Hatay Kısırı Recipe
Today's recipe is Hatay kısırı, one of the most delicious recipes of Hatay cuisine.
Different from the kısır salad one we know, Hatay kısırı has more tomato paste, is more sour, more oily, more spicy and more sticky in consistency. Since pomegranate syrup is used abundantly and added directly into it, its color is darker.
In my opinion, Hatay kısırı is not a type of kısır, but rather a recipe that should be compared with meatless çiğ köfte. Because it reminds me more of it. It's not a salad with lots of greens, tomatoes, cucumbers like kısır, but a spicy dish that can take shape when squeezed in the palm of your hand, like çiğ köfte. When you want someone who doesn't know Hatay kısırı, to taste it, their first guess will be çiğ köfte, not kısır. By the way those who call it Hatay kısırı are those who are not from Hatay. The people of Hatay call this dish "sarmaci", that is sarma filling. This name comes from the fact that the it is eaten by putting inside leaves like vine leaves, cabbage oretc. but not because it is used as a filling in sarma recipes. At that point it would be useful to say hello to batırık recipe here.
Hatay kısırı, with its original name, has two most important tricks. The first is to soak the bulgur in a small amount of non-hot water. Bulgur should be softened by kneading, not by absorbing water. Here we come to the second trick; kneading. Sarmaçi needs to be kneaded for a long time, without being lazy and easy.
Since plenty of olive oil is used in the recipe, it can easily dry after being prepared. Therefore, after preparing it, it should either be served immediately or stored in an airtight container. If you can't serve it right away, it would be good to cover it with a lid or cling film.
Enjoy the recipe...
Hatay Kısırı Recipe with Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups of fine brown bulgur,
- 1 cup of water at room temperature,
- 2 tablespoons of chili paste,
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste,
- 1/3 cup of pomegranate syrup,
- 1/4 cup olive oil,
- 1 teaspoon of hot pepper flakes (if the chili paste is not spicy),
- Salt,
- 1/2 bunch of parsley,
- 1/2 bunch of mint,
- 4 spring onions.
Preparation
- Take the bulgur in a large pan, pour the water over it and mix,
- Wait five minutes for the bulgur to absorb the water,
- Add chilli paste and tomato paste and knead for five minutes strongly,
- Add the pomegranate syrup and knead for another five minutes with the same method,
- Add olive oil, salt and hot pepper flakes if you are going to use it, and knead for another five minutes,
- Separate the mint leaves and chop finely,
- Finely chop the spring onions and parsley,
- Add the greens to the kısır and knead until combined well.
Enjoy your meal...