- Tarun Kapoor is executive chef at Doha’s Horizon Manor Hotel. Send your feedback to:
[email protected]
Ramadan is the time to purify oneself with fasting and also relish many delicacies in the Iftar.
One such delicacy is the kofta. Kofta, kofte, kufta, or kefta — whatever you may call it is ground meat flavoured with herbs, spices and other ingredients and is cooked in oven or griddle or skewered or fried and usually served dry.
Kofta is a Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian dish made by grinding meat, mixing it with spices, and forming it into balls or cylinders for cooking. And there are hundreds of variations on this dish ranging from spicy lamb koftas grilled on the streets in Turkey to vegetable koftas served with naan in India.
Many Middle Eastern and Indian restaurants offer some version of kofta, and it is also possible to make kofta at home, since the dish is extremely flexible, cooks can adjust the ingredients and accompanying items as desired.
The most basic kofta is made from meat that has been so finely ground so that it turns into a smooth paste.
I first came across such a fine grind of meat during my tenure in Srinagar, Kashmir where specialty cooks known as waazas typically used to pound fresh warm meat with walnut wood hammer and used to turn it into such a fine paste that the resulting koftas would simply melt in the mouth.
The meat is mixed with spices like parsley, garlic, onions, turmeric, cumin, cardamom, cinnamon or nutmeg, and then it is grilled, baked, fried, or roasted, depending on the cook’s taste.
Many cooks skewer their koftas for easy cooking, although the skewers are typically before they are served, except in parts of the Middle East, where cigar-shaped kofta are served on skewers.
There are numerous variants of kofta available in almost every country. The below mentioned recipe is for the Arabic lamb kofta. The meat is combined with the other ingredients and grounded together to blend all the ingredients and to make the meat smooth and soft while eating. You can shape them as balls or flat patties, thin fingers or torpedo shaped depending on choice and cooking method.
Common choices for making kofta include beef, lamb and chicken although some vegetarian versions are also prepared by mincing vegetables and either frying them or cooking on hot plate.
Smaller kofta make great appetizers however they can also be stewed in gravy or sauce to be served as main course. There’s basically no hard and fast rule for making kofta and one can try and experiment with the available ingredients to make their own signature kofta.
A similar kofta is also found in Italian cuisine where it is called meatball. A meatball is ground meat flavoured with herbs and seasonings held together with a binding agent and fried or simmered in its own sauce along with rice or pasta.
I can relate the origin of the kofta as a way to utilise the leftover scraps of meat and turning it into a boneless meat dish, which later on was so appreciated that it acquired the status of a popular dish across the kitchens of the world.
Lahm Kofta
Serves 4
Ingredients
Ground lamb meat 1 kg
Mint leaves, chopped ½ cup
Onion, chopped ¼ cup
Garlic cloves 4 -6 no
Cumin powder 1 tbsp
Paprika powder 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper, crushed To taste
Olive oil 2 tbsp
Method
Combine lamb mince with mint leaves, onion, garlic, cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper in a bowl and mix well.
Using moistened hands, scant 2-3 tbsp of the mixture and roll into a meatball and arrange on a baking sheet.
Heat oil in a skillet or a heavy bottom pan and shallow fry the meat balls on both the sides until almost cooked.
Place in a baking tray and cook in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for another 10-12 minutes or until the lamb is cooked.
Prick the meatball with a knife to check if the juices run clear.
Allow to stand for a while and serve hot with pita bread and choice of salad on the side.
Note: You can also use beef or chicken instead of the lamb as per your choice.
