Name: Ladies’ Thighs (Kadınbudu Köfte)
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: onion, finely chopped 1; dried thyme 1 tsp or fresh; cumin, ground 1 tsp; salt; basmati rice, cooked, a handful; minced lamb 450 g/1 lb; olive oil, 1 tbsp; light sunflower or rapeseed oil; thyme a sprig; parsley, finely chopped, a bunch; flour 2 tsp; egg, beaten 1; pepper

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Yashim Cooks Istanbul

By Jason Goodwin

Published 2016

About

This classic Ottoman palace dish is surprisingly quick and easy to make. The palace ladies were not skinny supermodels, either. I learned this recipe from the conductor Cem Mansur, who cooked it for me at his beautiful house in Ortakoy.

Ingredients

onion, finely chopped 1
olive oil, 1 tbsp
minced lamb 450

Method

Sweat the onion with olive oil until it begins to colour, then raise to a high heat and turn in half the minced lamb. When the lamb is browned and dry, mix in the cooked rice.
Turn the mixture into a bowl, add the remaining raw lamb, and stir it up with a hefty pinch of salt, the ground cumin and thyme, parsley and some fresh pepper.
When everything is wel