How to Make Vospov Kofte - How To Cook Delicious Meal

Religion and faith can often drive food culture. For example, meat restrictions placed by the Armenian Apostolic Church led to the development of many vegetarian dishes. Some really great ones like vospov kofte, which Dan is here to show us how to make. - So this is one of those dishes where you're eating it and you just forget that meat even exists. Does that ever happen to you though?

 

Yes. Usually with mac and cheese. With mac and cheese, yup. So, it's one of those. So, we're gone get into it and it really relies on fats to give us some of the richness that we're missing and some beautiful spices, and it all begins with lentils.

 

So that's where we're gone start. So, I have a cup here of red lentils. So, they're a little orange color but we call them red lentils. - Right. - And these are actually brown lentils that have been stripped of their exterior and then split in half- Okay. They look pretty drab on the outside but they're really beautiful inside.

 

Because they've been stripped of all of their hull and split in half, they cook really quickly. So I'm adding them to three cups of water here and I'm adding the first of our fat. So this is a quarter cup of extra Virgin olive oil. So, we know that meat obviously adds a ton of fat and richness to things.

 

And if you're doing cooking that doesn't include it, you really need to pay attention to the fats you're adding and how much. And then a teaspoon of salt. So I'm gone bring this up to a boil over high heat and then we're gone lower it and simmer until they're done. - Okay. - All right, so our lentils are up to a boil here. I'm gone lower the heat to maintain a nice gentle simmer.

 

Okay. And I'm gone cover them because we don't want all this water to evaporate. We're gone need this really nice ratio of water to lentils, to bulgur. We're gone cover that. It's gonna take about 20 to 25 minutes and I'll just stir occasionally. - Okay. - It's been 25 minutes. Let's take a look at our lentils and you winna see that. Really, really soft.

 

I'm gone turn off our heat here. Now we can move to our bulgur. This is a cup of fine grind bulgur. And bulgur is basically whole grain wheat that is parboiled and then dried and then pulverized into different sizes. So, when you're buying it at the store, that's really the big difference is the size that you're getting.

 

This is number one. So, it's the finest grind. And this is a cup of that, but I wanna show you over here we have the four primary grind sizes. This is fine grind which is very comparable to like a demerera sugar.

 

We've got our next up, so this is number two, and this is more like maybe mustard seeds. Number three is about the size of a sesame seed. And then four is more like kind of a steel cut oat. - Right. - So, when you go to the store and you're shopping, you're looking for number one.

 

That's the ideal for this recipe. A lot of times you're not gone find that, unless you have a really good Armenian market nearby. So you're probably gone find number two or three, which is totally fine. We actually have a method where you can use your blender to process it for a couple of minutes and get it to the right texture.

 

Great!. And we have a method for that on our website. - Okay. - And to this, I'm gone add our wonderful mixture of just lentils, water, and olive oil and just pour that right on top. So, we're working with a ratio of three to one to one. So that's three cups of water to one cup each of lentils and bulgur, which is a pretty classic formula for this. So that's why you wanna cover and keep that water in there.

 

You don't want too much evaporation. - I see. - And this extra hot water in here is gonna hydrate and soften that bulgur. - Right. - So stirring this together make sure it's nice and cohesive. Beautiful. So I'm just gone set this aside. Let that hydrate. Okay.

 

So, we're gone get into our next fat and we're using four tablespoons of butter. So I'm gone put this over medium, high heat. I'm gone melt this butter. So now we're gone build a really beautiful aromatic-based season, our kofte. So we're gone go in with one onion that's been chopped up.

 

Next, I have a teaspoon of a Aleppo pepper. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous pepper. It's really fruity, great chili flavor. This a Aleppo is, is a must. It's used extensively in Armenian cooking.

Next step, I have a teaspoon of cumin, a quarter teaspoon of black pepper, a quarter teaspoon of all spice.

 

Lovely. And a quarter teaspoon of salt. Beautiful. Oh, I can already smell it. We're gone cook this for about eight to 10 minutes. We want it to get really nice and softened and start to brown a little bit on those onions. - Okay.  All right. So that's been about eight minutes.

 

You know, this is gone taste good because that smells divine. - It's so true. It's so true. All right. So I'm gone kill the heat here and we're gone dump all of this right into our lentil bulgur mixture. - Oh. - I also have two tablespoons of chopped parsley and I'm just gone mix this all together.

 

Okay, beautiful. So we're gone let this cool on the counter until it's really basically room temperature which takes about 30 to 45 minutes. Then we're gone pop it in the fridge for another 30 minutes and it's gone really firm it up so that we can mold these into gorgeous little logs.

 

Great. - Okay, so our kofte mixture is fully chilled at this point. It's gone make it really easy to form them into nice logs. I'm gone use a little bit of spray on a quarter cup measure here. We're just gonna make it a lot easier to portion it out.

 

I'm gone get 16 of these and I'm gone go back and shape them really nicely but just to start going through with my measuring cup. Okay. And our last one. Beautiful. - Look at that. - All right. So we've got our portioned out kofte here and now it's time to shape them. It really helps to have moist hands when you're working with this- Okay. - It can be a little bit sticky. We're looking for three-inch logs.

 

So, I kind of go around the perimeter here and just shape it out. And then what I do is- - Oh, look at that. - Yeah. Once I get it there, I can kind of squeeze it out in this way and then cap the ends with my fingers. - Well, you said gorgeous little logs and you were correct.

 

Thank you. - Yeah. - All right. Let's go to this next one here. And I'm just gonna kind of range them around this way. Would you like to hop in and help me? - May I? - Absolutely. - All right. And how's that? - That's beautiful.

 

All right. - [Dan] Absolutely beautiful. All right. - Would you say it's better than yours? - No, definitely not. - Okay. - But it's beautiful. Alright. Let's finish these up. So I think we did a pretty good job with our shaping. - I think you're being modest. We did a fantastic job. - A fantastic job. So those are gone be wonderful.

 

They're always served with some fresh herbs on top. We're gone take that and make it a little bit more of a robust salad. - All right. - It's gone be really delicious and I need about three quarters of a cup of chopped parsley. So I'm starting with a nice big amount and I like to gently kind of ball it up.

 

Get it into a more manageable shape for, for slicing and just go right through it. Because this is a salad, I'm gone leave it a pretty rough chop. - Okay. - Beautiful. - And how much are we looking for? Three quarters of a cup. - All right. - Okay, beautiful. We have some mint. We're looking for about a quarter cup of this.

 

Same thing. So run my knife through it, into our salad bowl. So I also have four scallions I'm gone slice thin. And what I like to do is cut down the middle and double them up. (chopping) Beautiful.

 

Into our bowl. Now it's time to season up our salad. So we're gone have a little more extra olive oil. This is a tablespoon. I've got two teaspoons of lemon juice for some nice brightness.

We've got all that richness. - Right.

 

It's gone help balance that out. I also have a teaspoon of sumac. This is ground sumac.

It is not the poisonous kind though. It is related to that. And it's a gorgeous, gorgeous flavor. It's really tart. It's almost like lemon juice but in a dry form. It's a fabulous, fabulous spice. And then I have a half teaspoon of a Aleppo.

 

So we're gone have a little bit of heat in this as well. - Oh good. – Then add a quarter of a teaspoon of salt. And I'll just stir this together. - [Both] Mm. - Yeah. All I can say is, "Mm." Cause I'm really hungry.

 

It's hard to wait. It's hard to wait, but we're very close now. - Okay. - So we're gone come over to our beautiful kofte here and I'm just gone put this out right into the center. Okay. So it is time to eat. We have our gorgeous platter of kofte with our salad. - Look how special that looks.

 

I mean you really took time to make this something spectacular. - And obviously this is the perfect thing to have with lavash which is an Armenian flatbread. It's got such nice chew and stretch to it. - I'm following your lead. - Get a little salad. - I get more of that salad on there. There we go.

 

How's that? - There we go. We got to go heavy on that salad, that's great. - All right. - All right, let's dig in.

I went through a lot of meatless days. - You did? - Because of how I was brought up as well. We never had anything this satisfying and as hearty. - Yeah. - Really, really good. - Yeah. It is so full of flavor. I love how the lentils and the bulgur, they each bring a different kind of texture to it.

 

They really do. - And so much nice body and richness to it. And then those two fats, olive oil and butter. I don't know. It's just so complex. This is so ultra satisfying. - Mm. - Thanks Dan. You're welcome. - Well, if you want to make this great Armenian dish at home, simmer lentils until they are fully broken down.

 

Pour over fine grain bulgur. When the mixture has cooled, portion it into logs and serve with a parsley, mint, and sumac salad. So from America's Test Kitchen, a satisfying, simple, and savory vospov kofte.

 

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