Nokaw: The Kurdish Chickpea Broth Sold in Winter Bazaars

Sherko Sabir
May 29
4 min read

Nokaw: The Kurdish Chickpea Broth Sold in Winter Bazaars

Nokaw is a Kurdish winter street food — whole chickpeas boiled in a spiced broth with onion, turmeric, and pepper, sold by vendors in the bazaars of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, and Duhok during the cold months. Nok (نۆک) is the Kurdish word for chickpea. Nokaw is the dish made from it. Afka noka means “chickpea broth.” A food guide describes chickpeas in Kurdistan as “vessels of memory, resilience, and daily nourishment” — the legume that has been simmered in Kurdish pots for as long as anyone remembers. Nokaw is its simplest form: chickpeas in broth, sold in bowls on cold streets. This is the first street food documented in this series. Seventy-two articles have covered home cooking, feast cooking, breakfast, wedding food, and closing courses. Nokaw is the food of the bazaar — bought, not made; eaten standing, not sitting; warming hands as much as stomachs. It is the cheapest hot meal in Kurdistan and the one that connects the street to the kitchen.

Key Takeaways

• Whole chickpeas boiled in spiced broth with onion, turmeric, and pepper — served hot from street vendors

• Nok = chickpea in Kurdish. Nokaw = the dish. Afka noka = chickpea broth

• Winter bazaar food — the first street food documented in this series

• The cheapest hot meal in Kurdistan — warming hands as much as stomachs

Quick Facts

Kurdish Name: Nokaw / Afka Noka (ئافکا نۆکا) — chickpea broth

Type: Winter street food — sold by vendors in Kurdish bazaars

Ingredients: Whole chickpeas, onion, turmeric, cumin, black pepper, broth, lemon

Season: Winter — the cold-weather counterpart to summer’s ayran aşı

Traditional Preparation

Dried chickpeas are soaked overnight and boiled until completely tender. Onions are sautéed in oil until golden. Turmeric and cumin are bloomed in the oil — the turmeric turning the onions a deep gold. The cooked chickpeas are added to the onion base with enough broth or cooking liquid to make a generous, soupy stew. Black pepper and salt are added. The mixture simmers on low heat for twenty to thirty minutes, the chickpeas absorbing the turmeric broth until every bite is golden and deeply flavoured. In the bazaar version, the chickpeas are kept whole and served in their broth in small bowls or cups, eaten with a spoon and bread. The home version is sometimes partially mashed for a thicker texture, or enriched with rosemary or mountain thyme. A squeeze of lemon brightens the final bowl. The simplicity is the point: chickpeas, broth, spice, and warmth. Nothing else is needed.

Kurdish Street Food: The Bazaar Dimension

This series has documented Kurdish food at every meal and every occasion: breakfast (gilûl), lunch (şilah over rice), dinner (biryanî, dolma), closing course (xoşav), wedding food (liver taplama, şirin kaynana), Nowruz food (nan-e shekari), and diaspora food (zalobiya in Jerusalem). Nokaw adds the bazaar — the public space where food is bought and eaten on the street. Kurdish bazaars in winter are filled with vendors selling nokaw alongside ser û pê (head-and-foot stew), ciger şîş (grilled liver), and tea. The bazaar is the social space between the home and the feast. It is where people eat alone, quickly, cheaply, and warmly. Nokaw is the food of that space: a bowl of golden chickpeas in broth, held in both hands against the cold, eaten standing in a crowd.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is nokaw?

Nokaw is a Kurdish chickpea broth — whole chickpeas boiled in a turmeric-spiced broth with onion, cumin, and pepper. Nok means “chickpea” in Kurdish. It is sold as street food by vendors in Kurdish bazaars during winter and is also made at home as a simple, warming meal. It is the cheapest hot food in Kurdistan.

When is nokaw eaten?

Nokaw is a winter food. It is sold by street vendors in Kurdish bazaars during the cold months, eaten from bowls or cups to warm the hands and the body. At home it is made year-round as a simple meal, but its cultural identity is tied to winter — it is the cold-weather counterpart to summer’s ayran aşı (cold yogurt soup). Kurdish eating is seasonal: nokaw warms in winter, ayran aşı cools in summer.

What other foods are sold in Kurdish bazaars?

Kurdish bazaars sell ser û pê (slow-cooked sheep head-and-foot stew), ciger şîş (grilled liver skewers, especially in Amed/Diyarbakır), shifta (fried meat patties in sandwiches), and nokaw (chickpea broth). Tea vendors are everywhere. The bazaar is the social eating space between the home kitchen and the feast table — where people eat quickly, cheaply, and publicly.

Conclusion

Nokaw is the seventy-third article in this series, and it opens the final dimension: the street. Home, feast, breakfast, wedding, closing course, diaspora, and now bazaar. Seventy-three dishes and a reader could now follow Kurdish food from the morning kitchen to the evening table to the winter street. Nokaw is the food of that street: a bowl of golden chickpeas held in both hands against the Zagros cold. It costs almost nothing. It feeds almost everyone. It has been sold in Kurdish bazaars for as long as there have been Kurdish bazaars. Seventy-three articles in, the simplest foods keep being the most important. Nokaw is a chickpea, a pot, some turmeric, and a cold day. That is all it takes to make Kurdish food.