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Moroccan Kefta
I’m making a Moroccan Kefta today—Kefta simply means ground meat. You grind it, add several spices to it and turn it into little meatballs. Of course you could try to shape them into little teletubbies, Eiffel towers, or even tiny Mona Lisas will do! Be creative! (just kidding, sorry:)
My kefta is slightly different though; I’m using ground beef in stead of the more authentic ground lamb. Mine are also poached in a lemon & herb sauce giving them a slightly different texture. If you don’t care for tangy and zesty dishes, you might want to skip this one! If you do like lemony foods, give it a go! It’s a fun and easy recipe. Think of it as an experimental break from your every-day cooking! You have to do that every now and then or you’ll end up in a rut, making the same old dishes over and over again! Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
The meat is surprisingly light and fresh, making this an ideal lunch. Especially when you throw in some flat bread as well!
Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef (or lamb)
2 large onions
1 chili pepper
1 garlic clove
2 lemons
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tbsp fresh ginger
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne
flat-leaf parsley
1 1/4 cup water
Optional: coriander
Directions:
What better way to spend a rainy, windy and chilly morning than all cooped up in the kitchen, cooking up a storm? It’s either that or be like him and stay in pajamas all morning! Lazy little boy. Hmmmm. On second thoughts; lemme grab my pajamas.
Back to the recipe.
Go for extra lean ground beef. Or keep it really authentic and get yourself one pound ground lamb.
Let’s add a few spices. Spices you might not expect in ground beef: 1 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground cumin, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cayenne and a good pinch of black pepper.
You could finely mince it, but in this recipe I prefer grating 1/2 a large onion.
Also add a grated or finely minced garlic clove to the ground beef.
Fresh, green and crispy flat-leaf parsley. I love how it looks, smells and tastes. Finely chop a good handful and add it to the ground beef.
Knead for a few minutes—you want everything to be thoroughly combined.
Make walnut-sized meatballs out of them. You could also brown them first, if that’s what you prefer. This would be your cue to do so! I’m not… I’m poaching them.
Finely mince the remaining 1/2 onion and 1 additional large onion. Did I mention I like onions? No?
De-seed and finely chop a large red chili pepper.
I always freeze my ginger. So I’ve defrosted 1 heaping tbsp grated ginger. Defrosting is only seconds work if you have a microwave.
Extract the juice from a large lemon. I’ve sieved the juice and measured it; my lemon gave 1/4 cup of lemon juice.
The original recipe calls for a handful finely chopped coriander. I’m so not going there! In stead I’ve chopped another handful of flat-leaf parsley. Just go with whatever flavor you like best. Also wash and quarter a lemon. Be sure to take the pits out! I’d feel really bad if you’d end up with $3000 worth of dental work due to one of my recipes!
Heat 2 tbsp butter, add the onions, chili pepper, ginger and 1/4 tsp turmeric. The turmeric will give a mild flavor and will color everything sunny yellow. You could also add some curry powder in stead.
Cook everything, over medium heat, until the onion starts to brown.
Add the parsley (or coriander), lemon juice, 1 tsp salt and pour in 1 1/4 cup water. Give it a good swirl and bring the sauce to a boil.
Drop the meatballs in there and temper the heat. Put the lid on and simmer, over low heat, for 20 minutes. Flip the meatballs over ocassionally.
Now simply put the lemon wedges in there. We’re going to simmer the sauce (without the lid on), for about 10 to 15 minutes. This will give the sauce a chance to cook down and thicken a bit. Check the seasoning!
Serve in pretty bowls and throw in some flat bread (or rice/couscous) and a salad. This is a really nice lunch dish! And because the meat is served in small portions, it also makes for a great appetizer or even party snack!
What a super looking dish, I will definitely be trying this out soon. Lemons are tops for flavour.
That looks absolutely delicious! Definitely going to try that this week :)
In other news, apparently truncated feeds are the new cool thing among blogs now… but they really really make me sad :( Anyway they could be changed back, or is it maybe just a glitch?
Kez, not sure what you mean by truncated feeds? Nothing has changed in my site, so you should be seeing the normal feed as usual.
Kay, wow thanks for responding so quick! I’ll check my feed reader, but I first noticed partial feeds popping up on another popular food blog I visit, and some of the comments on that site reflected others were seeing the same. When this post came up in my reader, it was partial as well. I thought maybe you were taking a cue from the other site, and got a little worried :) Hopefully it’ll clear up soon!
I’m so fast :)
I did run a wordpress version update, but that’s it. Nothing should be different.
A similar version made by the Turks is called Kofte. I so love kofte! This looks good enough! I hope to give it a try soon!
Is kez talking about the fact that when you come to your site you now have to click on more at the bottom of the post to read the entire post? When you first see it it’s only a partial post?
Sarah, that’s normal with long postings, especially with a lot of photos involved. Kez means the RSS feed not showing the photos anymore. Still haven’t figured out what the deal is there.
Looks amazing.
And for what it’s worth, I’m seeing the same change as Kez, if that helps with…anything. :)
Ooo, that sounds fabulous – can’t wait to try it!
yum!! love the fact it’s a stovetop recipe….oven on the blink. and I’ve been using that as my excuse not to cook!! but I’m getting hungry!
Thanks again Kay
I am so running to my freezer as soon as I type this!
I’m with the above posters :) I use google reader and what it does is show a snippet of your most recent post, rather than the whole thing. It’s totally not a big deal, it just has people leave their feed reader and directly click your site to read the whole post :)
I reallllly want to make this for lunch today!
Amanda, that’s the strange part. Nothing in my site changed. My wordpress settings also show the ‘full text’ box checked and the “summary” empty. No idea what’s going on.
How odd!!! I could care less if I have to click through to visit your blog, you always post gorgeous photos that are completely worth it, lol :):)
Kay-
You may have posted this before, but what lens are you using now? The colors are fantastic and depth of field is perfect.
Using an older lens, Sarah. The Nikon Nikkor 28-105.
I selected “show details” in the upper right corner of my feed on Google Reader and it shows pictures now. Try that?
Katiej, when using IE feeds it’s even weirder. You get a handful of postings in full text and the rest in summary. Doesn’t make sense at all.
I love to prepare various kinds of kofte, that is- minced chicken or lamb/veal meat 1 inch diameter balls seasoned with whatever spices I feel for the day :-)
Lovely snaps. Could you tell me which camera do you use?
What a lovely lunch idea! I particularly like the mix of spices.
Aww he is beautiful! and dinner looks yum too :0)
AMAZING!!!!!!!
your photos are unbelievable! i love your blog – what kind of camera do you shoot with?? i’d love to hear your secret to getting such amazing shots.
Maris, I’m currently shooting with a D80, but am considering an upgrade. Not sure if I’ll buy the D300 or the D700, though.