Gilûl, also recorded as gulol, gulul and gilol, combines yogurt and grain with a rich butter accompaniment. Hakkâri recipes, a remembered village supper and recent field research show several ways of preparing and sharing it.
A dish associated with Hakkâri
The Hakkari Gulol registration, recorded by TURKPATENT on 11 January 2023, identifies a preparation of yogurt, water, rice, butter or clarified butter, salt and kavut. Its geographical description concerns Hakkâri province and links the dish with hospitality, weddings and other gatherings. Kavut is a flour-and-fat preparation served with the cooked yogurt and rice. The document records a particular regional specification; it does not establish a single meal eaten in the same way throughout Kurdistan. [1]
A remembered evening in Güzereş
Enver Özkahraman supplies a more personal setting. Writing in 2007 about a journey in 1974, he recalls walking between villages while surveying possible roads and drinking-water supplies in the Çukurca area. At Güzereş he stayed with a host named Kasım, ate gilol in the evening and then joined villagers for tea and conversation. His description has rice or den cooked in ayran, the yogurt-and-water mixture, until thick. It is put into a wide vessel, with honey and melted butter in separate containers at the centre so diners can adjust each mouthful. This is a specific recollection of hospitality, rather than evidence that the dish belongs exclusively to breakfast. [2]
A home recipe and its texture
A recipe credited to Gül Damak and reproduced by Nihat Işık in January 2022 describes another approach. The yogurt is whisked and heated with continuous stirring; water is added as it begins boiling, followed by rice and salt. The recipe allows ground wheat to replace part of the rice. Cooking continues over low heat with occasional stirring, leaving some liquid before the pot is taken off the heat. As it rests, the grain absorbs moisture and the mixture becomes firmer. Portions are served with a hollow for melted butter, and pekmez can accompany them. The serving shape therefore follows the texture after resting, rather than requiring the consistency of a thin drinking yogurt. [3]
Kavut, honey and pekmez
The registered version places kavut around a central vessel of melted butter. Its kavut is made by roasting wheat flour in fat, with honey, grape molasses or sugar optional. [1] Özkahraman’s account instead emphasizes separately offered honey and butter, while Gül Damak suggests pekmez beside the dish. [2] [3] These descriptions preserve useful differences: an accompaniment may be separate, and a sweet addition need not be mixed through the whole pot. They should not be collapsed into one supposedly compulsory household recipe.
What local food research adds
Muhammed Sefa Çelik and Semra Gürbüz’s 2025 study interviewed 25 experienced women and local chefs in Hakkâri. They used face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, recruited through snowball sampling, and analysed the recorded material by themes. Their findings specifically mention molasses with gulol within a wider combination of sour, sweet and salty tastes. The study also places dairy products prominently in the regional cuisine. This gives the sweet accompaniment a documented local context beyond a single published recipe. Its scope remains a qualitative investigation of Hakkâri food practices, rather than a survey measuring how often every Kurdish community eats gilûl. [4]
Sources and further reading
- TURKPATENT, Hakkari Gulol, registration 1314, 11 January 2023, pp. 2–3: ingredients, kavut, preparation, presentation and regional context.
- Enver Özkahraman, Çel–Çukurca (2), 12 July 2007: first-person recollection of a 1974 journey, supper at Güzereş and gilol with honey and butter.
- Gül Damak, Gulol recipe, reproduced by Nihat Işık, Yöresel Yemekler (Gulol), 8 January 2022: rice/wheat variation, resting and butter/pekmez serving.
- Muhammed Sefa Çelik and Semra Gürbüz, Hakkâri Mutfak Kültürü Üzerine Nitel Bir Araştırma, Journal of Tourism Research Institute 6(2), 31 December 2025; interview methods and findings.