Fine bulgur kneaded for an hour with isot, pepper paste and spice until it turns dark and sticky, then served cold in lettuce or rolled into a wrap. Now made without meat by law.

Çiğ köfte was originally raw lamb worked into bulgur, and the kneading, which can take an hour, is what breaks the grain down. Turkish food regulations ended the commercial raw-meat version, so every çiğ köfte sold across a counter in Gaziantep today is meat-free, built on bulgur, isot, pepper and tomato paste alone. That has made it one of the few genuinely vegan street foods in a city built on lamb. The bulgur is squeezed in the fist so each piece keeps the finger marks, and it is eaten cold with lemon, lettuce and pomegranate molasses.

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