Turkish Lamb Koftas
Spiced ground lamb, parsley and sumac and charred skewers.
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Knead the meat way longer than feels necessary. It's the difference between koftas that grip the skewer and koftas that crumble into the fire. You want the texture to go from loose ground meat to slightly tacky and stringy.
Ingredients
Everything below makes 4 servings.
- 1½ lbground lamb
- 1 smallyellow oniongrated on box grater, excess liquid squeezed out
- 3garlic clovesgrated or minced
- ½ cupfresh flat-leaf parsleyfinely chopped
- 1½ tspground cumin
- 1 tspsweet paprika
- 1 tspground sumac
- ¾ tspAleppo pepper (or red pepper flake)
- 1 tbspolive oilfor brushing skewers
- 1½ tspkosher salt
- ½ tspfreshly ground black pepper
- 4warm flatbread or pita (for serving)
In the app these rescale to however many people you're feeding.
Nutrition
Per serving, as written.
- 580calories
- 39gprotein
- 38gcarbs
- 31gfat
Swaps move these numbers. A different protein or base changes them.
Instructions
Knife work first, then the stove. Nothing below asks you to chop while something burns.
- Grate onion on a box grater, then squeeze excess liquid out in a clean kitchen towel - wet onion will steam your koftas instead of charring them.
- Grate or finely mince the garlic.
- Finely chop the parsley.
- If using wooden skewers, soak them in water 30 min.
Mix
In a bowl combine lamb, grated onion, garlic, parsley, cumin, paprika, sumac, Aleppo pepper, salt, and black pepper. Use your hands to knead the mixture for a full 2-3 minutes - the meat should feel slightly sticky and stringy. That develops the protein structure so koftas hold shape on the skewer.
4 min · hands onRest
Cover the bowl and let the kofta mixture rest in the fridge 30 min (up to overnight). This is where the spices bloom into the meat.
30 min · hands offShape
Divide the meat into 8 portions. Take each portion and mold it around a skewer in a long sausage shape, about 5-6 inches long. Squeeze gently to grip the skewer so the kofta won't spin or fall off.
6 min · hands onGrill
Heat grill or grill pan to medium-high. Brush skewers lightly with olive oil. Grill 4-5 min per side, turning once carefully, until well-charred outside and just cooked through. Don't overcook - lamb dries out fast.
9 min · hands onServe
Warm flatbread on the grill 30 sec per side. Slide koftas off skewers onto the bread, dust with extra sumac, and roll up - or serve open-face with sliced onion and parsley scattered on top.
2 min · hands onMake it yours
Every swap here is one Maui already knows how to make, including what it does to the timing.
Beef holds shape slightly better; cook same time.
Add 1 tbsp olive oil to the mix - turkey is leaner and dries out faster.
Start rice (1 cup basmati and 1.75 cup water) when you begin marinating the meat. Adds about 18 minutes.
Dice cucumber and tomato and red onion, dress with lemon and olive oil. Adds about 5 minutes.
What keeps
Mix kofta meat up to 2 days ahead (flavors deepen). Form skewers up to 8 hr ahead.
Cooked koftas keep 3 days; reheat gently or eat cold in pita wraps.
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