As part of our mezze meal for Christmas I made lamb koftas. This is such a simple recipe and the most important thing is to buy good quality lamb mince.
Head straight on to the Recipe For ♥ Lamb Koftas ♥
Let’s talk about koftas
I think a kofta has to be the most made protein in quick challenges on Masterchef Australia. Koftas come in all shapes and sizes, from golf ball sized balls to those as large as oranges. You get them in flat patties and long cylinders, and even in a loaf. They can be found in the Balkans, the Middle East, North Africa and in Asia. The minced meat can be beef, chicken, pork, mutton, or in this case, lamb. Spices are added to them and these will always feature on a mezze platter.
Writing a recipe
I don’t think there is a right way, or a wrong way to write a recipe. But I do think my way makes sense. Of course I would say that as it is the way I prefer to have a recipe written. Firstly, I don’t do mise-en-place so I like my ingredients to be in the order they are used, and when using several ingredients at once, in order from largest to smallest. I prefer grams for most measurements, unless mls makes more sense. It is tedious to measure out yoghurt in tablespoons, or try and figure out if a tablespoon of chopped parsley is packed or loose. And then of course, our friends down under use a tablespoon that has 20mls to it. American cup measures are less than UK ones and it could get confusing. So, I do what I do because it makes sense to me.
Take a look at this inspiring recipe for ♥ Lamb Koftas ♥ from Lavender and Lime #LavenderAndLime Share on X
Click on the links for conversions and notes.
Lamb Koftas
Ingredients
- 15 mls olive oil, plus extra for frying
- 1 shallot, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 500 g minced lamb
- 15 g flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 7.5 mls cumin seeds, toasted
- 7.5 mls fennel seeds, toasted
- 2.5 mls ground allspice
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
- 5 g coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius
- Place the olive oil into a frying pan and heat over a medium temperature
- Add the shallot and sauté until soft
- Add the garlic and cook until fragrant then take off the heat
- Place the mince into a bowl, and add the shallot and garlic once cool, as well as the parsley
- Place the cumin and fennel seeds into a mortar and pestle and grind until fine, then add to the mince, together with the allspice
- Season to taste and use your hands to mix well until fully incorporated
- Weigh out 16 x 35g portions and roll each into a ball
- Heat an oven proof griddle pan over a high temperature, then drizzle olive oil over the pan
- Sear the kofta for 2 minutes per side
- Place the griddle pan into the oven and bake for 6 minutes
- Remove from the oven, place into a serving dish, scatter the coriander on top and serve
See the links below for blog posts I published on May 2:
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- 2023: Vanilla Semifreddo
- 2022: Garganelli
- 2021: The Family Holiday
- 2018: April 2018 Showcasing In My Kitchen
- 2016: Spaghetti Squash
- 2013: Croissants And Pain Au Chocolat: I Made It Challenge
Dave and I are back from Italy And I will start replying to comments and reading blog posts today. You can see what we did by taking a look at our holiday blog.
I write my recipes the same way. I personally think it’s the only way to write them and follow them. You don’t list crab first if it’s the last thing you add to the dish you’re making. It makes me crazy some times! Love your kofta!!!
I have followed some famous chefs recipes where the list is all muddled, and some ingredients are not in the method 😉
I agree Tandy; I write recipes with ingredients then the method. Ingredients in order of use. I spend so much time checking out measures and converting for non-metric readers (we all know who they are – hehehe). And who the heck wants to figure out what a teaspoon of basil leaves is/are!? I also find it very odd that some people use grams for liquid measures. I thought it was universal to use mls! But no. Anyway, who doesn’t love a meatball, whatever the name?
I get so many American visitors asking me to use ‘proper’ measurements. I just use Google if I need to ‘translate’ them 🙂
I’ve never made kofta but have enjoyed them in restaurants as part of a mezze platter. Yours sound very well seasoned.
Thank you Karen 🙂
I’ve never made these using lamb mince. Now that you’ve explained it, using ml for recipes does make sense.
I am glad you understand why I use mls 🙂