Everybody does make kofta’s different. Basically a kofta is a meatball or meatloaf. It’s usually but not always beef, pork or lamb or a combination. Kofta’s may also be vegetarian made. The basic seasonings for a Middle Eastern Style kofta are onion, parsley, allspice, black pepper and salt. Just about any cooking method can be used.

If you were eating a kofta right now somewhere in the Middle East most likely it might be made from ground lamb and cooked over live coals on a stick. Lamb and poultry are popular meats in the Middle East as they don’t have the room for raising cows and pork is forbidden to practicing Muslims and Jews so you won’t forking find pig there.

I decided I wanted to make a roasted style kofta because I don’t often cook on charcoal but I note charcoal would be tastier. I didn’t want to use lamb so I used beef because in America beef is popular.

I used kosher beef for a few reasons. #1 kosher beef taste much better and is cleaner.  Only non- diseased animals are used and all meat is inspected unlike randomly inspected regular meat.  #2  kosher beef might be fecal free. I’m not liking about what I read on consumer reports about grocery store purchased ground beef. I know kosher beef is only from the front quarter of the cow and I imagine it is most likely free of fecal mater.

I read contradicting information about Halal beef. According to Wikipedia all parts are used. But I also read on other websites such as www.TheKitchn.com that only the front quarter is used.

These koftas I made are very juicy and flavorful….For this recipe I also added my unique spin to insure a moist juicy kofta. I didn’t add bread or crumbs but did use egg to combine and my trick is adding some water to the mixture. It works every time. The formula is perfect for this recipe. If you change it it’s not my fault if it doesn’t come out. The koftas aren’t mushy and are  juicy, nicely browned and delicious.

I wanted to make a very juicy kofta so the mixture happens to comes  out real soft so I thought it would be best to use a pastry bag to shape them.

Most restaurants serve beef kofta with a simple garlic sauce made from olive oil, lemon, garlic and salt and other restaurants serve beef kofta with hummus. I didn’t bother with sauce because they are flavorful enough and juicy.

 

Ingredients for four servings set oven to 350 degrees F

1 lb. ground beef (85% kosherAngus)

1 cup sweet onion  grated

2 garlic cloves minced

3/4 cup fresh parsley chopped

1 hot pepper chopped fine or a fresno if you are a wimp

1/3 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 teaspoon allspice

1 XL egg beaten

2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/4 cup water

Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Mix all your ingredients till combined. Spray your baking sheet(s) with nonstick spray. I used a disposable pastry bag, cut the end and rolled back the end and filled about 3/4s with meat mixture.

On two small baking sheets I squirted out 8 1/2 squiggled keftas. In my oven they took only 15 minutes to cook.

I served them with a rice like nutty tasting grain called freekeh that also only takes 15 minutes to cook. The perfect amount of freekeh to use is 1 cup freekeh, 2 1/2 cups water 1 teaspoon salt. I also added one crushed clove of garlic, a shredded carrot, a small chopped tomato and about 1/4 cup of scallions. I also served the dinner with some vegetables.