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GREENSBORO -- Certain dishes just taste better when the preparation requires several people working together for hours to prepare it.

Like tamales. Or Asian dumplings.

When friends get together to cook, the experience becomes much more than a culinary undertaking. Stories are shared around a kitchen table, making the tedious task of chopping and dicing much more pleasurable.

And if your homeland is thousands of miles away, sometimes simply eating the foods you grew up with can ease the homesickness.

That's why a group of local Turkish women started the the Taste of Turkiye (that's how Turkish people spell Turkey) Cooking Club. They get to socialize, while enjoying the flavors of their native country. They also want non-Turkish women to join them, and to share their own cultural recipes.

The year-old club meets every other Saturday at the Divan Cultural Center in Greensboro. Members prepare a dish together -- usually one that is eaten on special occasions. Each woman also brings something from her home. After their main dish is complete, they eat together.

One recent Saturday, the women prepared köfte with egg. Köfte is one of the most popular Turkish foods. It's traditionally made of lamb, beef or goat, and is shaped like a meatball, patty or sausage link. In Turkey, there are nearly 300 versions of köfte.

It was Leyla Orak's idea to prepare the köfte with egg. The mother of four sons loves to cook, and has a reputation for being a good one. She leads the day's efforts.

Köfte with egg is made with extra fine bulgur, isot (dark Turkish chili pepper), tomatoes, onion, parsley and egg. It's a multistep process that requires a lot of chopping and mixing. On this particular afternoon, the club's guests are put to work.

Under Orak's direction, Stephanie Rummel and Lynn Bergschneider chop parsley, dice onions and tomatoes and knead the cooked bulgur. The onions and chili pepper sting their eyes. The aroma of onions and parsley dominate their work area.

This vegetarian köfte dish is served loose, like tabbouleh. It looks like crumbled corn bread. But fine bulgur must be kneaded for at least a half hour to get the desired consistency. The women joke about it replacing a workout.

As the köfte is prepared, some women set the buffet table with slices of cake, tea, coffee and Turkish breads, filled with tahini or vegetables. Another woman makes a salad of sliced radishes, cherry tomatoes and lemon wedges.

Once the bulgur is adequately kneaded, eggs cooked in oil are added. Orak kneads the mixture more, oblivious to the temperature of the eggs and oil that just moments before left the burner.

It's served in a bowl, with lemon wedges. The green parsley stands out against the reddish, brown grains of bulgur.

"Let's eat it now," Orak finally says in English.

Since they are the club's guests, Rummel and Bergschneider fill their plates first. The women teach English at UNCG's Interlink Language Center. Their student, Kubra Kolemen, invited them to the lunch. Rummel taught English in Istanbul, Turkey, for about a year, and loved the food there.

The köfte is moist, and just slightly spicy.

Each bite comes with a bit of parsley. And something new they learn about each other.

KÖFTE WITH EGG

3 cups extra fine bulgur

1 onion, chopped

4 tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

6 eggs

1 cup oil

1 bunch fresh onion and parsley

Isot (Turkish pepper)

Black pepper (to taste)

Salt

Put bulgur, onion, spices, tomato paste in a big tray and mix them.

Add chopped tomato and knead until bulgur gets tender. (About 15
minutes.) Add fresh onion and parsley, and keep kneading for another 15
minutes.

Boil 1 cup of oil. Break the eggs into the oil.

When eggs are cooked, add them into the bulgur and mix. Serve.

Serves six people.

Note: Extra fine bulgur and Turkish pepper can be hard to
find. Some Arabic markets may have fine bulgur. Jerusalem Market
(5002-H High Point Road, Greensboro; 547-0220) carries extra fine
bulgur and ground Turkish pepper.

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com