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.
The preserved ingredient and the cooked dish
Terxena, also written Trxena or Tirxêne, can refer to a prepared ingredient and the winter meal made with it. The Inside Kurdistan cooking account describes turnip, turnip leaves and cooked semolina as part of the base. [1] A report published by Rudaw in October 2020 likewise identifies turnip, its leaves and grain, using the Turkish word darı for the latter. [2] These accounts describe grain-and-vegetable preparations, rather than dried greens alone. They should not be combined into one supposedly exact recipe when their terminology and ingredients differ.
Autumn preparation is also documented
The 28 October 2020 report, credited to Anadolu Agency, describes women in Sulaymaniyah beginning preparation in autumn for winter use. It refers to roughly a week of cooking and drying before the mixture is stored. [2] This is a concrete seasonal account. It challenges the idea that every Terxena batch necessarily begins in spring, while leaving room for other places and households to follow different calendars. A preservation tradition can have more than one seasonal rhythm.
One household account gives a varied stew
Inside Kurdistan describes a semolina-and-turnip mixture left for six or seven days; that interval refers to its preparation stage, not a universal total production time. Its finished dish combines the base with pre-cooked beef, several pulses, tomato paste and beets, with nuts, dried fruit and squash among further ingredients. [1] This is a documented cooking account with considerable variety, not proof that all versions require an identical list. It also gives a clearer explanation of the dish’s texture than calling the preserved ingredient a secret herb flavouring.
A similarly named wheat-and-yogurt preparation
Iran Press’s photo report of 7 June 2020 records a Kurdish woman preparing tarkhineh in the village of Kivaz in the Sarvabad area of Iran’s Kurdistan Province. Its description specifies cooked wheat and yogurt, followed by sun-drying, with ingredients prepared in warmer seasons for winter soups. [3] That account should retain its own location and dairy-and-grain ingredients. Similar names and the shared idea of preservation do not establish that the Sulaymaniyah turnip preparation and every tarkhineh or tarhana elsewhere have the same composition.
Comparing versions without erasing the cook
A useful description starts with the preserved base: which grain is used, whether dairy is present, and whether turnip roots or leaves are included. Then distinguish that base from the meat, pulses, vegetables or fruit added to the final pot. The sources here document different ingredients and seasonal sequences. [1][2][3] Their reported week-long stages are descriptions, not a standardised home-fermentation protocol with tested quantities and conditions. Keeping the cook’s location and method visible preserves more information than assigning one origin story, one season and one ingredient list to every household.
Sources and further reading
- Inside Kurdistan, “Kurdish Cuisine (Trxena)”: published cooking account of semolina, turnip and leaves, the six-to-seven-day stage and a finished stew.
- Anadolu Agency report published by Rudaw, “Süleymaniye’de kış sofralarının vazgeçilmezi Tirxêne”, 28 October 2020: autumn preparation, turnip, leaves, grain and cooking/drying.
- Iran Press, “Tarkhineh: a local food in Kurdistan Province”, 7 June 2020, updated 17 September 2023: photo report from Kivaz, Sarvabad; wheat-and-yogurt preparation.