Kufta Meat in Tray

Kufta is a delicious Middle Eastern recipe that has various variations. This is a family of meatballs or meatloaves that is not only common to the Middle East but also, India, Caucasians, Balkan, and Central Asia. Kufta is a Hebrew word for meatballs and is similar to Lebanese kofta and Greeks Kufta. The dish consists of mincemeat-beef, chicken, lamb, pork, or mutton, mixed with spices. Vegetarian varieties are made from potatoes, calabash, paneer, or banana. It is said that Kofta originates from Arab countries and appeared for the first time around the 13th century, but it is very likely that this speciality is much older. The dish kofta traveled with Arab conquests around the world. Today this recipe can be found in Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and the Balkans, and even in China or India. So from Afghanistan to Greece via Morocco, Romania, and especially Turkey, we feast on delicious kofta kebab. The word kofta could come from the Persian “kufta” or from “koofteh” which means “pounded meat”. The name and its spelling vary from one country to another. Preparing kofta is simple, but requires a little care because the meat must marinate for a long time in order to perfectly soak up all the aromas of spices that enrich the taste of the delicious koftas. You also need to know how to manage the cooking so that they are nicely browned on the outside and juicy on the inside. The meat used is always a composition of different pieces and different sources, most often it is the lamb and the beef that are used. For the beef, it is preferred to use pieces such as the cheek, the tenderloin or the sirloin. For lamb, on the contrary, the meat will be taken from the saddle or the fillet ribs in order to obtain leaner meat. The whole is chopped and seasoned with onion, garlic, parsley, cinnamon, ginger, cumin, nutmeg, paprika, mint, salt, pepper, chili and sumac which give a very delicious taste to kofta.