This recipe is part of Asif’s Open Kitchen Project where cooks who were evacuated during the war are invited to a home in Tel Aviv to cook a dish that they miss from their own home. Would you like to participate in the project? Register here.
In her expansive kitchen on Moshav Manot in northern Israel, Valerie Chen typically makes everything from scratch — including her renowned soup yellow keftas. Even the grape leaves she stuffs and alongside the soup, are typically harvested fresh from her Galilean garden. In Michal Hedi’s Tel Aviv kitchen, she adapts, using store bought grape leaves. “I’ve grown accustomed to the convenience here. I don’t know how I’ll readjust to life without it,” she chuckles.
Evacuated to the Metropolitan Hotel in Tel Aviv with her best friend Anat Meir, Valerie’s husband has remained on the moshav managing their hardware business. In the days before the war, she and Anat took sculpture and ceramics together, and now they cook side by side in Michal’s kitchen, reminiscing about their homes on the moshav.
Valerie’s background is in education and she worked for years as a kindergarten teacher at Kibbutz Mitzvah, but she transitioned to the hospitality business with her husband many years ago. They once ran B&Bs and a weekend restaurant called Darkhuom, Moroccan Arabic for “your home,” but it proved to be too big of an undertaking and they closed the business.
Still, cooking is her passion and she continues to cook from morning to night on most weekends. “What fulfills me the most is giving, hosting, and feeding everyone,” she says. Her host and our photographer for the day, affirm that Valerie’s gift of food far surpasses providing for her family — it’s about giving to everyone.
Valerie learned this recipe for yellow bulgur kefta from Kurdish neighbors, but she’s adapted it over the years.
For the dough:
¾ cup (200 grams) coarse brown bulgur
3 cups (500 grams) fine semolina
500 grams (1.1lb) ground chicken breast
1 onion, finely chopped
1 small handful parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 fresh turmeric root (about 2cm/1 in), grated, or 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
2 tablespoons neutral cooking oil
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
¼ -½ cup (60-120ml) cold water
For the filling:
1 onion, finely chopped
1 handful parsley leaves, finely chopped
3 celery leaves (optional, if using, add less salt), finely chopped
1½ kg (3.3lb) ground chicken breast
Salt, to taste
½ teaspoon chicken bouillon powder (optional)
½ teaspoon ground white pepper
For the soup:
3 liters (12 ½ cups) water
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 chicken breasts (2kg/4½ lb) coarsely chopped
1 heaping tablespoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon ground white pepper
1 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup cooking oil, for rolling the keftas
To serve:
Steamed white rice
- Rinse the bulgur thoroughly. Place in a bowl, cover with water and let soak until the bulgur has softened slightly, without absorbing too much liquid, about 20 minutes.
- Prepare the filling: In the meantime, place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and set aside.
- Prepare the dough: Drain the soaked bulgur and transfer to a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients, except for the water, and mix well.
- Add ¼ cup of cold water into the dough, mixing thoroughly with your hands. Feel the dough’s texture; if it feels dry, add more water gradually and only as necessary. The dough should be cohesive and slightly sticky.
- Prepare the soup: Fill a large pot with the water and bring to a boil. Add the onion, chicken breast, turmeric, white pepper, parsley, and salt, and bring back to a boil. Reduce to medium-low heat and cook uncovered until the broth reduces slightly, 20-30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, fill the keftas: Prepare a bowl of cooking oil and generously grease your hands to prevent the dough from sticking. Pinch off a portion (about 1 tablespoon) of the dough and gently shape it into a circle the size of your palm. Place a small spoonful of the filling in the center of the dough, then fold the dough over the filling, creating a crescent shape. Seal the edges with your fingertips and roll into a ball. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
- Coat both hands in oil again before sliding the keftas carefully into the soup one by one so that they don’t fall apart, adding no more than 10 keftas at a time. Valerie points out that if a kefta does break in the soup, not to worry, as it enhances its flavor.
- Gently simmer the keftas for about 20 minutes. The keftas can also be kept in the freezer for future meals; when ready to eat, simply add to the soup directly from the freezer.
- Serve the keftas in the soup alongside steamed white rice.
