Serves a Crowd

Beef Kofte and Shirazi Salad

by:
July  6, 2016
5
3 Ratings
Beef Kofte and Shirazi Salad
Photo by James Ransom
  • Makes about 30 meatballs; the salad serves 4 to 6
What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Beef Kofte (Meatballs with Mint and Garlic)
  • 1/2 cup basmati rice, soaked in cold water for 1 hour
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 3 tablespoons dried mint, or 1 cup loosely packed fresh spearmint
  • 1 large yellow onion
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • 2 teaspoons sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • Grapeseed oil, for browning the meatballs and for frying onions for the sauce
  • 1/2 cup tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon dried dill
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
  • 3 cups hot water
  • Sea salt and freshly ground pepper,
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • Shirazi Salad (Tomato and Cucumber Salad)
  • 3 to 4 (1 pound) medium unwaxed cucumbers, sliced in half lengthwise
  • 2 (1 pound) medium to large tomatoes, diced
  • 1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
  • 2 tablespoons dried mint
  • 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
  1. Beef Kofte (Meatballs with Mint and Garlic)
  2. To make the meatballs, rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs clear, then shake off as much excess water as possible. In a food processor, combine the rice with the garlic, mint, and 1/2 of the diced onion, and pulse until coarsely ground. Transfer to a large bowl and add the meat, egg, salt, and pepper. Mix well. The mixture should be pliable and easy to shape. You can cover the mixture and refrigerate for 24 hours, if desired.
  3. Form the meat into balls the size of a heaping tablespoon. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom. Working in batches, cook the meatballs for 6 to 8 minutes, until browned on all sides, then transfer to a baking sheet.
  4. To make the sauce, add a little oil to the same skillet, if needed, and the onion. Cook the onion over medium heat for about 15 minutes, until lightly browned. Stir in the tomato paste, dill, cinnamon, turmeric, and water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and season to taste with salt and pepper. Delicately place the meatballs in the sauce. Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Stir in the lemon juice and serve warm.
  1. Shirazi Salad (Tomato and Cucumber Salad)
  2. Seed and dice the cucumbers, and combine them with the tomatoes and onion. Hold your hands over the salad and rub the mint between your plams so that the oils in your skin active the flavor.
  3. Add the lime juice, season with salt and pepper, and stir gently to mix. Serve immediately with the beef kofte.
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  • Marie-Louise Olsson Dawwas
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Louisa Shafia
My cookbook The New Persian Kitchen is a winner of Food52's Piglet award. I love cooking Iranian rice and hearing people crunch on the crispy tahdig from the bottom of the pot. I'm passionate about sharing the ingredients and techniques for making Persian food in my writing, cooking classes, and online store, Feast By Louisa where you can find my Persian Spice Set, Tahdig Kit, and other goodies.

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8 Reviews

Jc
Jc May 14, 2024
Excellent! I used ground turkey in lieu of beef. Served with”The Perfect Basmati Rice.”

https://food52.com/recipes/56256-the-perfect-basmati-rice

👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
 
Marie-Louise O.
Marie-Louise O. September 24, 2018
Delish! And easy to follow recipe.
 
Rey C.
Rey C. January 12, 2017
Tonight I made this dish for the second time as it was well received the first. I realized late in the game however that I had forgotten to soak the rice. Fortunately, I remembered I had a whole rice cooker filled that I had made the day before. As I needed to push through, I used a cup and half of the cooked rice. Now that all is said and done, dinner for 4 people was a success and no one had any idea otherwise. I won't say that I'll keep doing it this way, but it worked far better than I ever anticipated.

Great recipe.
 
suzanne
suzanne August 18, 2016
Is the Basmati rice uncooked before adding?
 
Christopher I.
Christopher I. August 18, 2016
Yes, I'd have to say so - with the raw rice pre-soaked, it won't take much for it to cook through, plus it'll soak up some of the bed flavor.

If the rice was cooked, the kofte would just crumble under the duress of cooking.
 
Christopher I.
Christopher I. August 18, 2016
Well, I know what I'm making for my Birthday Dinner
 
sonya G.
sonya G. July 6, 2016
Louisa, this sounds wonderful, I can't wait to try it first chance I have! One question: I assume you mean 1 cup of mint leaves (typo?)? Thanks!!
 
Scott K.
Scott K. August 8, 2018
2 years later... I'm quite sure that's right. Persian, and Middle Eastern, cooking uses prodigious amounts of fresh herbs, treating them more like salad greens. Tabouleh, for example, is a parsley tomato salad with just enough bulgar to hold it together.