Beef kofta with raita

Serves:

Ingredients

• half a cup loosely packed fresh continental parsley leaves
• half   cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves
• 1 onion, quartered
• 500g lean beef mince
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground mild paprika
• half a teaspoon ground allspice
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 metal or wooden skewers

Raita

• 200mL set low-fat natural yoghurt
• 1 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and finely chopped
• half a  teaspoon ground cumin
• olive oil spray

Method

Line a large baking tray with foil. Place parsley, fresh coriander and onion in the bowl of a food processor, whiz until finely chopped.

Add mince and spices and whiz until well combined and smooth.

Divide the mince mixture into eight equal portions. Use your hands to mould the mixture around a skewer into a sausage shape.

Place on the prepared tray and repeat with remaining beef mixture and skewers.

To make the raita, combine the yoghurt, cucumber and cumin in a small bowl and set aside.

Preheat grill to medium-high. Spray the kofta with olive oil and cook under the grill until browned (3-4 minutes).

Turn carefully and cook for another 3-4 minutes or until browned and cooked through.

Serve kofta with steamed rice and raita side dish.

Notes:

The easiest way to deseed cucumbers is to cut them in half lengthways and use a teaspoon to scoop out the seeds.

Fussy eaters, like mine, will be apoplectic at the sight of green bits and possibly by the spices in the koftas.

For my kids, I set aside a quarter of the mince, squirted in a tablespoon of tomato sauce, mixed it up and made two very plain and boring, but happily eaten, koftas. Although my son did point out that they looked like poo, which is true, but does not make for great dinner conversation!

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Serving Suggestions

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