Beef Kofta Recipe for Traditional Lebanese Kafta – Grilled Spiced Ground Kebabs
This beef kofta recipe makes traditional Lebanese kafta – grilled spiced ground kebabs made throughout the Middle East. Cooked at home, served at restaurants, and barbecued in parks at family gatherings on weekends and holidays, these Arabic minced meat kebabs are one of the most beloved dishes of a region that loves its grilled meats.
Servings: 4
Calories: 400kcal
Ingredients
- ½ tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp white pepper
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- 500 g ground beef not lean, needs some fat content
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 2 tbsp flat leaf parsley finely chopped
- 2 tbsp mint finely chopped
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Garnish
- fresh mint or parsley sprigs
- lemon wedges
To serve
- warm pita bread
- hummus
- fattoush salad
Instructions
- If using wooden skewers, soak in water; if using metal skewers lay them out on a tray and rub olive oil along the skewers. Ready a bowl of water for your hands, a raw meat-friendly plastic cutting board, and lightly grease another tray large enough for the raw beef skewers.
- Lay out some pita bread on a tray and warm in your oven on low.
- In a small bowl, stir the spices and seasonings together until well blended.
- In a mixing bowl, use the back of a large serving spoon to combine the ground beef, spice blend, finely diced onions, minced garlic, and finely chopped fresh herbs until thoroughly incorporated.
- Using clean hands, scoop out a handful of beef mixture, form it into a patty, roll it back and forth onto the raw meat-friendly cutting board until you have a smooth sausage shape, then carefully slide a skewer through the centre, squeezing and shaping the sausage-shaped raw kofta around it.
- Lay the raw kofta skewer down onto the greased tray, and repeat until you’ve finished the mixture. Dip your hands into the bowl of water occasionally to prevent the meat mixture sticking.
- Heat a griddle pan greased with olive oil over high heat, lay out the kofta skewers in a row from left to right and cook over high heat, turning them again a minute after laying them down to seal in all sides, then leave the kofta for a few minutes until one side is brown and has charred stripes, then turn them all over and then leave for a few minutes until the other side is brown and charred.
- Check if the kofta are ready by pricking one with a skewer; if the meat juices run clear they're ready. Remove them in the order you laid them down. If you need to grill the kofta in batches, transfer the first batch to the pita bread in the oven, while you cook another batch.
- When all the beef kofta skewers are ready, lay them to the warm pita bread, brush the kofta with extra virgin olive oil, and sprinkle with sprigs of parsley and/or mint.
- Serve immediately with bowls of hummus and baba ganoush and salads of fattoush and tabbouli.
Nutrition
Calories: 400kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 89mg | Sodium: 383mg | Potassium: 424mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 286IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 51mg | Iron: 3mg