Lamb Koftas with a Mint Yoghurt Dip

Here’s the final dish of the meze-fest, some delicious, meaty koftas served with a zingy yogurt dip! Working with the raw meat and shaping it into balls like this can feel a little odd, but its also super fun! Traditionally these are served on sticks, but a) I had no sticks at home when I made these and b) it’s way easier just to serve them as balls like this. But if you prefer you can get some skewers and pop a couple on each one before you pan-fry them.

Recipe

Makes 8 balls

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the Koftas

• 1 Small white onion
• 1 Garlic clove
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for frying the koftas
• 200g Minced lamb
• 1 tsp Ground cumin
• 1 tsp Zaatar spice blend
• 1 tbsp Dried mint
• Salt and pepper to season

For the Yogurt Dip

• 2 sprigs of Fresh mint
• 100g Greek yogurt
• Salt and Pepper to season
• ½ tsp Ground cumin

Method

1. Begin by making the koftas. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic. Then put the oil into a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Add the onion and garlic to the oil and fry until they begin to caramelise. Tip this into a bowl and leave to cool.
2. Add the lamb, cumin, zaatar and mint to the onion mix and mix together with your hands to bring the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper and stir again to combine.
3. Divide the mixture into 8 balls. At this point, if you want to serve the koftas on skewers, take 4 skewers and push two balls onto each.
4. Brush the koftas with more oil and then heat a large frying pan on a high heat. Add the koftas and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until they’re browned all over and cooked through.
5. Meanwhile move onto the dip. Scrunch the mint into a bundle and then finely chop it with a sharp knife.
6. Put the mint and Greek yogurt into a bowl. Add some salt and pepper to season, and then add the cumin and mix together.
7. When everything’s ready tip the yogurt dressing into a pot and serve alongside the warm koftas!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x