Kraving Kebabs or Kofta

Have you ever had such a vivid dream that you thought you were elsewhere completely? I can't say that I ever have had such a dream before until recently. I dreamt that ShoJo and I were living in the Netherlands but I just couldn't figure out why we weren't traveling on day trips to neighbouring cities on my days off.

Mid way through my nap, I had to lift my eye mask to have a peek at where I was. Once I realized we weren't in the Netherlands, it explained why we haven't been traveling on day trips.

Anyway, this passed week ShoJo said that he was craving kebabs. So, I looked at him and told him we'll make them for dinner one day! We put it off a bit, but finally, I was able to whip together kebabs!

What do you picture when you think of a kebab? Do you picture pieces of meat separated between some vegetables on a skewer or do you picture ground meat on a skewer rolled out into an oblong shape?

Officially, a skewer with ground meat hugging it is actually called kofta. The word kofta, however, just means meatball in Arabic. Though, in Arabic countries, it is often not a ball shape like it is in Italian cuisine, but a log shape.

So, do you picture kofta or shish kebabs?

I picture kofta. But only because my dad called shish kebabs "stick meat" and our version of stick meat was always Indonesian saté!

Thankfully for me, ShoJo was actually raised in the Middle East, so he too pictures kofta. So, that is what we had!

We love Arabic cuisine! So much that I cannot wait to be able to travel so we can make our way to the Middle East to have authentic Arabic cuisine. Until then, I am thankful that with modern technology, we can access recipes all over the internet!

The recipe I found for the kebabs was from Delicious on a Dime and the recipe was truly wonderful. However, the recipe said that you can combine ground beef and pork, which obviously you can, though normally in Arabic countries pork is not something one can often consume. If you want to mix your ground beef with a nice and fatty ground meat, I would suggest you find yourself lamb. Lamb ground meat is certainly more expensive, but the ingredient combination would taste more authentic to cuisine of the Middle East.

If you do not have skewers, I learnt on that recipe that one does not need them to enjoy kofta.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs Ground Beef

• 1 Egg

• 1/4 cup Dried Parsley

• 1 tsp Onion Powder

• 1 tsp Garlic Powder

• 1 tsp Paprika powder

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1/2 tsp Oregano

• 1/2 tsp Cumin Powder

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and place sheet of tin foil on cookie sheet. Spray with cooking oil.

2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl using your hands

3. Gently form patties into long log shapes and place on prepared sheet

4. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until patties reach 160F, check temperature with a meat thermometer.

5. Let kofta rest for a minute or two and serve with an Arabic pita bread or rice.

If you have had any sort of Arabic meat, you know that it cannot be enjoyed without labne or a tzatziki type of yoghurt.

Now, whether you decide to make labne a day prior or decide to be quick and make a sort of tzatziki is up to you. I chose to be quick and easy.

I want to note that normally tzatziki has cucumber in it but I used all the cucumber in the side salad.

This is the recipe I followed that I didn't use cucumber in:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Plain Yoghurt

• 3 cloves, Diced

• 1/4 cup Fresh Mint, chopped

• 1 tsp Salt

• 1 tsp Oregano

Instructions:

1. Mix all ingredients and place in refrigerator until ready to serve

2. Serve and Enjoy!

Normally, you would also take a half a cucumber and chop it up or grate it. This makes it taste great and have a better consistency, but that is 100% up to you whether you do it or not. ShoJo liked our meal as is.

Mind you, next time I will use a different side salad recipe.

As you can see from this photo, I had lots of mint on hand. So, I decided to make a mojito for ShoJo as well. We have still been crazy for citrus and thus started consuming virgin mojitos too!

I found a super easy recipe for Virgin Mojitos! This recipe equals enough for one glass!

Ingredients:

• 1 Lime, juiced

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 5 Tablespoons simple syrup

• 6 mint leaves, chopped

• 1 small can soda water

• ice

Instructions:

1. If you do not have simple syrup, first make that. You will need 1 cup of water and to bring that to an ALMOST boil. Turn off heat and add in 1 cup of white sugar and stir, allowing to dissolve. Allow to cool before using.

2. Mix lime juice, sugar, simple syrup, and chopped mint to your glass. Mix well.

3. Add ice to the glass and pour soda water over.

4. Mix well with a stir stick or straw and enjoy!

We love how refreshing mojitos are! Maybe in the summer months we will be naughty and get a small bottle of rum just for this. We don't generally drink rum otherwise.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this and eventually make yourselves some delicious kofta!

Bismillah