Turkish Kofte Sandwich Food

BAKED KOFTA PITA SANDWICH, TURKISH STYLE (TUTORIAL)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the lamb, egg, bread crumbs, and garlic with the salt and the spices. With clean hands, kneed together until all is well-combined.
• Form the lamb mixture into small balls. Push lightly to flatten the meatballs into patties and arrange them about 1 inch apart on a large baking sheet. Do not crowd the kofta patties, use two baking sheets if necessary.
• Bake in the 425 degrees F heated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the kofta patties are well-browned and the center is fully done.
• While the kofta is baking, mix together a small equal amount of the spices (sumac, red pepper flakes, and smoked paprika). Set aside for now. Prepare the Greek pita bread, Sabra hummus spreads, and the rest of the fixings. You can set everything up for a make-your-own-sandwich bar, if you like.
• When the kofta patties are fully baked, remove from the oven and sprinkle the spice mixture on top.
• To make the pita sandwiches, spread a generous amount of the sea salt & cracked pepper Sabra hummus spread (or the garlic herb Sabra hummus spread) on the Greek pita, then top with the baby arugula and parsley.
• From here, add as many baked kofta patties as you like (usually 3-4 per pita is a good amount), and your choice of fixings; tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olives, and jalapeno peppers. Finish off with another squeeze of the Sabra hummus spread!
• Serve the baked kofta pita sandwiches in folded wraps or open-faced. Enjoy!

TURKISH MEATBALLS (KOFTA)

Steps:

• Make the bread crumbs by breaking up 2 slices of stale but not dried out whole wheat bread into the bowl of a food processor.
• Whizz until finely crumbed.
• Add the ground lamb and the egg, and process until blended.
• Add the spices, garlic and parsley.
• Process the meat well to achieve a fine texture.
• Roll the mixture into small meatballs (I use a melonballer) or finger shaped patties using dampened hands.
• You may cook them at once, or refrigerate the mixture for several hours.
• (If your meat is very fresh, you can divide it in half and wrap part well in plastic for the next day's meal.) Heat the oil in a heavy skillet, and fry the balls or patties until cooked through and evenly browned.
• The meatballs should be stirred several times, the patties turned once.
• Remove them with a slotted spoon to drain.
• Serve the meatballs hot or at room temperature as an appetizer.
• Lovely with a yogurt or tahini sauce, on a bed of rice or in a pita.

TURKISH MEATBALLS (KOFTA)

Steps:

• Tear up bread slices into the bowl of a food processor; process into fine crumbs. Add ground lamb and egg; process until blended. Add parsley, garlic, cumin, mint, allspice, salt, and pepper; process until evenly combined.
• Roll lamb mixture into small meatballs.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook meatballs in batches, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, 4 to 5 minutes per batch. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate using a slotted spoon.

TURKISH 'KOFTE' SANDWICH

Steps:

• Chop onions, 1 clove of garlic and parsley.
• Mix the onions, garlic and parsley with the ground beef and a bit of salt and pepper.
• With your hands make walnut shaped little meatballs.
• You can either grill the meatballs, or cook them in some olive oil.
• In the meantime, mix the yoghurt with garlic and mint.
• Slice tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber.
• Now take a turkish bread (flat, round thick bread) cut in 4 squares, open them and 'butter up' the bread with the yoghurt dressing.
• Put in lettuce tomatoes, cucumbers and meatballs, and finish with some extra yoghurt dressing.

TURKISH KOFTA RECIPE

Steps:

• Traditionally we make the kofte mixture by hand by grating the onions, chopping fresh herbs if used, and mixing the other ingredients in a bowl well. But you can easily do these steps in a food processor. If your food processor isn't so big you can only chop the onion and parsley and continue mixing in a bowl
• In a food processor add onion cut in four, parsley. If you are using stale bread soak it in water to soften then squeeze out excess water and add to the onion parsley mixture. Process until they have fine pieces, avoid over-processing, and don't make it like a puré.
• Add the ground meat, spices, and baking soda if using. Drop 3-4 drops of lemon juice over the baking soda and mix everything by pulsing until is it evenly incorporated.
• Dip your hand into the water from time to time and get smaller than mandarine size mixture and first shape into a ball and press it to make a disk. It comes together when cooks and becomes thicker so consider that while shaping.
• Heat the cast iron griddle or non-stick frying pan or grill. Brush it with vegetable oil. Add kofte pieces leaving space between them and cook on medium heat until both sides and inside are fully cooked.
• Meanwhile cut the tomatoes in big wedges and cook on the griddle or grill with green peppers.
• Serve the koftes with pilav and grilled veggies. You can also make coban salad, or cacik (yogurt-cucumber sauce) to serve.

KOFTE - TURKISH MEATBALLS

Steps:

• In a bowl add all the ingredients and lightly combine mixture. Set aside in the fridge for the flavors to meld at least 2 to 4 hours.
• Form the mixture into balls then roll between your palms into sausage shapes.
• Add a little olive oil on a cookie sheet covered with foil and bake for 35 to 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until Kofte is cooked through.
• Serve with pita bread and a salad.

CHEF FLOWER'S TURKISH CYPRIOT FRIED MEATBALLS - KIBRISLI KOFTE /

Steps:

• Peel and finely grate potatoes, place them in a bowl and sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon salt, set aside.
• In a separate large bowl, place ground/minced chicken or beef, onion, parsley, egg, cinnamon, mint, salt and black pepper.
• Potatoes have excess liquids and with this recipe you need to remove all the excess liquids. In a large strainer, kneed all liquids out of the grated potatoes with only leaving the potatoes flesh.
• Then add the potato with the rest of the ingredients and mix them together. If the mixture is a little sticky you may need to add more potatoes.
• With your hand mould the kofte into a small long patty about 5cm x 2cm (2 inch x 1/2 inch) then place them on a tray, repeat this until all the mixture is finish. When placing the kofte's on a tray do not allow them to touch each other as they may stick together.
• Heat oil in a frying pan or deep fryer add kofte one by one in the pan without touching each other. Flip them over once they are brown and then let the other side brown. Remove onto serving platter, then repeat this step until all kofte's are finished, then serve.
• Could be served as finger food, entree or a main dish with Turkish Cacik (yoghurt sauce) and garden salad.