While I tend to think of them as Israeli, versions of Kufta are known all through the Middle East and Asia. There are many similar words for the same dish, but the Persian word kofta is the origin for all of them. It simply means “ground.”
Kufta Kabob
Servings
6 Servings
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground chuck
- 1 large bunch cilantro well washed
- 1 medium onion peeled and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Put cilantro leaves, onion and garlic in the food processor and process until finely chopped.
- Add spices and pulse to mix in.
- With your hands, combine the cilantro-onion mixture with the ground chuck. Make sure it is all uniform.
- Allow the meat mixture to rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Prepare your grill to high heat.
- Take hamburger-sized amounts of meat and press them onto both sides of flat, steel skewers. Continue adding more and to even it out until the skewers are full. Make sure that the meat will fit between the grates. If it doesn’t stick well, use less meat. You want the stick to be “coated” in meat, but not so heavily that the weight of it causes it to fall off.
- Rest the skewers on the grates, over the high heat. Turn the skewers over every 10 minutes to ensure even cooking. Remove when the internal temperature of the meat is 165°F degrees.
- The meat should slide from the skewers when pushed with a fork.
- Serve with tahini and Israeli salad on laffa.
One of the advantages that ground chuck[Tzlaot] does have is a higher fat percentage than the ground beef from leaner primal cuts.(somewhere in the 15-20% range). This extra fat makes ground chuck better suited for foods made of shaped beef, like burgers or meatballs.
As with ALL leafy vegetables and also onions, they all need to be checked for bug infestation. Not too hard to do, actually quite easy. I’ve found bugs on a number of occasions on my leafy vegetables, the checkers just missed them.