Kofta Tahini Recipe

Kofta Tahini is a Middle Eastern ground beef kofta recipe that is poured into tahini sauce & baked in the oven. This Arabian kofta is way better than your ordinary kofta since it is juicy, saucy, and meaty. It is traditionally served and eaten with pita bread, but you serve it with rice too.

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• What is this recipe about?
• Recipe Ingredient
• What to serve this Kofta with?
• Step by Step Instruction
• Variation
• Frequently Asked Questions
• 📋 Recipe Card
• 💬 Comments

If you are familiar with my recipes, you will know that as a half-Arab (Jordanian), I love Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. I was born in the Middle East and food is part of my culture and life. They are one of the most nutritious, flavorful, and delicious cuisines in the world.

I have eaten and made many delicious kofta dishes. And based on my experience, there are many different versions or variations of koftas. For example, there are Lebanese, Jordanian, Iranian, or Turkish versions of kofta which are all amazingly good and delicious.

In this post, I made a Palestinian / Jordanian version of kofta, which is not a typical kofta that you see on Television, or Youtube, where they cook it in a charcoal griller. But rather it is mixed and poured into tahini sauce.

What is this recipe about?

My Arab relatives call it Kofta bi Tahini (كفتة بالطحينية) which mean the kofta ( spiced ground meat) is cooked in a tahini sauce.

To give you a background on how it is made, the ground meat (beef or lamb) is mixed with different herbs and other seasonings, which is then transferred into a baking pan and poured with tahini sauce. After that, it is transferred into the oven where you broil it for 10 to 15 minutes or until the top side became brown.

When checking the ingredients, you might wonder why I am not adding any spices. That is because the beef or lamb itself has already a rich flavor, which I enhanced with chopped onion and parsley. Of course, it is also mixed with tahini-lemon mixture sauce which makes it better.

Recipe Ingredient

Here are the ingredient to make this delicious Kofta bi Tahini recipe:

Ground meat: I am using ground beef which is 80% Lean and 20% fat.

Herbs: I use chopped parsley and red onion to help enhance the flavor of the kofta

White Flour (Optional): This is not needed but I sometimes use it to help bind the ground meat together when cooking in the pan.

Tahini Sauce: For making the sauce, here are the 4 ingredients you need:

• Tahini Paste
• Hot Water
• Lemon
• Salt

What to serve this Kofta with?

Traditionally, we serve this delicious baked kofta tahini with Kuboos Pita Bread and Arabic salad or any salad of your choice, like Tabbouleh salad.

Because this recipe contains a lot of sauce, you can eat it with rice which I like to serve with my homemade Middle Eastern Vermicelli rice

Step by Step Instruction

To cook this tahini kofta recipe, there are three things to do: Seasoning the Ground Meat; Making the Tahini Sauce; and Cooking & Baking.

I. Seasoning the Ground Meat

• Firstly, I combine the ground beef, chopped onion & parsley, white flour (optional), salt and black pepper into the large bowl. Use your clean hand to mix together.
• After that, I placed it in the baking pan, and use my hand to flatten the ground beef into a round layer.
• Make sure the ground beef mixture covered the entire pan since when cook it, it will shrink in size.

II. Making the Tahini Sauce

• To make the sauce, I combine the tahini paste, lemon juice, hot water, and salt in a plate bowl.
• Use the spoon to mix until it turns into a thick sauce. Once done, set it aside.

III. Cooking & Baking

• Before cooking in the gas stove, I covered it with foil. Make sure you add some holes in the foil so the steam can exit from it when cooking.
• Simmer the ground beef mixture for 10 minutes or until there is less juice.
• Pour the tahini sauce and mix gently before turning off the fire.
• Lastly, I transferred it into the oven, and broil it for 10 to 15 minutes or until the top layer became brown.
• Serve it with rice, pita bread, and salad.

Variation

Beef Kofta Kebab- This is an Arabian style Beef Kofta Kebab Recipe which is mixed with minced beef, and other spices & herbs. This recipe is cooked either in the oven or charcoal grill. It doesn't contain any sauce but it is served with yogurt garlic sauce.

Chicken Kafta- It is similar to beef kofta kebab but is made using ground chicken rather than beef or lamb. It is best to serve and eat with yogurt sauce and khubz / kuboos.

Chelow Kebab- This is an Iranian dish that is served with saffron added to steamed rice, grilled tomatoes, and spiced-infused ground lamb/beef kebab.

Frequently Asked Questions

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