Juicy lamb koftas made with popular Middle Eastern flavourings and a refreshing minted yogurt dressing perfect for lunch or dinner. Keeps well and can be made ahead.
Shape small ovals and press them flat about 2 cm thick and weighing about 80 grams each.
Heat oil in non stick frying pan or heavy bottomed skillet. Fry on medium high until well coloured and cooked on both sides or until the internal temperature reads 55°C or 131°F. The meat will continue to cook because of the residual heat, so do not overcook them.
Mix together the sauce ingredients in a bowl until homogenous.
Serve with a wedge of fresh lemon and cilantro leaves.
Notes
This recipe can be made with any other meat like chicken, turkey or beef providing it has a good fat content of about 30%. Vegetarians can use vegan meat substitute like beyond meat as a replacement.
Roast whole cumin seeds and blend them yourself for best results.
You can replace the pine nuts with other nuts like walnuts or almonds. Otherwise you you could simply omit them.
You can replace the raisins with currants, dried apricots or omit altogether if you do not like meat with added fruit.
Once cooked you can store it in the fridge sealed airtight for up to 3 days or for longer storage it can frozen for up to 3 months.
Once the mix is made it has to be used immediately as the salt will start drawing moisture from the mince.
If you want to make the mix ahead and store raw, omit the salt and season when cooking it.