Kofta Kebabs (lots of pics)

NecessaryIndulg

Looks wonderful, @ksmyrl!  

Definitely can't hurt, @HendersonTRKing -- let me know! 

HendersonTRKing

Made 2 modifications to your recipe:  added about a TBSP lemon zest and a juice of 1/2 lemon.  Plus pecan wood for smoke.  

Have to say:  it was amazing.  Everyone loved them.  Next time, will have to go with 2 lbs of ground lamb -- they made what I cooked all gone, so no leftover kofta kebab dinner this week.

Delicious as they were, my pix don't hold a candle to yours.

NDG

Turned out great!  The smell of the spice/ginger/mint/etc. mixture in the blender was mouthwatering and finished lamb had great balance. Put a some kebabs in a pita last night and tomorrow night serving the rest of the lamb on top of arugula w/ some veg & the tzatziki sauce. 

NecessaryIndulg

NecessaryIndulg

@NDG and @HendersonTRKing : Those look so good! 
Love the lemon zest, juice, and pita ideas -- thanks, guys!

KiterTodd

I tried to pluck that pita sandwich from my screen, NDG, but no such luck.  I'm going to have to make it this week...

Aviator

Kristi, great job. I make these all the time, quick and easy on the baby egg. Yours have come out with the perfect sear marks.

Yes, like @eggcesior said, I add minced red onion to mine.

Ragtop99

Looks great. Is the tzatziki sauce also easy to make?

NecessaryIndulg

Ragtop99 said:

Looks great. Is the tzatziki sauce also easy to make?

Ragtop99 -- It's a cinch!  

I posted the recipe below.  You can also click HERE for a step by step. 

1½ cups Greek yogurt

1 cucumber

1 lemon, juiced

1 clove of garlic, minced

2 TBS chopped dill (mint or parsley)

Salt, to taste

Peel and grate the cucumber (all but the middle part where the seeds are).

Squeeze the water out of the cucumber with a cheesecloth, thin towel, or your hands.

Add the grated cucumber, lemon juice, minced garlic, and chopped dill to the Greek yogurt.

Stir everything together.

Add salt, to taste.

Serve cold with crudités, pita bread or grilled meat.

KiterTodd

Great recipe!   Made it tonight.  Everybody liked it.  My 4 year old had 3 of them and my wife who doesn't like any funky tasting meat really enjoyed it.   The herb mix seem to really tone down the strong taste lamb can have and it was very good.

They're good plain, but as I didn't have pita I used flour tortillas...and man was that good.   Meat, tzatziki, veggies and hot sauce.   Fantastic.  My wife liked it that way also (w/o the hot sauce).

Some pics of my foray into kofta bebabs...

After the first turn on the grill-


Finishing up while I cook the asparagus-


A kebab wrapped in a tortilla and buried in yummy tzatziki sauce...


So, 1 lbs. of meat made it through 2 adults and 2 kids...but 2 lbs. of meat would've given me some leftovers for lunch! 

KiterTodd

By the way I soaked those sticks for 15+ minutes and they still burnt, but it's worth it over metal skewers.  The kids enjoyed eating them like big meat lollipops.  :-bd

NecessaryIndulg

KiterTodd --  8-> looks sooooo good! 

Aviator

Just fyi, if you are in Costco they always carry small buckets of Tzatziki sauce.

But its so easy to make anyway.

Little Steven

Great looking cook Christi and everybody else. Nothing better than lamb kabobs, kofta or kafta. Here is the recipe I did at eggtoberfest a few years back.

23

Eggtoberfest 2008 Little Steven Kafta

Ingredients

2 1/2 lbs Ground lamb

1 Large onion

2 oz Olive oil

2 cups Fresh curly parsley

1/2 cup Fresh mint leaves

1 Tbs Brown sugar

1 Tbs Whole coriander seed

1 Tbs Whole cumin seed

1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp Groun

d cloves

1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg

1 tsp Coarse ground black pepper

1/2 tsp cayenne

Procedure

In a food processor, chop onion extremely fine. Add parsley and mint and until you have

a fine

-

not liquefied

-

homogeneous mixture.

Toast coriander and cumin in C

I pan til fragrant

Put the meat in a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and spices to meat, combine and

mix thoroughly with your hands.

Place bowl in fridge covered with plastic wrap. This helps flavors of the mixture blend.

Soak wooden skewers in wate

r for a couple of hours or more.

Shape egg

-

sized balls of kafta into logs and work evenly onto skewers.

Cook on EGG at 400*F with the lid down until they reach 160°F internal

-

turning once

Serve on pita with garlic sauce or tzadziki

Little Steven

I think I broke something just there

KiterTodd

LOL, LS....that's an interesting recipe post.  

The Tzatziki recipe included with the OP is great.  We used parsley in ours and one extra garlic clove.  A really well balanced sauce that added to the meal but didn't overpower the meat.   I took care of the overpowering with the generous hot sauce addition.    

radamo

Kristi,

These look excellent.  Can't wait to try them. 

Rich

tkleager

Little Steven, you broke Vanilla!

Eggtoberfest 2008 Little Steven Kafta
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs Ground lamb
1 Large onion
2 oz Olive oil
2 cups Fresh curly parsley
1/2 cup Fresh mint leaves
1 Tbs Brown sugar
1 Tbs Whole coriander seed
1 Tbs Whole cumin seed
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground cloves
1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
1 tsp Coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
Procedure
In a food processor, chop onion extremely fine. Add parsley and mint and until you have
a fine - not liquefied - homogeneous mixture.
Toast coriander and cumin in CI pan til fragrant
Put the meat in a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and spices to meat, combine and
mix thoroughly with your hands.
Place bowl in fridge covered with plastic wrap. This helps flavors of the mixture blend.
Soak wooden skewers in water for a couple of hours or more.
Shape egg-sized balls of kafta into logs and work evenly onto skewers.
Cook on EGG at 400*F with the lid down until they reach 160°F internal - turning once
Serve on pita with garlic sauce or tzadziki

HendersonTRKing

Cedars tzatziki is pretty awesome, too.  I can eat it by the spoonful like some kind of savory Greek pudding.  Family is horrified, but that's nothing new.  

bbqlearner

Great food. Bookmarked for future cooks!

Little Steven

tkleager said:

Little Steven, you broke Vanilla!

Eggtoberfest 2008 Little Steven Kafta
Ingredients
2 1/2 lbs Ground lamb
1 Large onion
2 oz Olive oil
2 cups Fresh curly parsley
1/2 cup Fresh mint leaves
1 Tbs Brown sugar
1 Tbs Whole coriander seed
1 Tbs Whole cumin seed
1/4 tsp Ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp Ground cloves
1/4 tsp Ground nutmeg
1 tsp Coarse ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne
Procedure
In a food processor, chop onion extremely fine. Add parsley and mint and until you have
a fine - not liquefied - homogeneous mixture.
Toast coriander and cumin in CI pan til fragrant
Put the meat in a large mixing bowl, add all ingredients and spices to meat, combine and
mix thoroughly with your hands.
Place bowl in fridge covered with plastic wrap. This helps flavors of the mixture blend.
Soak wooden skewers in water for a couple of hours or more.
Shape egg-sized balls of kafta into logs and work evenly onto skewers.
Cook on EGG at 400*F with the lid down until they reach 160°F internal - turning once
Serve on pita with garlic sauce or tzadziki

Thanks for that man! It was weird.

Skiddymarker

Kristi - late to this but when using bamboo skewers, as well as soaking them have you ever put a piece of foil on the grid so the exposed part of the skewer is in the shadow of the foil? The meat cooks as it is exposed to direct IR of the lump, but the skewers stay nice and clean, no char. 

NecessaryIndulg

Skiddymarker -- good idea! 

Eggsalent

going to make in about an hour

Eggsalent

never mind wife called from the store they have a recall on lamb right now ={}

fishlessman

really liked these kabebs kristi


ground up a leg and used some mint that came over on a slow boat from lebanon maybe 4 generations back, freezing weather wasnt treating it too good
) went to the syrian bakery down the street and picked up some hummus, tebouleh, labne, and some pita. thanks for inspiring a great cook, will do this often. that sauce was great

NecessaryIndulg

=P~ Drool.

anton

Looks delicious, now I want A Gyro!!
:-bd