Kafta in tomato sauce
[Kafta:ma:saucit:il:banadura]
"Brrruuuuurrrrrröööörrrroooorrrrööörrr!!!!"
My stomach and I... our relationship is intimate.
We get along really well by now.
"Brruuuurrrrrröörrrroorröörr!!"
"Shhhht, it's okay!"
Kafta in tomato sauce is something for the bear's appetite!
For those who don't know what kafta is: kafta is not köfte 😀
But kafta is very similar to köfte. Minced meat with onions, spices and parsley - that's kafta. The great thing about it is that it is very easy to prepare and can be done very quickly. Kafta is easy to prepare and can be stored in the fridge until needed. And you can do so many delicious things with kafta.
But kafta also tastes fantastic in a down-to-earth tomato sauce! Especially in simple dishes with few ingredients, a lot depends on the quality of the ingredients. You can make a tomato sauce or you can make an excellent tomato sauce. The ingredients can be the same, but the quality is completely different. In Lebanon, there are many dishes that consist of very few ingredients, just take baba ghanoush or hummus. And the better the quality of the ingredients, the better the food tastes - but you probably already know that.
Since the meatballs are cooked in the sauce, you save a lot of fat - but not the taste. The flavours of the tomato sauce and the kafta balls then blend and harmonise very well with each other. And when you serve the dish steaming, there's a little surprise on top!
While the meatballs are cooking in the tomato sauce, I quickly mix a simple cream of tahini, water and lemon juice and chop some fresh parsley and mint. Both are then added as toppings when serving.
I always eat pita bread as a side dish, sometimes also rice. My mother used to bake the pita bread herself - so in addition to this delicious dish, I also had the most delicious pita bread in the world, which I always used to wipe the plate completely clean with.
And my stomach... it was happy and always is when there is kafta with tomato sauce.
Recipe for Kafta in tomato sauce
Ingredients
For the cafta
For the tomato sauce
For the tahini cream
- 10 Tablespoon Tahini
- 10 Tablespoon Water
- 1/2 Lemon
- 1 teaspoon Salt
For garnishing
- 1 Handful parsley
- 1 small handful fresh mint
As a side dish
- Butter rice, pita bread or fresh baguette
Preparation
Preparation kafta balls
- Prepare kafta according to recipe, shape into balls and set aside.
Preparation tomato sauce
- Peel and chop the onion and garlic.
- Heat olive oil in a saucepan and sauté onion and garlic over medium heat (optional: sauté chili as well).
- When the onions are translucent, add the tomato paste and fry briefly.
- Now deglaze everything with water and add the strained tomatoes.
- Season the sauce with salt, pepper, cinnamon and thyme and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
- Stir in the lemon juice and add the raw kafta balls to the sauce.
- Put the lid on the pot and let the kafta balls cook in the sauce for about 15 minutes over medium heat.
Preparation tahini cream
- Meanwhile, mix the tahini, lemon juice, salt and water to make a creamy sauce.
To serve
- Wash and chop the parsley and mint and mix together.
- Once the kafta balls are cooked in the sauce, divide them with sauce among the plates.
- Put a good dollop of the creamy tahini sauce on each plate and top everything with the chopped herbs.
Notes
Nutritional values
Have you taken a liking to the kafta balls? Then try the kafta in yogurt sauce with butter rice. Or do you need more comfort food right now? Then I recommend Cheese Perlcouscous with Kafta and Chili Butter.
Hello Rafik! Again, it was my lovely wife who found this recipe on your blog, which we love so much. We made the meatballs with beef and I must admit that we 'saved' the tahini cream. But not the Lebanese pita bread to go with it :-). This recipe, like the others we have made from your blog, was wonderful! The cinnamon adds another special touch!
Hello Michi,
Many love. Thanks for your great feedback! I'm very pleased that you're cooking your way through my blog 🙂
Kind regards
Rafik