Grassfed Beef or Lamb Kofta Meatballs with Middle Eastern Tomato Sauce and Tabouli

Grassfed Beef or Lamb Kofta Meatballs with Middle Eastern Tomato Sauce and Tabouli

These kofta meatballs are lovely and with the warm Middle Eastern tomato sauce and Tabouli, they make a great winter meal.

My image above is not great, I know, but trust me, they’re worth a try.  They can be made with either lamb or beef mince (I’ve done both) and a mix would be great too.

I’ve taken the mince recipe for kofta’s on skewers from one of my earlier posts, shaped them as meatballs and changed the minted yoghurt accompaniment to a warm, tomato sauce, which changes it nicely for winter I feel.  I’m also trying to cook with what I have on hand and in the vegetable patch right now. There aren’t lots of vegetables at the harvestable stage, but I do have heaps of parsley, so tabouli ticks the box there. I also have lots of bottled cherry tomatoes from summer, so I cut some of these and added them to the tabouli instead of fresh tomatoes, which was surprisingly fine.

I’ve include the mince ingredients here again:

Kofta Meatballs

  • 1 pack Conscious Farmer grass fed mince (750g)
  • 1/3 cup grated onion
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
  • 6 cloves crushed garlic
  • 2 tablespoons ground coriander
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground allspice
  • ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • Generous pinch salt & good grind black pepper

Combine all ingredients and shape into balls.  Heat a pan to a medium to medium high heat, place meatballs in the pan and cook through.

 

Tomato Sauce

  • 410g tin tomatoes
  • 1 small brown onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • Salt to taste
  • Olive oil

Blend tinned tomatoes until a smooth consistency.   Heat pan to medium and place some olive oil or tallow in the pan. Fry onion and garlic on a medium heat until translucent.  Add blended tomatoes, sugar, cinnamon stick and cumin and simmer for 20 minutes or until thickened. Remove cinnamon stick and blend again until smooth. Add salt to taste.

 

Tabouli

  • 1/4 cup cous cous or quinoa (for gluten free) – cooked as per packet instructions
  • 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 4 cups chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
  • 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

Mix ingredients together in a bowl.

 

Place meatballs, tabouli and the tomato sauce in bowls on the table for the family to help themselves.

If you give these a try, I really hope you enjoy them.  You might need a double batch if you’ve got teenage sons like us and given last night’s meatballathon!

If you’d like to ensure the best health and nourishment from your meal, you can find our grass fed, chemical free mince in any one of our Beef or Lamb Hampers, which you can see here.

Bon appetit, Kirrily x