Lamb koftas with a feta, mint and chickpea salad and chilli grilled pittas
50 min
Now we have some warmer weather we need to cut loose from the stews and spicy pasta dishes and look to something lighter yet still rewarding. I've always been a big fan of Mediterranean cooking - having spent many a night at Greek and Turkish restaurants in Dalston, London where they cook some of the finest grilled meats I've ever eaten. This is a very simple dish to put together and you can substitute the lamb for beef or chicken if you wish. (I've also written a recipe for Beef koftas as well.)
3 people made this
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 500g organic lamb mince
- 200g feta
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 lemon
- 1 red onion
- 2 green chilles
- 25g fresh mint
- 4 pittas
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons dried coriander
Method
Prep:30min ›
Cook:20min ›
Ready in:50min
- Let's make the koftas first - place the lamb in a large bowl along with 2 tsps of cumin, 2 tsps of dried coriander, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic and a generous seasoning. Mix together well and then shape on to the metal skewers (wooden skewers, soaked first, are also good) - the best way to shape on is to create a ball first, slide on to the skewer and then shape down. Once the koftas are made, place in the fridge for at least 40 minutes to firm up a little.
- Whilst the koftas are in the fridge we can make the salad. Grab a large bowl and add the chick peas, finely chopped mint, finely chopped red onion and cubes of feta. Mix together gently and then add some seasoning, the juice of one lemon and around 3 tablespoons of olive oil. This salad will keep fine until the koftas are ready. In fact, the flavours will develop nicely.
- To make the chilli pittas - finely chop the green chillies (leave those seeds in!) and sprinkle over the pittas with a twist of black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. These can go under the grill for 4 minutes to brown up whilst the koftas are cooking.
- # The koftas! These are best cooked on a griddle pan (if you don't have a griddle pan 5 minutes on each side under a medium grill will work fine). Get those windows open as you need to get the griddle pan smoking hot! When smoking hot rub a little olive oil over the koftas so they don't stick (no oil in the pan) and griddle on each side for 4 minutes - once cooked set to one side for 2 minutes to let the meat relax. Serve with the salad and pittas - happy eating!
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