Tabriz Bazaar Classic · Giant Stuffed Meatball
Kufteh Tabrizi
Photo: Vathlu / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
Vendors serve a single meatball the size of a grapefruit, hiding a whole boiled egg, walnuts, and dried plums inside a shell of ground meat, rice, and split peas.
Ground beef and rice are worked with yellow split peas, leeks, and herbs into a large ball, wrapped around a hidden core of boiled egg, walnut, fried onion, and dried plum, then gently poached. Tabriz's teahouses and bazaar eateries serve it whole in a bowl, its cooking broth ladled out separately alongside shredded flatbread.
Why it's made this way: Tabriz has long been considered Iran's meatball capital, and kufteh — from 'kuftan,' meaning to pound or grind — takes its most elaborate, multi-layered form here, distinct from the simpler grilled meatballs found elsewhere in the country.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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