fry the köfte six at a time for five to six minutes, until deep brown and crisp all over.
14. Drain them on kitchen paper and let them sit for two minutes so the filling stops scalding.
15. Serve hot with lemon wedges and a bowl of yoghurt.