Kebabs and meatballs have a special place in Turkish cuisine. Of course, we should not forget the mezes and salads next to them, and then the desserts... I want to talk about another meatball in this post: Tire Meatballs...
Tire is one of the districts of Izmir. This meatball is also named after this district. I think it is one of the most famous meatballs of the Aegean Region. I've never seen it on the menus of restaurants; but there are restaurants that only service Tire Meatballs. Tire Meatballs are not produced by famous companies. Smaller brands can be found in supermarkets.
It is not enough to fry in a pan to prepare it completely. If you want to prepare meatballs you bought from the market, you should warm them a little in butter or margarine. Then add the tomatoes that you cut into cubes and heat on low heat for three more minutes.
On the other hand, I prefer to prepair like this:
First, I heat the meatballs and separate them. Then I fry a medium onion until it turns pink and add three medium tomatoes. I put a teaspoon of dried thyme, black pepper and salt. Then I add the meatballs and wait a few minutes. (For 250-300 grams of meatballs)
If you wish, you can put some yogurt on the side and serve it. If you are not going to serve it with yogurt, I recommend you to consume it with ayran. If you serve it with yogurt, I recommend turnip juice or whatever you like cold. Roasted pepper is also a good accompaniment in my opinion. Seasonal salad is also good.
Meatballs contain beef, animal fat, salt and flour. Sometimes black pepper is also added. It looks like a shish kebab, but is much thinner and tastes different.
A patented and traditional flavor. On the other hand, it is not easy to find a restaurant that sells Tire Meatballs. It can be found in the city center of Izmir and, as you can imagine, it is possible to try it in the district of Tire. I don't know if there are cities like Antalya or Istanbul. If you see "Tire Köfte" or "Tire Köftecisi" on a sign, I think you should try it...
For other meatballs and examples from Turkish cuisine, visit Food and Beverage page.
Bon appetit...
About Tire
The history of Tire dates back to the Hittites and is mentioned in Homer's famous work Iliad. You can stop by the town while you are on the İzmir - Bodrum route. If you are staying in Kusadasi, you can also visit Tire. The famous and the most popular hotel in Tire is Ramada By Wyndham Tire. There are minibuses services between Izmir and Tire. You can go to by train as well. Indeed, I'd like to suggest rent a car to keep your time and visit everywhere how you want.
As a local I usually prefer train to travel between Tire and Izmir. It's more comfeetable than mini busses.
ReplyDeleteTire Süt Koop. produces Tire Meatballs. And they good as local restaurants do. You can find it Migros markets.
Otel Tirem is also good place to stay.