Cooking Together Middle Eastern Recipes – Kofta; Saffron Chicken;

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Cooking Together Middle Eastern Recipes

Our cooking together cookery classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your class and are ready to recreate the dishes at home.

You Cooked:

Lamb Koftas – Starter

Ingredients – serves 2

  • 120g lamb mince
  • Teaspoon each of cumin powder, coriander powder, and ground cinnamon
  • Small handful of fresh coriander, extra for garnish
  • Salt & Pepper

Minty Yoghurt

  • 250g Greek yoghurt 
  • Handful mint leaves
  • 1 clove of garlic, minced

Veggie Version

  • Replace the mince with drained and crushed chickpeas

Method

  1. Mix all the kofta ingredients together thoroughly. This is the same for the lamb or chickpea version.
  2. Shape by hand – you can do long and thin sausage/ kebab style, or roll into balls and flatten into patties.
  3. To make the yoghurt – fine slice the mint, add seasoning and garlic. Mix all together. 

To Cook

  1. Use a griddle pan ideally, although a frying pan is fine.
  2. Heat to high, then brown each side of the kofta, you want a bit of charring. 
  3. Serve with some fresh coriander garnish and the minty yoghurt on the side.

Shirazi Salad – Starter

Ingredients – serves 2

  • Fresh Parsley, Coriander, Mint and Chives
  • 1/2  a small red onion finely diced
  • 1/3 cucumber diced
  • 4 or 5 cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 radishes sliced
  • Splash of olive oil
  • Pomegranate seeds
  • Juice 1/2 lemon
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Sumac – pinch to taste, adds a citrus flavour

Method

  1. Rip up your herbs (or rough chop, especially the chives)
  2. Mix all together, then add the lemon juice, olive oil, seasoning and sumac – taste, adjust, serve!

Khobz Flatbread – Starter

Ingredients – Makes 4

  • 175ml of warm water (might need a little bit more, depending on strength of your flour)
  • 1/2tsp of fast action dried yeast
  • 1tbsp of olive oil
  • 300g strong white bread flour (plus extra for dusting)
  • 1tsp of caster sugar
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1tsp Za’atar (optional)

Method

  1. Pour the water into a mixing bowl, stir in the yeast until dissolved.
  2. Add the oil, flour, sugar, salt, and zaatar. Mix everything and form a quite firm dough, adding more water if too dry, more flour if too wet.
  3. Leave for 10 minutes covered before kneading it until smooth.
  4. Transfer into a floured bowl, cover and leave to proof for 60 minutes.
  5. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and shape into balls.
  6. Cover the balls and rest for 10 minutes.
  7. Flour the surface and roll them about 1 cm thick.
  8. Cover the rolled flatbread and rest for another 10 minutes.
  9. Meanwhile, place a non-stick frying pan on medium to high heat and get it smoking hot.
  10. Place one or two flatbread at time into your pan and cook on each side for roughly 2 minutes.
  11. Good indicator, when to flip, is if start seeing bubbles on top.
  12. Get a clean tea towel and stack your flatbreads in it and wrap tightly.
  13. Rest in the towel for 5 minutes, this will soften the flatbreads.

Saffron Chicken – Main

Ingredients – Serves 2:

  • – saffron – 1 pinch
  • – Juice of 1 lemon
  • – 2 cloves of garlic. minced
  • – 2tbsp of yoghurt
  • – 1tsp of madras curry spice
  • – Salt & Pepper
  • – Chicken, four boneless thighs

For Veggie Version

  • – 1/2 cauliflower cut into steaks

Method:

  1. Mix the yoghurt, saffron, madras, garlic and lemon juice. Add salt and pepper Taste and adjust accordingly.  Smear all over the chicken. Set to one side for a while or even cover and fridge overnight.
  2. Use a frying pan, heat to high and make sure you get plenty of colour on your chicken.  You can then pop the whole pan into the oven for about 20-25 minutes at 200C– always check juices are clear before serving chicken.

Batata Hara – Main

Ingredients – Serves 2:

  • – About 300g new potatoes 
  • – 3 tbsp olive oil
  • – 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • – 1 tsp coriander powder
  • – 1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, more for later
  • – 2 tsp ground turmeric
  • – 1 lime, juice of
  • – 1 cup chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • – 1 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
  • – 1 cup chopped fresh dill
  • – Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Place potatoes in a large pot with enough water to cover them. Bring to a boil and let them cook in the boiling water for 10 minutes or so. The potatoes should be cooked through but still firm.
  2. Drain the potatoes and let them cool briefly. Cut the potatoes in half or bite-size  pieces.
  3. Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium. Stir in the garlic, red pepper flakes and coriander powder. Cook for 2-3 minutes then add the turmeric and the lime juice.
  4. Toss in the potatoes and mix well to coat. Add ½ of the fresh coriander, parsley, and fresh dill. Cook for 4 more minutes. Add salt and black pepper to your taste.
  5. Remove from heat and top with more red pepper flakes and the remaining fresh herbs. You can serve this potato salad warm or at room temperature.

Moroccan Cherry Tomato Sauce – Main

Ingredients – Serves 4-6

  • – 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • – 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
  • – 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1 tsp
  • – 1 red chilli, chopped
  • – 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste plus a pinch of sugar
  • – 1 can of chopped tomatoes
  • – 2 cups cherry tomatoes or a similar amount of chopped tinned tomatoes
  • – 1/4 cup water or more as needed
  • – 2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
  • – ½ tsp of palm sugar
  • – 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
  • – 1/4 teaspoon cumin
  • – 1tsp of pepper flakes (Turkish)

Method:

  1. Heat oil in a medium pan. Sauté onions for 4-6 minutes until tender and lightly browned. Add garlic, spices, tomato paste (with a pinch of sugar). Stir and cook for 1 minute.
  2. Add cherry tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, chilli and water. Bring to a boil. Then lower heat to simmer, stirring occasionally. The total time will be about 10 minutes, after 5 minutes, help burst tomatoes by gently pressing with a spatula or large spoon to burst them (careful not to squirt yourself).
  3. Stir in sweet drop peppers and coriander. Continue cooking until tomatoes form a sauce of the consistency you like. More cooking will make it thicker. Add more water to thin it out if needed. Taste and adjust seasonings e.g., more salt, sugar.
Dessert Recipes

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