Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish Art and Culture.
Reçel appears alongside bread and dairy in Kurdish breakfast accounts, but local practice varies. Hakkâri research, a rose-petal recipe and preservation guidance give a more precise picture.
Read article →Meftûne is the sour garlic stew of Amed (Diyarbakır), the largest Kurdish city — lamb and seasonal vegetables cooked with garlic and sumac-infused water. A heritage dish registered under the Turkish label, with the Kurdish city of Amed behind it.
Read article →Pary Baban’s published chard-and-eggs recipe brings together caramelised onion, spiced greens and separately poached eggs, served with flatbread. It offers a specific example of Kurdish home cooking carried into a chef’s published work.
Read article →Avelik (evelik) is a wild dock / sorrel foraged across the Kurdish highlands in spring — used in dolma, lentil dishes, and egg dishes, and dried in braids for winter. A foraged green that is also a stored food, completing the Kurdish foraged-greens quartet.
Read article →Qeli is the Kurdish confit meat of Akre — fatty lamb braised and preserved sealed in its own fat, then served over rice with a dried-apricot sauce and cooked in cauldrons at Newroz. The meat chapter of the Kurdish winter-preservation tradition.
Read article →Seyran is the Kurdish mountain picnic — a beloved tradition, peaking at Newroz, of feasting on the hillsides with dolma, grilled meat, mastaw, bread, and tea brewed over a fire. The 100th article in the series: the mountain as the Kurdish table.
Read article →Şamburek and sham-burek name filled pastries in Kurdish family cooking associated with Mardin. Documented recipes vary in dough, filling and cooking method. Comparing a family recipe, the registered Mardin sembusek specification and modern shamburak helps explain those differences.
Read article →Çay — Kurdish tea — is strong sweet black tea served in an istikan, the drink “second only to water.” Tea reached Kurdistan only c. 1895, but the çayxane (teahouse) became a Kurdish civic forum for poets, politics, and storytelling.
Read article →Hingiv — Kurdish wild mountain honey — is made by bees foraging the zozan highland wildflowers, prized from Sulaimani to Hakkari’s Karakovan log hives and scientifically shown to meet EU standards. A renowned Kurdish food, and a casualty of mountain conflict.
Read article →Family memories and published recipes explain kadeh’s cheese fillings, crescent shape, oven and pan methods, and place at the Shavuot table.
Read article →Terxena names both a preserved preparation and a winter dish. Accounts from Sulaymaniyah and Kurdish home cooking include grain as well as turnips and leaves; similarly named wheat-and-yogurt preparations belong to other local traditions.
Read article →A cookbook account and a Sanandaj home cook document Kurdish tareh stew, its greens, beans, souring ingredients and household variations.
Read article →Tirşik is a sour Kurdish dish — a slow-cooked lamb and aubergine stew with sumac, and a whole family of sour dishes named for tirş (“sour”). Many Kurds treat it as a national dish: land-rooted, foraged, and unmistakably Kurdish.
Read article →Mastaw is a Kurdish yogurt drink whose name combines yogurt and water. Recipes vary in thickness and seasoning; historical accounts distinguish diluted yogurt from the buttermilk left after churning butter.
Read article →Kope takes its name from its clay vessel. Studies of this Kurdish cheese explain changes in texture and flavour during maturation, while distinguishing particular experiments from the wider history of the food.
Read article →Thin folded bread, spring alliums and a hot griddle connect documented kelane recipes, while the dough and filling vary between cooks.
Read article →Bersaq and beji belong to the food traditions of western Iran, including Kurdish and Laki-speaking communities. Recipes, oral storytelling and a heritage interview reveal regional variety rather than one fixed formula.
Read article →Çökelek is a dry Kurdish curd cheese made by boiling soured milk, yogurt, or buttermilk — known in Kurdish dairy tradition as torak and jajî. The 13th product in the Kurdish dairy chain, built on the principle of wasting nothing.
Read article →Keledoş is a dense Kurdish winter stew of lamb, chickpeas, crushed wheat, and greens bound with reconstituted dried yogurt — from Bitlis, Hizan, Van, and Muş. The Kurdish preservation calendar assembled into one cauldron.
Read article →Tapsi is an aubergine casserole documented in Kurdish home cooking, with vegetable, lamb and meatball versions. Published recipes show different layering methods, seasonings and sauces.
Read article →Dandeh kabab is a rib kebab associated with Kirmaşan (Kermanshah). Its broad cut of meat, repeated basting and restaurant setting distinguish the documented dish from a generic account of grilled lamb.
Read article →Fasolya is the everyday Kurdish white bean stew, part of the “shley” family of simple stews. One of the youngest dishes in Kurdish cuisine — white beans are a New World crop — proving Kurdish food is living, not frozen.
Read article →Gulav is Kurdish rose water — from gul (rose) and av (water) — distilled from Zagros mountain roses. Paired with cardamom, it is the aromatic signature behind Kurdish sweets like muhallebi, kulicha, and zalobiya.
Read article →Teşrîb is torn flatbread soaked in lamb-and-chickpea broth with dried lime — the central dish of the Yazidi Kurdish New Year, Sere Sal, and of weddings and funerals. Carried intact into the Yazidi diaspora.
Read article →