LAMB KOFTAS WITH GREEK SALAD AND TZATZIKI

There are koftas, and then there are KOFTAS. We’ve teamed up with Try Lamb to dream up the latter! Minced lamb is blended with vibrant herbs, fragrant spices and loads of garlic before being skewered and grilled to juicy meatball perfection. The koftas are served with a creamy tzatziki, crisp salad and pita breads to soak up any leftover goodness.

Ingredients

300 g Greek yoghurt

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

5 sprigs dill

500 g lamb mince

1 tbsp oregano

1 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground allspice

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 brown onion

2 cloves garlic

1/2 bunch parsley

1/4 bunch mint

1 tbsp olive oil

1 green pepper

1 red onion

4 plum tomatoes

1 cucumber

50 g kalamata olives

1 tsp dried oregano

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

200 g feta,

8 pita breads

8 metal skewers

Method

Line a colander with muslin cloth. Coarsely grate the cucumber into the cloth, then wrap it up and gently squeeze over a bowl. Keep the cucumber in the cloth and leave it in the fridge until needed.
Tip the yoghurt into a bowl and grate in the garlic. Stir in the oil and vinegar with a pinch of salt and leave in the fridge until needed.
Throw the lamb mince into a food processor and add the oregano, paprika, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, allspice and cayenne pepper. Peel and coarsely grate the onion. Peel and finely grate the garlic. Roughly chop the parsley and the mint. Add everything to the food processor and pulse until everything comes together and the meat is slightly pasty but not overworked.
Divide the mix into 8 balls and mould them around the skewers into sausage shapes about 10cm in length. Transfer them to a tray and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
De-seed and dice the pepper into 2cm chunks. Peel and very finely slice the red onion. Cut the tomatoes into 6 wedges each. Halve the cucumbers lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and slice into 1cm thick half-moons. Throw all of these into a large mixing bowl with the olives, dried oregano, olive oil, vinegar and a generous pinch of salt. Roughly crumble in the feta and gently mix it all together. Set aside until needed.
Put a griddle pan over a high heat and let it preheat for 2-3 minutes until smoking hot. Rub the koftas in the oil and place them into the griddle pan (you may have to do this in batches). Cook for 2-3 minutes, until you get black grill lines. Turn 90 degrees and repeat to get crossed lines, then flip the koftas and repeat all over.
Finely chop the dill for the tzatziki. Grab the garlic yoghurt and grated cucumber from the fridge. Tip the cucumber into the yoghurt, add the dill and stir well.
Serve the koftas with the salad, tzatziki and flatbreads. Serves 4