Yuvalama
Tiny balls of rice flour and minced lamb, rolled by hand, cooked with lamb shank and chickpeas, with a yoghurt and butter sauce stirred in at service. The consistency is close to a soup, but in Gaziantep it counts as a main.
The stabiliser is the rice flour in the balls, leaching starch into the broth throughout cooking. The yoghurt goes in at the end and away from strong heat: the technique here is late incorporation, not terbiye.
What it is made of
Yoghurt
pH 4.4 · splits above 85 °C
Dairy: it brings creaminess, protein and calcium.
Temper it with a few spoons of the hot liquid before it goes in; added straight, it splits.
Ck
Chickpea
Protein 19% · skin dissolves in alkaline water
Gives body: the bulk of the plate and its starch.
A pinch of soda in the soaking water: the alkaline bath dissolves the skins and nearly halves the cooking time.
Ri
Rice
Amylose 20–25% · grains stay separate
Gives body: the bulk of the plate and its starch.
Rinsing takes off the loose surface starch; unwashed rice glues itself together.
Bt
Butter
Smoke point 150 °C · milk solids burn
Fat: it carries the aroma and softens the texture.
Add a spoon of neutral oil alongside it: the mix survives a higher temperature before the solids burn.
Bp
Black pepper
Piperine · aroma flees once ground
Spice: it adds aroma and edge.
Pre-ground pepper loses its aroma in a fortnight; buy it whole and grind what you need.
Mi
Mint
Menthol is volatile · add off the heat
Spice: it adds aroma and edge.
Fresh mint goes in off the heat; dried mint is bloomed in fat. They are not the same job.
Sa2
Salt
0.8–1.5% of the weight of the food
Seasoning: it sets the perception and balances the salt.
0.8–1.5% of the weight of the food. Coarse and fine salt do not weigh the same by the spoon, so weigh it.
What it tastes like
No axis sits clearly above the average: a balanced dish without a sharp character.
This profile is computed rather than measured: the role-weighted average of its ingredients’ taste vectors, shifted by what the cooking does. The thin line is the database average on that axis.
How it is made
-
Cook the lamb shank and chickpeas together at 80–85 °C for two hours.
-
Knead rice flour with finely minced lamb and salt, and roll chickpea-sized balls.
Why The name comes from the motion: *yuvalamak* is to roll between the palms. -
Poach the balls in the cooking liquid for ten minutes.
-
Whisk the yoghurt with flour, temper it, thicken below the boil and bring everything together.
-
Finish with mint butter.
Where it comes from
Registered on 13 January 2017 as Antep Yuvarlaması. In Gaziantep it is the dish of the first morning of Ramazan Bayramı.