Lamb koftas with pomegranate jam
I made these years ago when I first saw the Ottolenghi recipe and was blown away by the combination of flavours. I’ve served it here with the mango salsa I am currently obsessed with alongside pea shoots and chard leaves but it works very well stuffed in a warm pitta! These amounts are for two people.
Step 1 - Pomegranate jam
Remove the seeds from a the pomegranate and place in a small pan with the lemon juice, sugar and chilli flakes.
Heat until it thickens to a warm jam consistency (it will be thicker when it cools), which will take around 20 minutes.
Pour into a serving dish and set aside.
Step 2 - Koftas
Heat the seed spices in a small frying pan to lightly toast and then crush in a pestle and mortar.
Mix all the spices with the lamb mince and beat in a food mixer with dough hook attachment for 15 min.
When you meat has been well beaten, mix together with the onion, garlic and parsley, cover and refrigerate for 10 min.
Heat the oven to 200 C.
Whisk the tahnini paste with water until it has a double cream consistency and pour into a serving jug.
Heat a griddle pan until it smokes. Roll the meat mix into kofta balls and char the balls in batches before transferring to an oven dish and roasting for 8 minutes to finish.
Serve drizzled with the tahini and pomegranate jam.
Ingredients
1 medium pomegranate
35g caster sugar
Juice of half a lemon
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp mixed spice
400g lamb mince
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
10g parsley, finely chopped
60g tahini paste
1 tbsp coriander leaves, chopped
