Meliz Cooks “Tavuk Köfte” (Chicken Patties) | Blossom Avenue

Meliz Cooks “Tavuk Köfte” (Chicken Patties)

Published: 26 January 2022

Today, I’m showing you how to make some deliciously juicy Tavuk Köfte (Chicken Patties). This recipe is based on the same chicken filling I use in my “Yufka Mantısı” (chicken-filled baked filo dumplings) and Cypriot Patates Köftesi (potato mince patties), and are perfect served in flatbreads or alongside some salad, vermicelli rice and cacık (the last two recipes can be found on my YouTube channel and Meliz Cooks blog), and I have found that the best, juiciest texture is achieved with a little shallow frying first, followed by a short spell in the oven. This process ensures that the patties get that lovely golden-brown colour to start with but are fully cooked through into the middle (no risks taken with chicken, thank you). If you are not serving them immediately, keep them wrapped tightly in foil for up to 30 minutes before you are ready to eat, as this will ensure that they stay soft and succulent in the middle. You can also shape the raw patties, lay them on a baking sheet, cover them tightly with clingfilm and freeze (without cooking); defrost fully before frying and baking as per the method in the final three paragraphs.

Ingredients

2 brown onions (around 200g when peeled)

1 medium Cyprus / Maris Piper / King Edward potato (around 120g when peeled)

50g stale white bread (gluten free is fine too)

500g chicken breast, diced

30g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped, stalks and leaves

4 large garlic cloves, finely grated

1 tsp dried mint

½ tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp Turkish kırmızı toz biber or paprika

½ tsp pul biber (Turkish chilli flakes) or Aleppo pepper flakes

¾ tsp ground black pepper

¾ tsp fine sea salt

1 tbsp olive oil

1tbsp Turkish Sweet Red Pepper Paste (Tatlı Kırmızı Biber Salçası)

1 egg

150-250ml olive oil / sunflower oil for frying

 

Method

Preheat your oven to 180C fan / 200C. Line a large baking sheet with foil and leave to one side.

Peel and roughly chop the onions then blitz them in a food processor. Pop them into a sieve over a bowl, to drain any excess juices.

Pop the bread into a food processor too, and blitz them into fine breadcrumbs. Remove them from the food processor into a large dish, then pop the chicken pieces in the food processor. Slowly pulse the chicken until you have a mince-like texture then place the chicken “mince” into the same large dish as the breadcrumbs. Now that the onions have drained, pop them into the large dish. Finely grate the potatoes and squeeze out all of the juices (you can do this through the sieve you used for the onions) and then add them to the dish too along with all of the remaining ingredients, and with clean hands, mix everything together really well.

Have a large plate or tray ready (separate to the one you lined with foil earlier). Wet your hands with cold water, and shape the chicken mixture into 24 patties, around 1 ½ cm thick. I find that the shaping works best when I wet my hands each time I take another piece of the mixture, roll into a ball first, then gently flatten into patties and place them onto the tray.

Have a separate large plate ready, lined with kitchen roll.

Heat up enough oil on a medium-hot heat in a large non-stick frying pan so that the oil is around 1 cm deep (you can use a food thermometer here to check the temperature, which is best at around 180C for these patties, or throw in a small piece of the mixture to see if it sizzles immediately – if it does, then the oil is ready for cooking – if the oil is too hot, the patties will burn too quickly, if not hot enough, they’ll absorb too much oil so you have to try and get it just right).

Once the oil is at the right temperature, fry the patties, in batches (I fry 5-6 at a time, but it really does depend on how big your non-stick frying pan is – don’t overcrowd the pan too much) for around 2-3 minutes on the first side, then another couple of minutes on the other side, until they are a nice golden brown colour all over. Remove to the plate lined with kitchen roll, and repeat – once the fried patties have drained on the kitchen roll, pop them onto the large pre-prepared tray lined with foil, and replace the kitchen roll on the plate so that you can drain the remaining patties that are currently being fried on clean, dry paper. Repeat this process until all the patties have been fried.

Once all the fried and drained patties have been transferred to the tray lined with foil, pop the tray in the oven, on the middle shelf for around 5 minutes, and, even if serving immediately, wrap them up in foil, and take a few at a time, wrapping up the foil as you do, so they stay deliciously juicy in the middle each time you take a bite.

Written by: Blossom Avenue

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