Lamb kofta - love and care in one tasty cigar

Whenever I go away I always cook something for my husband so he doesn’t have to resort to takeaways. He actually has a couple of dishes he can do quite well, but I like to think that when he’s lonely and missing me terribly :) there is still the comfort of my food made for him with love.

Mostly I just go away for work for a night or two, but this time I’m going away for a week to see my family in Finland.  He comes with me every summer and really loves it, but during the winter he’s not so keen after a couple of crisp encounters with the astringent Finnish winter. I remember one Christmas when the mercury fell to around -28C. My parents have a dog and she obviously needs a bit of a walk and a visit to the loo whatever the temperature, so we decided to walk to the little shop in the village. 

Minus 28 is pretty cold but the rest of us are all used to it. My husband was clearly suffering and had his scarf wrapped around his face so that only his slightly panicked brown eyes were visible. On the way back he asked my dad why he didn’t wrap a scarf around his face. Dad looked at his son-in-law whom he affectionately calls "son of the desert", thought about the suggestion, but then just said he didn’t really see the need for it.

One of my go-to foods to cook for when I am away is lamb kofta. It’s easy for him to take from the freezer and defrost the amount that he likes. He can cook rice to go with them, or eat them in a pitta bread with salad. And I bet the homely smell and taste make him feel all warm and fuzzy! So that’s what I decided to do now. 

Lamb kofta recipe (12 pieces)

500g minced lamb

1/3 cup chopped fresh mint

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp kofta spice mix (optional)

1 tsp coriander

Pinch of cayenne pepper

2 tbsp breadcrumbs

1 egg

1 red onion

2 cloves of garlic

Salt

Blackpepper

Chop the red onion finely and mince the garlic, heat oil on pan. Soften onions and garlic in the pan slightly but don’t cook fully. Leave to cool.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients including the cooled down onions, You can leave it in the fridge for half an hour to cool, but if in a hurry you can continue immediately.

Take golf ball sized chunks of the mix and form into cigar shaped lovely lumps. I got 12 out of this, but you can make them any size you like. And you can do ball shapes if you prefer or whatever shapes you like I suppose.

If you are not keen to check the seasoning on raw meat, you can fry a little test piece and just make sure that seasoning is to your liking. 

Heat oil in a pan and fry on medium heat until lovely dark brown outside. Put on a plate covered with kitchen towel to drain.

These are also fantastic to do on the barbeque, you can mold them around skewers for easier handling on the grill.

Serve with mint-yoghurt sauce, steamed rice and a nice salad like fattoush or tabbouleh.