← Nouns Cooking · Lebanese & Turkish

Ingredients

• 500 g beef or lamb mince
• 1 small onion, grated and squeezed
• 20 g Parsley, finely chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp allspice or Lebanese seven spice
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp Salt
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• 600 g Potato, peeled and cut into 1 cm slices
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 Tomato, sliced
• 400 ml Passata
• 2 tbsp Tomato purée (paste)
• 250 ml hot water
• 2 cloves Garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp Pomegranate molasses (optional)
• 1 tsp Dried mint (optional)
• ½ tsp Salt

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Toss the potato slices with the oil and a pinch of salt, spread them on a tray and roast for 20 min until lightly golden and half-cooked.
2. Meanwhile, knead all the kafta ingredients together for 2 min until well combined, then shape into 12 flat ovals about 1.5 cm thick.
3. Brown the patties in a hot, lightly oiled frying pan for 2 min per side. They do not need to cook through yet.
4. Whisk the passata, tomato paste, hot water, garlic, pomegranate molasses, mint and salt together.
5. Arrange the potatoes, kafta and tomato slices in a baking dish, overlapping them, and pour the sauce over. Cover with foil and bake for 25 min, then uncover and bake for 10–15 min more until the sauce is bubbling and the kafta reaches 71°C (160°F).
6. Rest for 5 min and serve with vermicelli rice or warm bread to mop up the sauce.

Tips

• Grating and squeezing the onion keeps the kafta from falling apart.
• Make it ahead: the flavours are even better reheated the next day.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Falasteeni Foodie Simply Lebanese Serious Eats