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!
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
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.
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.
Kofta is a great recipe for using the meat from breast of lamb- breast of lamb is so cheap because it is fiddly to get the meat off the bones . but with patience you can get quite a bit off and I then mince it for very cheap Kofta
These sound and look delicious, plus they’re really healthy too. It is definitely a recipe I will be trying out in the future. Lamb is one of my favourite meats but unless it’s a roast, I’m not very adventurous.
I love koftas – I’ve never made garlic sauce to go with them though. This looks delicious.
These look delicious! I think my son would love these also and that’s a bonus as he’s really fussy!
They look super tasty, definitely one to give a go
I’m sure my family would love those! (Meanwhile, I’m eyeing that food processor! Haha)
These look so simple to make and are packed with flavor! Talk about recipe perfection! Yum!
These lamb kofta look so meaty and savory. I’m a big lamb fan, so this is definitely a dish my family and I would enjoy! Pinning for later!
I love love love Middle Eastern food! I so want to make these! Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I’ve never tried Kofta Balls before but after reading this I’m definitely inspired to give them a go! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This is something that I always order when at a middle eastern restaurant. Always with tzatziki.
Love anything with lamb!!! These meatballs have my name written all over them!! Yum!!
I love the flavors in Middle Eastern cooking! SO GOOD! Spent a few days in Jordan in 2010 and loooved the food there!
These look really tasty! I think my boyfriend will like them.
Oh wow these sounds like they are pretty easy to make, I don’t eat lamb but I do love stuffed pittas! Thanks for sharing
Laura x
Middle Eastern food is one of my favorite cuisines! These look delicious and seem easy enough. Can’t wait to try this recipe, thanks!
This is the recipe I need right now. I’ll be making this for dinner this evening.
These are right up my street! It’s nice to see an authentic recipe. I will have to give them a go.
Those must taste really good, especially with a good sauce or salsa. YUM!!
That garlic sauce looks incredible – a perfect accompaniment for those tasty kofta balls!
These look delicious, I love Middle Eastern food too but am still learning about it. I agree, what I love about it is that all the food is so fresh. This food processor looks awesome too!