Koftas remind me of holidays, they just seem like the perfect street food!
These Lamb Koftas are aromatic, juicy and delicious, and they have the right mix of spices to give that iconic middle eastern street food flavour.
I absolutely LOVE cooking with lamb, it's one of Chris and my favourite meats!
From a traditional Lancashire hotpot, to roast lamb, to lamb curry (lamb works REALLY well in a curry), Korean style lamb cutlets and my crispy lamb salad (my favourite salad of all time), it's such a versatile meat that works well in so many flavour combinations.
These Lamb Koftas are no exception, the lamb works so well with the spices and the fat in the lamb means they're going to be full of flavour and nice and juicy. This recipe, however, is actually one of Chris's. I'm sure I've mentioned before he loves to cook, and I love it when he does 😊
📋 What do we need?
🧄 The Kofta spices
Lamb Koftas are considered a Middle Eastern dish and there are many variations out there. Most recipes call for a blend of cumin, coriander and cinnamon, to give that iconic Kofta flavour.
* I'm also adding ¼ tsp of chilli flakes along with the spices and seasoning to give a little kick of heat but that's completely optional.
🔪 How to make lamb koftas
Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- First of all we're going to fry off the onions until they're just starting to caramelise. This gives a little hint of delicious sweetness to the koftas.
- Next we add the rest of the ingredients into a bowl and give it a good mix together
- Shape the koftas into sausage shapes around metal skewers.
👩🍳PRO TIP When shaping them onto skewers use a damp hand. This will help the mixture stick to the kebab skewer and not your hand.
Then we griddle, grill (broil) or BBQ the koftas until beautifully golden and cooked through.
👩🍳PRO TIP As with most meats you want to rest them for 3 to 5 minutes before serving. This is a key step to ensure that the lamb koftas are lovely and juicy.
🍽️ What to serve it with
I like to serve these Koftas with some:
- Soft Fluffy Homemade Flatbreads
- Simple salad ingredients or a green salad.
- A simple mint yoghurt dip (such as Raita) or Tzatziki.
- And occasionally some homemade chips.
Yes, these can be made up ahead, covered and stored in the fridge (uncooked). Bring them out of the fridge and leave them covered for 30 minutes to allow them to come up to room temperature before cooking.
Yes, you can use minced beef with these koftas. As with the lamb, go with 20% fat, so they're nice and juicy.
Yes, this recipe scales quite easily. We made a double batch of these recently using 2x all of the ingredients and it worked perfectly.
You can swap the fresh mint for the same quantity of fresh coriander (cilantro).
🍲 More fantastic Street Food recipes
I love remaking some of our favourite street food recipes at home. Here are some of our favourites:
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Lamb Kofta Kebab Recipe
Ingredients
Lamb Koftas:
- 500 g (1.1 lb) lamb mince
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion - (finely diced)
- 2 cloves garlic - (minced)
- 1 tbsp fresh mint - (finely chopped)
- 2 ½ tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground coriander (cilantro)
- ½ tsp chilli flakes - (optional)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
To Serve:
- 4 flatbreads
- 1 tbsp fresh coriander (cilantro) - roughly chopped
- Salad - (I usually use lettuce, tomato and red onion)
- minted yoghurt dip
- or Tzatziki
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add the 1 tbsp of olive oil to a frying pan (or skillet) and heat over a medium heat.
- Add in the finely diced onion and fry for 4-5 minutes stirring occasionally until the onion softens and starts to caramelise.
- Add in the 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds stirring continuously.
- Place the onion and garlic in a bowl and allow to cool.
- In a mixing bowl add the minced lamb and the remaining kofta ingredients along with the cooled onion and garlic mixture.
- Mix together until thoroughly combined.
- Shape the mixture into koftas on skewers with wet hands (we're using wet hands to help ensure the mixture doesn't stick to you). Squeeze them quite tightly to the skewers (see note 1 and 2).
- Cook the koftas on a griddle or BBQ on medium to high heat for around 5-7 minutes, turning 3-4 times during cooking (see note 3). When turning it's a good idea to have a set of tongs handy, as the meat needs a bit of extra support when turning initially - as it's quite delicate.
- Remove from the heat and allow to rest for 3-5 minutes before serving.
- Serve with some flatbreads, yoghurt dip and a sprinkling of fresh coriander.
✎ Notes
Nutrition
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Graham World says
Mistakenly used turkey mince instead of lamb mince today.
A very happy accident works really well with your recipe. 👍
Donald Barker says
I have just added your Lamb Kofta Recipe to my system. (I may be able to afford it IF I ever win the pools. The price of mutton is exorbitant here.)
It brings up the question of the pepper ingredient.
In US-type recipes, they often call for "Freshly ground black pepper" but you only refer to ground black pepper. (This is much easier for me.) Does it really make a difference?
Brenda Kirkbride says
We had Koftas in a restaurant recently and this recipes sounds delish. Can I make it with left over lamb from our Sunday Roast?
Chris Corbishley says
Hi Brenda,
No I don't think it would work using leftover roast dinner lamb sorry. If you're looking for ideas to use up leftover roast lamb, we ALWAY make this Crispy Lamb Salad https://www.kitchensanctuary.com/crispy-lamb-salad/
Thanks
Chris & Nicky
james Goacher says
To be honest these are what I consider to be real Kebabs. Not those things with lumps of meat skewered. Thank you.