A friend introduced me to Kofta. I was surprised at how tasty ground beef could be when I first tried it. Typically I just use ground beef in dishes where it is mixed in with a bunch of other things and you can’t really taste it. It is never the star of the dish or even meal. But this style of dish made me change my mind.
What is Kofta?
Kofta is a middle eastern type dish. I wish this recipe was authentic, but I would have no way of knowing. Either way, it still tastes great and it has that kind of spice palate. Spices are the best and most economical way to give a dish more flavor and personality. This one has plenty and it brings out the beef flavor.
Why make Kofta?
I would also recommend making this if you are watching your grocery budget. In case you don’t know, beef prices have gotten to be pretty ridiculous lately. Cattle have died a lot in the past year or so due to the crazy weather that has been happening. Droughts in the south are reducing feed supplies and the winter vortex froze herds of cattle and killed them. Use meat sparingly or use cuts of meat that are cheaper. Ground beef being one of them.
Lessons Learned:
- Be careful when putting the beef on the skewer. If you put too much on, it will be too heavy and fall off. And you will have to start all over again. If you are putting as much as is shown in the pictures above, I would suggest setting it down on a plate as soon as the kabob is formed. Once cooked, it will stay together.
- Don’t be shy with the spices. I know most of the spices used for this are typically used in pies, but trust me, it works great.
- If you want to be lazy like me, place all ingredients minus the ground beef in a food processor to chop and mix everything together. Then mix it with the ground beef. This will make the preparation even faster!
- 1 lb ground beef
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 Tbsp salt
- ½ onion, minced
- 3 Tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 Tbsp ground corriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp all spice
- ¼ tsp cayenne
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- Mix all ingredients together until spices are evenly distributed.
- If using wooden skewers, soak them before putting on the grill. Form the ground beef mixture along the skewers as you like. Press it together as much as you can to keep it on the skewer.
- Heat the grill to medium-high heat. Put the skewers on grill and cook for about 10 minutes or until fully cooked rotating the skewers every few minutes so you can get the nice grilled marks on each side.
(inspired by Meredith Books recipe)
