We decided to have raki for dinner tonight and one of our favorite appetizers (savory foods) to eat with raki is Albanian liver. It certainly goes perfect with raki. We used to buy it prepared until today. I don’t know why we didn’t try to make it at home before.
How did I decide to try it at home? I came accross with this so appetizing dish in three different restaurants in this week when we went those places during lunch break with friends. The one who ordered it wasn’t me, but some friends. As I had got the flu, I prefered some healing soups. (I’m still trying to recover with some herbal tea and honey mixture, the worst is the headache!) And while watching them eating Albanian liver, I thought that I should share this incredible taste with you. And as usual, I asked its recipe to the chef of one of those restaurants. And we made it to have with our raki for dinner today.
According to the chef, the most important point of this appetizer is the freshness of liver. As it is difficult to find fresh meat in supermarkets, he sugessted buying liver from a butcher.
Besides being an appetizer for raki, it can also be eaten as a main dish with rice pilaf near it. It is served with fried cube potatoes in some restaurants while fried onions accompany in others. But in both cases, there should be a salad or piyaz near it. If you prefer eating it with your raki, then optionally you can pour little yogurt on it.
Arnavut Cigeri
Ingredients
- 500g veal or lamb liver
- ½ cup flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 onion
Peel the membrane of the liver and remove the nerves from it. Then dice it. If your butcher does it for you, then skip this part.
Put he flour in a bowl and toss the diced liver pieces in this flour, they should be coated well with flour. Sprinkle salt and mix again.
Heat the oil in a pan and fry the liver pieces for 2 minutes, not more.While frying, turn over continually. If you overcook, it will be too dry and hard to eat. Another important point to make it is that you should fry just a handful of liver pieces together. You shouldn’t try to fry all of them at once. The outer of them should be crispy and the inside should be soft. When they are fried, take them with a colander on a plate.
Slice the onion in rings and after all liver pieces are cooked, fry these onion rings in the same frying oil and put them near the liver as a kind of garnishing.
Take 2 tbsp of that frying oil in a small pan and fry the red pepper flakes. Then pour it on the liver.
Finally, you can garnish it with any kind of greens like dill, parsley, scallion, garden cress, etc.
I know it doesn’t sound so healthy, but I think we can give this reward once or twice a month.
Hospitable Turkish People
Turkish people are famous with their hospitality. When they have a guest for dinner, they try to serve various dishes and expect their guests to eat all they have on their plates. Finishing what you have on your table means you are satisfied with the dishes and if you ask for more, it’s even better. This makes the hostess happier, she takes it as a compliment.
8 Comments on "Albanian Liver"
That looks tasty!
Zerrin, your Arnavut Ciyeri looks so delicious! It is one of my favorite dishes. My mother-in-law made it for us several time during her visit with us. She didn’t add red pepper to the liver though. Pepper must add a nice touch to it. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Nefisssss!!!!
I have to admit, I don’t eat a lot of meat, but I love learning about dishes that are unfamiliar to me. I may be part Turkish because I too take it as a huge compliment when someone asks for more of a dish I’ve made!
Kevin- It was really so tasty.
Feride- Happy to hear you like it. Pepper flakes definitely adds much to its taste. But I’m sure your mother-in-law makes it better than me, you know mothers are always the best cooks.
Lisa- I guess I’d be a perfect guest for you because I always want more if I love the food.
I haven’t had liver for so long – this looks delicious! I’d love to have it with rice pilaf as I can never turn down rice. And with such wonderful food, it wouldn’t be difficult to clean my plate and ask for more!
In the recipe you suggest veal or lamb liver… does lamb liver have significantly more flavor than the veal?
gastroanthropologist- Lamb liver has more flavor and softer than veal. But veal liver is of course delicious too.
On the contrary, I believe this to be a rather healthy dish, minimise the oil and Liver is very good for you, full of iron. Thank you for the recipe, I had this in a restaurant the other day and now hanker after more. I know what I’ll be cooking tonight.