Diyarbakır Cuisine: Stuffed Ribs & Meftune

Diyarbakır's kitchen is one of the deepest-rooted culinary traditions of southeastern Anatolia, and its two emblematic dishes are kaburga dolması (stuffed lamb ribs) and meftune.

Kaburga Dolması

Kaburga dolması is made by filling a whole rack of lamb ribs with a rich stuffing of rice, almonds or pine nuts, currants, finely chopped lamb, allspice, black pepper, tomato paste and butter; the ribs are then sewn shut and cooked slowly for around four hours, first steamed and then baked. Brought to the table whole, usually alongside 'duvaklı pilav' (a veiled rice crowned with almonds and butter), this showpiece dish is the centrepiece of festival mornings, weddings and important gatherings in Diyarbakır — in many households it is a tradition to wake up to kaburga dolması on the first morning of a religious holiday. Its authenticity was formally recognised on 20 December 2021, when Turkey's Patent and Trademark Office registered it as a geographical indication (mark of origin, registration no. 974) — a Diyarbakır rejoinder in the good-natured 'flavour rivalry' with Mardin's own version of stuffed ribs.

Meftune

Meftune is the sour, garlicky face of the cuisine: a summer stew of lamb (again often ribs), eggplant, tomato and green pepper laced with generous amounts of garlic, drawing its distinctive tang from sumac sour water. Meftune is unthinkable without garlic and is served with hot rice; its variants — eggplant, courgette, broad bean, kenger and the dried 'hırçikli' eggplant version — have each earned separate geographical indications (the broad-bean meftune was registered in 2024).

Visiting & Experience

Rounded off with the syrupy kadayıf dolması dessert and frothy, bitter 'mırra' coffee, these dishes make up a complete Diyarbakır feast. This high-value gastronomic stop is experienced in the traditional black-basalt mansion restaurants around the Great Mosque, Hasan Pasha Han and Gazi Caddesi inside Suriçi, the walled old city. Agencies build the meal into almost every GAP tour because it is both a satisfying pause mid-way through a tiring wall walk and a way to taste the region's cultural identity. An average midday feast lasts 60-90 minutes and, in a guided programme, usually falls as the lunch break after the morning walls-and-mosque circuit; the courtyard hans also offer photographers mottled stone façades and copper table settings. Groups that reserve ahead and order the ribs early are rewarded, since the dish must be prepared hours in advance.