Turkish İçli Köfte: Stuffed Bulgur Shells

Sharing is caring!

When you visit a kebab restaurant this treat is almost always offered in Turkish restaurants. The most famous Turkish İçli Köfte belongs to the city of Adana. Those who are able to prepare these delicious mouth-watering meatballs in every bite in this shape can be proud. Kids will love these too.

History of İçli Köfte

İçli köfte in Turkey, kıbbeh in Syria or Lebanon this treat is a staple of the Levantine Cuisine that has also found its way to South America via migrations.

These croquettes are made with a bulgur shell and stuffed with ground meat with spices. They come in different sizes, shapes and can be fried, boiled or baked, served with a variety of sauces.

Preparing the bulgur shell

The ingredients for the bulgur shell are not too many. Here they are with the steps:

• Fine bulgur and semolina. Place these two in a large bowl and add measured boiling water. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.
• When time is up add the flour and an egg. If you do not want to use the egg replace it with grated boiled potato.
• The spices you will need to add are salt, black pepper, paprika and cumin.
• Mix and knead with your hands until you obtain a homogenous and sticky dough. It will be there in about 10 minutes.
• If the mixture is stiff feel free to add about 100 millilitres more water if necessary. But add the water gradually.
• If the mixture is too soft you can add some more semolina.
• Taste before starting to shape. If bland add more salt and/or paprika.
• Test before starting to shape by making a small ball if the shape stays as you want it, move on to the next step, if not knead for a few more minutes.

Filling

The traditional filling of içli köfte is with ground beef and/or lamb. Cook the meat first, then add well-chopped onions, garlic and spices and cook until onions are translucent. Finally, add chopped parsley and walnuts. You can use a food processor to do the chopping. Once ready set aside to cool.

You can prepare the filling the day before. You can make oval-shaped balls and keep them in the freezer and shape the içli köfte around them. However, this method uses up more filling and I find shaping the bulgur shell around them a bit more difficult.

Giving the İçli Köfte shape

Kibbeh or kubbe means ball in Arabic, traditionally it has a shape like a North American football, that is a spheroid. But you can also make them round which is easier to do.

To make the traditional shape follow these steps:

While shaping keep a bowl of drinking water handy to wet your hands so the bulgur does not stick on your hands. This will also help you to mend any cracks on the outside of the shell if any. Try to make the shell evenly thick and thin all around as much as possible. 

After preparing these içli köftes you can freeze them before cooking. However, freeze them in a single layer and not touching each other. Once they freeze you can move them all together into a covered container. This way you can take out as many as you want.

Now that you have shaped your kofte, you are ready to cook them.

How to cook ?

You can either fry or boil it or bake the içli köfte. Personally, I prefer to fry. I find it more delicious, however boiling and baking has fewer calories. 

• Deep frying. Make sure the oil is heated. Do not over-crowd the pot so that the oil does not get cold and so you can have space in the pot to turn the kofte around once in a while to make sure all sides are fried. Remove from the oil to a serving plate with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.
• Boiling. Add enough water to make sure the kofte can float around. Once the water comes to a boil add salt and lemon juice. Gently drop in the dolma. When the kofte floats back to the surface of the water it is a sign it is done. Remove from water.
• Baking. You can bake içli köfte either traditionally shaped or as if a three-layered cake. When the shell dough is ready divide it in half. Grease the baking sheet and spread the first half first. Press it down firmly and pour the filling on top spread it to level and then add the remaining bulgur shell dough on top to cover. Grease again. Then bake in a pre-heated oven at 200° Celsius (400° F) for about 40 minutes.

I have added a dip recipe into the recipe, it is not a must, you can leave it out. I have added it as it is served with this dip in Eastern Turkey. Other sauce options that will be good matches to this delicious treat would be pomegranate sauce, chilly eggplant sauce; Ajvar and a garlic yogurt sauce; Haydari.

This recipe will give you a chance to prepare in your own kitchen. If you have tasted a Meatball Stuffed Bulgur Shell / İçli Köfte before and you miss it, you can rely on this recipe.

If you like authentic Turkish recipes you might also like Spicy Vegan Balls – Çiğ Köfte recipe too.

Have fun and enjoy.

Print Pin

Meatballs with Bulgur Shell

This recipe does require some effort, but very authentic and tasty and well worth the effort.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine Levantine, Turkish

Prep Time 1 hour hour

Cook Time 20 minutes minutes

Resting time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 25 Balls

Calories 300kcal

Ingredients

Bulgur Shell

• 400 grams fine bulgur
• 100 grams semolina
• 100 grams flour
• 500 millilitres water boiling
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon pepper paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon cummin

Meat stuffing

• 250 grams ground beef medium fat
• 250 grams onions
• 100 grams walnuts coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon dry mint
• 1 tablespoon red pepper paste

Dipping sauce

• 1 tomato
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon pepper paste
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon dry mint
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon thyme

To fry

• 300 millilitres olive oil

To boil

• 400 millilitres water boiling
• 1 teaspoon lemon’s juice
• 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Meat stuffing

• Start with preparing the meat filling. Place the meat into the pot and spread it in the bottom. Without adding anything at all cook with lid on top over medium heat. The meat will first leave and then absorb back its own water. Just when the water is finished proceed to the next step.
• Chop the onions to tiny pieces. You can grate or use a food processor. Add to the meat together with 2 tablespoons of butter.
• Cook until the onions are translucent. Add all the spices in the stuffing group. Mix until combined and remove from heat.
• Chop by hand or use a food processor to chop the walnuts. Add the walnuts to the meat, mix well. Set aside to cool.

Bulgur Shell

• In a large bowl mix the semolina and the bulgur. Add 500 millilitres of boiling water. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes. Add the flour, an egg, the pepper paste and all the other spices. Knead for about 10 minutes. If necessary add more water to ease the kneading.
• When the mixture turns into a sticky dough that does not stick on your hands it is ready. Taste adjust spices and knead again if necessary.

Shaping the Bulgur Shells

• Keep a bowl of clean water handy. You will need the water to wet your hands while preparing the balls and mend cracks if any.
• Make small lemon-sized balls out of the bulgur dough.
• Take a bulgur ball in your palm and make a hole in it with your thumb or use a tool such as clean cucumber or even a carrot or maybe the back of a spatula.
• While making the hole turn the ball in your palm gently to make sure that the walls of the ball are about the same thickness of 2 millimetres.
• Put enough meat stuffing to fill the hole and gently cover the bulgur shell over it. If you see cracks in the ball wet your hand and rub to cover the cracks.

Frying

• To fry; add plenty of vegetable oil in a deep pan and fry until all sides are golden brown.
• Make sure the oil is at high temperature so that the bulgur shell does not soak up too much of the oil.
• Once golden brown on all sides take out on to a paper towel to get rid of excess oil.

or to Boil

• To boil; add plenty of water to a pot with salt and 1 teaspoon of lemon's juice.
• Add the meatballs only after the water comes to full boil.
• Add the meatballs into the water gently and one by one.
• Cooking will take about 10 minutes.
• Soon the meatballs will start floating on top of the water. This is a sign that they are ready. Remove from the water. it shows that they are ready.

To garnish

• Melt the butter in a pan.
• Add the tomato and pepper paste and stir.
• Grate the tomato and add to the tomato paste and stir. Add the garlic and stir. Add the spices and mix.
• When the Bulgur Shelled Meatballs are ready after boiling or frying add the meatballs into this sauce and make sure they are well coated with the sauce. Serve with lemon wedges.

Notes

You can substitute pepper paste with tomato paste.

Once cooked or before cooking you can freeze these icli kofte. 

You can keep in the fridge once cooked for up to 3 days. 

You can leave out the egg and replace it with 150 grams (1 medium) boiled and grated potato. With this the crust will become vegan. You can make a vegan filling with spinach and lentils and/or mushrooms. 

Interested in more recipes? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please view my disclaimer page for more information.