LAMB KOFTE BURGERS & FETA FRIES

She's not pretty but she is TASTY. Jam packed with flavour, the lamb kofte is arguably my favourite food that looks like exactly the same on the way out. A couple of kofte in a brioche bun with creamy tzatziki and a very lightly pickled red slaw, accompanied by some salty feta fries. Yes please, that sounds nice.

30-40 Minitz

Ingredients

(To Feed 4)

FOR THE KOFTE
500g Lamb Mince
A White Onion
2 Cloves Garlic
A Handful of Flat Leaf Parsley
Tablespoon Oregano
Half Tablespoon Dried Mint
2 Teaspoons Cumin
Teaspoon Chilli Flakes
Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
Teaspoon Sumac
Salt & Pepper
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil (To Fry In)

FOR THE TZATZIKI
‍Half a big Cucumber
Juice of Half a Lemon
A Clove of Garlic
Pinch of Salt
4-5 Tablespoons Greek Yoghurt
Teaspoon Dried Mint

FOR THE FETA FRIES
Four Big Handfuls of Frozen French Fries
Tablespoon Smoked Paprika
Tablespoon Oregano
Salt & Pepper
150g Feta Cheese

FOR THE SLAW
Half a Red Cabbage
A Red Onion
Juice of a Whole Lemon
Pinch of Salt and Pepper
‍
4 Brioche Buns

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 190ºC with a big tray inside. Prep your kofte mix. We're making a big old meaty ball from which to create our little turd shaped meaty balls. Get your onion and garlic pieces peeled and then use a box grater to grate them down until you have a nice wet oniony-garlicky mulch. Slap this in a bowl. Finely chop up a big handful of fragrant flat leaf parsley and stick that into your bowl as well. Add your lamb mince. Add in all your herbs and spices and season with salt and pepper as well. Mix that all together with your hands. Until its a large brain shape of flavoursome meat. Make sure your hands are clean before doing this, and obviously wash them afterwards as they'll be covered in raw meat smell.
Get your chips onto the hot tray from the oven. Season them with your paprika, oregano and a good bit of salt and pepper. Shimmy them about so they're all coated. Whack these into the oven for about 25-30 mins if you want them nice and crispy. I like them nice and crispy.
Prepare your tzatziki. This recipe has been perfected so I hope you enjoy it. Slice your cucumber down the middle lengthways. You need to use a teaspoon to scrape out the seedy part. It's too wet and we don't need it. Discard it in a compost bin or feed it to a sibling. Use a box grater to grate the remaining cucumber. Get this grated cucumber in your hands and squeeze out the excess moisture over the sink. This is a very important step as we don't want a wet and runny tzatziki. Stick this less wet grated cucumber into a bowl and hit it with a pinch of salt. Add your yoghurt, your dried mint and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon. Give it a big mix and set aside for creating your burgers.
The slaw is very simple. Slice your red cabbage into thin strips and do the same with your red onion. Get that into a bowl and hit it with a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper noir. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon, but beware the pips! We don't want those pips in there. Mix that all together with your fingers and set aside.
Kofte time. Get an oven tray out and line with tin foil. Heat a bit of olive oil in a pan. Fashion your kofte by taking a small handful of your meaty mixture and rolling it into a little chunky sausage shape. Whack this into your hot oil and fry, shimmying a bit to get all sides, and repeat in batches of about 4 as we don't want to overcrowd the pan. When they've had about 4 minutes sizzling and browning up you can pop them on your foiled tray. You should get about 10 kofte out of this and when they're ready pop them in the oven with the fries for the final 10 minutes.
Slice your brioche buns in half and toast them lightly in a pan. I burnt mine but you should try not to burn yours. Low heat for a minute or so should do it. When your chips and kofte are ready to go, get them out of the oven. Crumble your feta over the fries and shake them about. Slop some tzatziki on the bottom bun, pop a couple of kofte down, a little more tzatziki, a fistful of slaw, maybe some more tzatziki and then stick the lid on. Serve with your fantastic feta fries. As I said, it's not a pretty dish, but it is really tasty.