Baharatlı Köfte ve Patates, Zhoug Tahın & Salata (Spiced Kofte & Potatoes, Zhoug Tahini & Salad)

 AD Meliz Cooks with Waitrose & The Levantine Table

When I was younger, there was always some kind of delicious köfte-based meal on our dinner table each week, and I admired the way my mum could create a slightly different recipe each time she made them by tweaking her choice of spices, or the way she chose to cook them. I absolutely loved developing this recipe for Waitrose using spices and ingredients from their new Levantine Table range and using the tips I picked as a child by watching my mum in the kitchen, such as the flavours of her fresh and crisp salads and using cornflour / flour and spices on potatoes to give them a crispy coating. My children adore köfte, whether baked, fried, grilled or BBQd (fırında, kızarmış, izgara, şiş adana), and they love them boiled and stewed into soups or casseroles too, so this recipe is an absolute winner with them too.

The köfte are not too hot in terms of spice, but warm and deep enough in flavour, and are complimented perfectly with the texture of the crispy spiced potatoes, the lemony zhing and vibrant chilli heat of the zhoug (my eldest’s favourite) and the crunchy freshness of the sweet and tangy pomegranate salad. I cannot wait to see you recreate this one, and I hope you enjoy experimenting with the spices and ingredients from The Levantine Table range as much as I have. 

Baharatlı Köfte ve Patates, Zhoug Tahın & Salata (Spiced Kofte & Potatoes, Zhoug Tahini & Salad)

 

For the Köfte

1 small onion

800g lamb mince

50g parsley, finely chopped

4 large garlic cloves, finely grated

2 tsp Cooks' Ingredients Lebanese Seven Spice Mix

2 tsp Cooks' Ingredients Middle East Spice Mix

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 egg

 

For the potatoes

500g baby potatoes

1 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp Cooks' Ingredients Middle East Spice Mix

1 tsp Cooks' Ingredients Baharat spice mix

3 tbsp olive oil

¼ tsp salt

 

For the Salad

1/43 cucumber

3 ripe tomatoes

25g fresh coriander

2 spring onions

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp Cooks' Ingredients spiced pomegranate

1 tsp lemon juice

¼  tsp salt

¼ tsp sumac

For the Tahini Zhoug

60ml / 4tbsp tahini

30 ml / 2 tbsp cold water

30ml / 2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp Cooks' Ingredients Zhoug paste

 

To Serve

Cooks' Ingredients Spiced Pomegranate 

Pul Biber

Sumac

 

Method

Preheat oven to 190C fan/ 210C conventional.

Wash the potatoes well and place them in a large pan of cold water. Bring the potatoes up to a boil, cook for 5 minutes, then drain fully, allow to dry in the colander for 2-3 minutes, and then place them straight back into the saucepan.

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, prepare the köfte mixture. Peel the onion, halve it, then coarsely grate it into a bowl and squeeze out all of the juice into the sink. Place the lamb mince into a large bowl, add the grated onion, parsley, garlic, spices, oil, salt, pepper, egg, and mix well with your hands until the mixture is fully combined. Roll into 20 equal sized balls and leave to one side.

Add the cornflour to the cooked and drained potatoes in the pan, along with the spices, and give them a gentle shake before adding 1tbsp of the olive oil and giving them a shake again to distribute the oil. Brush a large baking tray with the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil, and carefully tip the potatoes onto the tray. Using a potato masher, gently crush and flatten each of the potatoes whilst still keeping them in tact as much as possible. Add the köfte balls to the tray, giving them a little roll in the oil on the baking tray, nestling them in between the potatoes, and pop the tray on the middle shelf of the oven to cook for 15 minutes, whilst you prepare the salad and tahini.

For the salad, finely chop the cucumber, tomatoes and coriander, finely slice the spring onion, and add everything to a large bowl. Sprinkle over the sumac and leave to one side to dress just before serving.

For the zhoug tahini, add the tahini and cold water to a bowl, and whisk vigorously until it thickens a little and starts to turn creamy. Add the lemon juice and salt, whisk again until nice and smooth, and spoon onto the edge of a large serving platter. Add the zhoug to the tahini and give it a little swirl, without fully mixing it through.

Just before the köfte and potatoes are ready to come out of the oven, dress the salad with the extra virgin olive oil, pomegranate drizzle, lemon juice and salt and give it all a gentle stir. 

Once the köfte and potatoes are cooked, take the tray out of the oven, gently toss the köfte and potatoes in the juices in the pan and plate up onto the platter with the zhoug tahini. Spoon a little of the salad onto the platter, drizzle the köfte and potatoes with some of the pomegranate drizzle, sprinkle over a little sumac and pul biber, and serve immediately.