Liver Taplama: The Kurdish Wedding Patties from Bitlis

Jamal Latif
May 28
6 min read

Liver Taplama: The Kurdish Wedding Patties from Bitlis

Liver taplama — ciger taplamasi in the local dialect — is a Kurdish dish of lamb liver ground with onion, peppers, bulgur, semolina, and spices, kneaded into a dough, shaped into small patties with a characteristic thumb-pressed indentation in the centre, boiled in salted water, and served with a butter-and-red-pepper sauce. It is specifically associated with Bitlis (Bidlîs) — a Kurdish city in Bakur (northern Kurdistan, within Turkey’s borders). A March 2026 Türkiye Today article describes it as an “ancient Anatolian recipe” from Bitlis, noting that “lamb liver is especially popular in Bitlis.” The article uses the phrase “ancient Anatolian” rather than “Kurdish” — the same geographic laundering that relabels büryan as “southeastern Turkish” and tepsî as “Iraqi.” Bitlis has been a Kurdish city for over a thousand years. The word taplama comes from the pressing technique: each patty receives a thumb-pressed indentation in its centre that ensures even cooking and lets the butter sauce pool in the hollow. It is a dish made for weddings — specifically the pre-wedding celebrations where the bride’s and groom’s families gather. Like şirin kaynana (the sweet pastry for the mother-in-law), liver taplama belongs to Kurdish wedding food culture — a cuisine within a cuisine, with its own rules and its own dishes.

Key Takeaways

• Lamb liver ground with bulgur, semolina, onion, and spices, shaped into patties with a thumb-pressed centre

• From Bitlis (Bidlîs) — a Kurdish city relabelled “ancient Anatolian” by Turkish media in 2026

• Associated with wedding pre-celebrations — part of Kurdish ceremonial food culture alongside şirin kaynana

• Connects to ciger şîş (Amed breakfast liver) — same organ, different city, different technique, different occasion

Quick Facts

Kurdish Name: Ciger Taplamasi / Liver Taplama — liver patties with a pressed centre

Type: Offal patties — boiled then sauced with butter and red pepper

City: Bitlis (Bidlîs) — Kurdish city in Bakur, within Turkey’s borders

Occasion: Wedding pre-celebrations — Kurdish ceremonial food

1. Origins: An “Ancient Anatolian” Recipe from a Kurdish City

2. Traditional Preparation: The Taplama Technique

3. Cultural Role: Kurdish Wedding Food

4. Contested Names: Geographic Laundering

5. Regional Variations: Two Kurdish Liver Traditions

6. FAQ

Origins: An “Ancient Anatolian” Recipe from a Kurdish City

Bitlis sits at 1,545 metres in the mountains of Bakur. Its population has been Kurdish for centuries. Its castle was built by the Kurdish Rojaki dynasty. Its food traditions are Kurdish. When Türkiye Today published a feature on this dish in March 2026, the headline called it an “ancient Anatolian recipe” that “lives on in Bitlis.” The word Kurdish did not appear. This is the same erasure pattern documented throughout this series: the food is acknowledged as belonging to a specific place, but the people of that place are unnamed. “Anatolian” is a geographic term that encompasses the entire landmass of modern Turkey. Using it to describe a dish from a specific Kurdish city is like calling haggis a “British Isles recipe” — technically true, precisely misleading. Liver taplama is from Bitlis. Bitlis is Kurdish. The dish is Kurdish.

Traditional Preparation: The Taplama Technique

Fresh lamb liver is ground together with onion and peppers until it reaches a fine, mince-like consistency. The mixture is placed in a large bowl with bulgur, semolina, egg, sunflower oil, spices, dried basil, and flour. It is kneaded by hand for ten to fifteen minutes, adding small amounts of water, until it reaches a smooth, dough-like consistency that does not stick to the hands. The mixture is shaped into flattened patties roughly three centimetres wide. Here the defining step occurs: a small indentation is pressed into the centre of each patty with the thumb. This is the taplama — the press. It ensures the patties cook evenly and creates a hollow where the sauce will pool. The patties are boiled in salted water until cooked through, then lifted out and arranged on a platter. A butter-based sauce is heated with red pepper flakes until the pepper blooms in the fat, then poured over the patties. Fresh herbs — parsley, mint — are scattered on top. The result is a dish where the earthy, mineral richness of liver is balanced by the nutty bulgur, the heat of the pepper sauce, and the brightness of fresh herbs.

Kurdish Wedding Food: A Cuisine Within a Cuisine

This series has now documented two Kurdish wedding foods: şirin kaynana (the sweet pastry given to the bride’s mother-in-law as a gesture of family diplomacy) and now liver taplama (the savoury patties served at pre-wedding gatherings). Kurdish wedding food is a separate tradition within Kurdish cooking — dishes that appear only when two families are being joined. The wedding meal is not the same as the everyday meal or the celebration meal. It has its own dishes, its own rules, and its own social functions. Şirin kaynana sweetens the relationship between families. Liver taplama feeds the gathering where logistics are planned, dowries discussed, and dates set. Both dishes exist to make the social machinery of a Kurdish wedding work. The food is not decoration. It is infrastructure.

Two Kurdish Liver Traditions: Amed and Bitlis

Kurdish cuisine now has two documented liver traditions, each tied to a different city and a different meal. Ciger şîş belongs to Amed (Diyarbakır): cubed liver skewered and grilled over charcoal, eaten for breakfast with onions, sumac, and flatbread. Liver taplama belongs to Bitlis (Bidlîs): ground liver kneaded with bulgur and spices, shaped into patties, boiled, and sauced, served at wedding gatherings. Same organ, different technique, different city, different occasion. Amed’s liver is breakfast food — fast, smoky, street-level. Bitlis’s liver is wedding food — slow, sauced, domestic. Together they show that Kurdish cooking does not have one way to use liver. It has two, each embedded in a different social context. The organ is the constant. Everything else — technique, spice, occasion — varies by city.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is liver taplama?

Liver taplama (ciger taplamasi) is a Kurdish dish from Bitlis (Bidlîs). Lamb liver is ground with onion, peppers, bulgur, semolina, and spices, then kneaded into a dough and shaped into small patties. Each patty receives a thumb-pressed indentation in the centre — the “taplama” — which ensures even cooking and lets the sauce pool. The patties are boiled in salted water and served with a butter-and-red-pepper sauce garnished with fresh herbs.

Why is liver taplama associated with weddings?

Kurdish wedding food is a separate tradition within Kurdish cooking — dishes that appear only when two families are being joined. Liver taplama is specifically associated with the pre-wedding gatherings where the two families meet, plan logistics, discuss arrangements, and eat together. It is one of the savoury dishes prepared for these occasions. The other documented Kurdish wedding food is şirin kaynana — a sweet pastry given as a diplomatic gesture between families.

How does liver taplama differ from ciger şîş?

Both use lamb liver but in completely different ways. Ciger şîş belongs to Amed (Diyarbakır): cubed liver grilled on skewers, eaten for breakfast with onion and sumac. Liver taplama belongs to Bitlis (Bidlîs): ground liver kneaded with bulgur into patties, boiled, and served with a butter-pepper sauce at wedding gatherings. Amed’s liver is fast street food. Bitlis’s liver is slow domestic ceremonial food. Same organ, different cities, different techniques, different occasions.

What does the word “taplama” mean?

Taplama refers to the pressing technique that defines this dish. Each patty receives a small indentation pressed into its centre with the thumb. This creates a hollow where the butter-and-red-pepper sauce pools after serving, and it ensures the patties cook evenly when boiled. The technique is simple but precise, and it gives the dish its name.

Conclusion

Liver taplama is the sixty-fourth article in this series, and it opens two new dimensions at once. First: Kurdish wedding food as a sub-tradition — a cuisine within a cuisine, with its own dishes, rules, and social functions. Second: Bitlis as a Kurdish food city, joining the map alongside Erbil (chichma), Sulaymaniyah (halva), Amed (ciger şîş), and Kermanshah (khoresht rivas). The March 2026 article in Türkiye Today calls this an “ancient Anatolian recipe.” It is not. It is a Kurdish recipe from a Kurdish city made for Kurdish weddings. Calling it “Anatolian” is like calling sushi “Asian.” True in the broadest sense. Useless in every other. Sixty-four articles in, the pattern is clear: the food is always acknowledged, the Kurdishness never is. This series exists to reverse that equation.