My Armenian grandmother made what I remember her calling it Ishla Kufta..of course I was a young girl and may not remember the term exactly. It was steamed and filled with delicious meat.. My very favorite. There appears to be a very strong Turkish culture in the US and they are calling all of this food and delicacy there own. Where are all of the Armenians? Why are they not opening up restaurants or tavernas and serving the most delicious food that is ARMENIAN.. I miss all the delicious food so much ..

What is included in the minced meat?

NOT "sweet cayenne pepper", BUT "paprika". Take care about translation!

Garo, maybe you might want to translate 'kyufta' as well.

I was about to point out the problem, but Mher Kaynakjyan beat me to it. Ditto on lahmajun. In either case, Roadway on Tumanyan (which just opened) uses the proper terms (it is, unsurprisingly, run by Western Armenians).

I ate "Kharpert kufta" at a Tufenkian restaurant near the Dzapatagh hotel. The waiter attempted to give me a lengthy lecture about how it was made - with prunes. Pathetic. I kept my mouth shut until the food came. It was ok but overpriced. There is defintely a need for Western Armenian restaurants or fast food. Hopefully, enterprising Armenians will fill it and local demand will grow. The locals don't know what they are missing.

Sepastatsu korts e kyuften sarkel'e ;) payts aprek!

People, this is serious food we're talking about and I'm getting hungry. Do Armenians in RoA know of Anoushabour???? Too bad there aren't any real restaurants in Yerevan you can take someone to sample true Armenian home-style cooking (Maybe Mer Gyugh...) There used to be Chez Garo on Pushkin but that's long gone. Enough with the Shaurma/Donner Kebab joints!!! Let's get some decent Armenian eats at reasonable prices.

And, let us not forget yalanchi sarma, vospov kheyma or keshkeg...but, no matter how one looks at it, even these attempts at good, old-fashioned Turka-Hye cuisine are much, much better than potatoes and cabbage, or any Russian fare!

Topik, imrik halva, sou-beoreg,chee-kufta,sini-kufta, targhana, kouzou kapama... Call it what you will...but oh so delicious.

Mher is absolutely correct! Kharpert Kufta is the ultimate kufta. I have eaten ishli (ijli) several times in Armenia along with kavari kufta and they do not compare to the Kharpertsi specialty. In general, I would add that Armenia's cuisine would benefit significantly by gaining more knowledge of Western Armenian cuisine. Sadly, it is often written off as "akhparagan" or even Turkish. Ridiculous. As lahmajun and ishli kufta prove, Western Armenian cuisine should have a greater place in Armenia. If you like the ishli and lahmajo, there's a lot more where those came from. Pari akhorzhag.

Well yes, icli (filled) kufte is one version of kufte that my Khapertsi grandmother always called 'porov' kufte...and is also called Harput kufte. In Turkey, you will often be told that if you want the very best Harput kufte, which has a spicier lamb filling, you need to find an good, old Armenian grandmother...which is not an easy thing to do, needless to say.

its great to see this wonderful food,but call it by its Armenian name,Michov Kufta,kufta filled and its not Turkish food,what Mongols know about Kufta?

First off, let's get the name right. It's "ijli" not "ishli". Yeah, not a big deal, but.. "ij" in Turkish means the center/filling Just another example of what gets lost when items get introduced to RoA. Just like 'lahmajo' for "lahmajyun" Bye the way, "ijli kufta" is a poor cousin to the wonderful 'kharpert kufta'. Bari akhorzhak