Kavurma facts for kids
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Lamb kavurma
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| Alternative names | Sac kavurma |
|---|---|
| Type | Sauté |
| Place of origin | Turkey |
| Main ingredients | Meat, onions, fat, hot pepper |
Kavurma is a popular meat dish from Turkish cuisine. It's a type of meat that is either fried quickly or cooked slowly to preserve it. The name "kavurma" can refer to both a fresh, hot meal and a way to store meat in cans or jars.
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What Does "Kavurma" Mean?
The word kavurma comes from an old Turkic word, qawirma. This word means "a fried thing" or "the act of frying." Over time, this word was adopted into other languages like Persian, Arabic, and Urdu.
You might find other dishes in different countries with names that sound similar, like korma in India or ghormeh in Iran. Even though their names come from the same root word, these dishes are usually quite different from Turkish kavurma.
How Is Kavurma Made?
In Turkey, there are a few ways to make kavurma.
Freshly Cooked Kavurma
One common type is called saç kavurma. This dish is made by quickly frying or sautéing pieces of meat, like lamb or beef, with onions. Sometimes, other meats like hare (a type of rabbit) are used. Peppers, especially a kind called urfa biber, are almost always added. This dish is often cooked and served in a special shallow pan called a saç. This pan was originally used by people who moved around a lot, like nomads.
Another version is Çoban Kavurma, which means "shepherd's kavurma." It's similar, but it also includes tomatoes and capsicum (bell peppers) fried with the meat and onion. If you see sahanda kavurma, it means the dish is served in a small metal pan called a sahan.
Preserving Meat with Kavurma
Another type of kavurma is made by slowly frying very small pieces of meat. This process helps to melt down the fat from the meat. After cooking, the meat can be stored in jars or other containers. A layer of fat on top helps to seal the meat and keep it fresh for a long time, much like a traditional preserving method called confit. You can even buy this type of kavurma in stores.
In the past, this "winter" kavurma was very important for the Turkish military. It was also a way for families to store meat, especially from sheep, during the autumn to use throughout the cold winter months. Small amounts of this preserved meat would be used to add flavor to vegetable and grain dishes.
Similar ways of preserving meat are found in other countries too. In Lebanon and Syria, it's called awarma. In Iraq, it's known as qāwurma, though that word can also mean the simple fried meat dish. The same method is also used in Turkmenistan to preserve lamb or camel meat.
Meatless Kavurma
In some parts of northern and western Turkey, kavurma can actually refer to a dish made without meat! This version starts by frying onions, just like the meat dishes. But then, chopped vegetables are added, sometimes even pickled ones. Water is added, and everything cooks together. It's thought that this meatless kavurma might have come from older dishes eaten on fast days, when people avoided meat.
