Name: Turkish kofte
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: turkish
Ingredients: ground beef — 600 g; onion — 1 pcs; garlic — 2 clove; crustless white bread — 60 g; parsley — 15 g; ground cumin — 1 tsp; ground paprika — 1 tsp; vegetable oil — 2 tbsp; salt — 1 tsp; ground black pepper — 0.5 tsp

How to cook

Onion

Grate the onion on a fine grater and squeeze out the juice — too much liquid stops the kofte holding their shape. Grate the garlic too and finely chop the parsley.

Bread

Soak the bread in water for a couple of minutes, squeeze it out and crumble.

Ground meat

Combine the beef, onion, garlic, bread, parsley, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper in a bowl. Knead with your hands for 5 minutes until sticky and smooth.

Long kneading is the secret — skip it and the kofte will crumble in the pan.

Resting

Cover the bowl with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.

Shaping

With wet hands, shape the mixture into oval patties 7–8 cm long and 1.5 cm thick.

Frying

Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Fry the kofte for 4–5 minutes on each side until browned and cooked through.

Cut one open: the meat inside should show no pink and the juices should run clear.

Serving

Transfer to a platter and serve hot with bulgur or rice and fresh vegetables. Done!