The signature dish of Adapazarı in Sakarya province: charcoal-grilled köfte served over slices of bread that have been soaked in seasoned meat broth and then grilled. The name comes from ıslama, meaning soaked or drenched, and the soaked-and-grilled bread is the whole point — crisp at the edges, dripping with savoury broth beneath the meat. It is finished with a dusting of red pepper.
Islama köfte is closely tied to Adapazarı, the seat of Sakarya province east of Istanbul. By widely repeated local accounts the dish was brought by Bosnian and Macedonian Muslims who settled in the Sakarya area after migrating from the Balkans, and who took to soaking stale bread in bone broth — the soaked bread that gives the dish its name and character. Today it is the food Adapazarı is known for, served at dedicated köfte houses where the bread is dunked in broth and grilled to order alongside the meatballs.
Juicy charcoal-grilled köfte sitting on bread that is two things at once — crisped and toasty from the grill on the outside, soft and soaked through with rich meat broth underneath. Each bite carries grilled meat, charred bread and savoury broth together. The dusting of red pepper adds warmth. The bread must be soaked enough to be succulent but grilled enough to keep some structure; sodden, falling-apart bread means it sat in the broth too long.
The technique hinges on a sequence — soak, then grill. Dry or stale bread is porous, so it drinks up the seasoned broth and carries that flavour into the dish, but if it were served straight from the broth it would collapse into mush. Grilling the soaked slice drives off surface moisture and toasts the outside via the Maillard reaction, building a firm, flavourful crust around a broth-laden interior. The köfte are grilled separately over charcoal so their rendered fat and char layer over the broth-soaked base rather than soaking into it from the start.
Variations
The köfte themselves follow the local Adapazarı style, the mince often bound with grated stale bread and seasoned simply. Some houses serve the dish with grilled tomato and peppers and a side of the broth for extra dunking; a glass of ayran is the usual drink. The bread base ranges from a flat grilled slice to small loaves split and soaked, depending on the establishment.
On the Palate
Where Islama Köfte sits in the Turkish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
6 steps · 35 min active + 40 min waiting
- 135 min
Mix ground beef with grated stale bread, grated onion, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper; knead until tacky and rest 30 minutes.
- 28 min
Shape into small flattened fingers or ovals.
- 38 min
Heat a well-seasoned meat broth and keep it hot.
- 412 min
Grill the köfte over hot charcoal, turning, until charred outside and juicy within.
Watch outGrill hot and fast until the outside chars but the center stays juicy — over the coals too long and the köfte dry out.
- 510 min
Dip slices of bread into the hot broth so they soak through, then grill the soaked bread until crisp on the outside.
Watch outDip the bread just long enough to soak through, then grill it — served straight from the broth it collapses to mush; the grill firms a crust around the soaked inside.
- 63 min
Lay the grilled köfte over the soaked-and-grilled bread, dust with red pepper, and serve at once.
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