Make Ahead

Köfte (spiced meatballs)

October  1, 2009
3.8
4 Ratings
  • Serves 2
Author Notes

You can take meatballs in many different directions and this is one of the versions I like the most. It looks like quiet a list of ingredients, but if you like to cook Middle Eastern food you probably have most of these ingredients in your cupboard. Nice to serve with couscous. —Janneke Verheij

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Ingredients
  • 1/2 pound minced beef
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1/2 can tomato cubes
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons bulgur (or bread crumbs)
  • 1 teaspoon harissa
  • 1 tablespoon ras el-hanout
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin powder
  • 4 parsley twigs
  • 4 cilantro twigs
  • leaves of one mint twig
  • olive oil
  • pepper and salt
Directions
  1. Put the minced beef in a bowl. Cut the onion small, and the garlic big.
  2. Put the egg, garlic, ½ onion, harissa, ras el-hanout, cinnamon, cumin, pepper/salt, parsley, cilantro and mint in the kitchen machine and pulse until cut small but don’t make it into a paste.
  3. Add this mixture plus the bulgur and tomato paste to the beef. Mix everything well and roll into small balls, walnut size.
  4. Bake the meat balls and the remaining onion in a small layer of oil until the balls are brown at all sides, they don’t have to be done on the inside yet. Add the tomato cubes, pepper and salt and let the balls simmer with a lid on the pan until done.

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