Middle Eastern Lamb Kofta Balls

Simple Middle Eastern lamb Kofta balls, fried in olive oil and served with flatbreads and garlic lemon sauce…

As I grew up in the Middle East my love for Middle Eastern food also grew. The flavours are beautiful, the food is always prepared with the freshest ingredients and the food is healthy too. I love the fact that the Middle Eastern cuisine uses a lot of protein and veg in the food. My favourite thing is the mezze, you know all the amazing dips like Hummus, Mtabbal and Baba Ganoush served with freshly baked pita bread? And then you have all the incredible salads like Tabouleh and Fatoush.

KOFTA

For the main course, it usually includes either meat, chicken or fish. And you probably have heard of and maybe tried Kofta or Kufta before, as it’s a popular dish in South Asia, not just the Middle East. It’s also popular in Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and even Russia (called Tiftele) and Romania (Chiftele). Each country, of course, has its own version, and the version that I’m sharing with you today is the Jordanian one.

WHAT IS KOFTA

Kofta is usually made with minced beef, lamb or chicken or a mixture or beef and lamb. Mixed with diced onions, garlic and herbs. In South Asia, the koftas are usually cooked in curries or sauces, while in the Middle East the koftas are fried in olive oil and served with vegetables or baked in tomato or tahini sauce.

LAMB KOFTA

The most popular kind of Kofta in Jordan is lamb kofta. This is also my family’s favourite as lamb is usually bought organic and the dish turns out full of flavour. When making the mixture, we add onion, garlic, parsley and spice.

JORDANIAN KOFTAS

In Jordan, Koftas are either shaped like meatballs by mixing the ground meat with ground black pepper, salt, diced onion and chopped herbs like parsley and mint leaves. And then fried in olive oil or cooked in tomato or tahini sauce. Another version is by spreading out the meat in a semi-shallow baking pan and topping it with either tomato and possibly potato slices which is then baked in the oven. Or cooking the spreaded kofta or kofta balls with tahini sauce in the oven.

The simplest version is to fry the koftas in olive oil, and eat them with flatbreads and a simple garlic sauce. I love such easy and healthy dishes that I can quickly make at home for a delicious mid-week dinner.

MIDDLE EASTERN VEGAN GARLIC SAUCE (TOUM)

This sauce is very popular in the Middle East and is usually served with Falafel, Shawerma or Sheesh Tawooq. I like to serve it with these simple kebabs. The traditional sauce is made with sunflower or canola oil, garlic cloves, lemon juice, water and salt. All of the ingredients are then added to a food processor and processed until you reach a smooth consistency.

TIP: Make sure that the food processor doesn’t get too hot as sauce might start separating. I use ice cold water to make sure that this does not happen.

The sauce that you can see in the picture is exactly as explained above, but I also added parsley leaves to the food processor and some extra lemon juice.

To make the kofta mixture and the garlic sauce, you need to use a good food processor. So please allow me to introduce you to my newest kitchen gadget, my VonShef 1000W Food Processor that I got from Domu.co.uk. This powerful gadget can chop, blend, mix, puree, grate, shred and even make and knead dough!

This food processor is very impressive as it’s just one gadget that can do so many things. Think about all the other gadgets that you won’t need to buy if you own this food processor.

Here are more details about the VonShef 1000W Food Processor:

• This gadget can chop, blend, mix, purée, grate, shred and make dough for you.
• You can use it to prepare vegetables, salads, soups, sauces, smoothies dips, purées in just seconds.
• You can process big batches of food at once with a large 3.5-litre capacity bowl and generous 1.8-litre blender jar.
• It has a convenient built-in accessories drawer keeps your attachments close to hand and out of the way whilst not in use.
• It saves space in your kitchen with its compact design whilst the sleek matte black finish offers a modern look and feel, and measures H43.7 X W28 X D22.3cm.
• The processor also features a twin-speed operation with pulse option and incorporates an extra-large feed chute. There’s also a lid-locking system to avoid accidental spills and the dishwasher-safe detachable parts make cleaning your food processor simple.
• It’s dishwasher safe with the detachable parts, so you won’t have to spend hours trying to clean it.

If you make these lamb koftas following my recipe, please don’t forget to rate this recipe and share a picture on social media. Tag #LittleSunnyKitchen in your posts as I would really love to see what you make! Thank you for supporting Little Sunny Kitchen, so I can keep sharing my tasty recipes with you for free.

Middle Eastern Lamb Kofta Balls

Easy Middle Eastern Lamb Kofta Balls that can be ready in under 30 minutes!

5 from 11 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 20 balls

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Diana @ LittleSunnyKitchen

Ingredients

• 1 kg ground lamb
• 1 onion sliced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 15 grams parsley
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbsp olive oil

UK Measurements - USA Measurements

Instructions

• In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until onion and parsley are finely chopped and well mixed with the meat.
• shape the lamb mixture into meat balls. Make sure that the size of the koftas is even.
• In a pan, heat olive oil and fry the Koftas on medium heat until brown on all sides.
• Serve with flatbreads, and garlic sauce.

Nutrition

Calories: 150kcal | Protein: 8g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 146mg | Potassium: 124mg | Vitamin A: 65IU | Vitamin C: 1.5mg | Calcium: 12mg | Iron: 0.9mg

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This post is sponsored by Domu.co.uk. Thank you for supporting the brands that make Little Sunny Kitchen happen. All opinions are my own.