This is a Palestinian style Kafta dish that my friend Asmahan makes. I’m not sure her exact recipe, but mine tastes just like hers so it works for me:) We all love it so much, serve it with rice and salad on the side and you got an amazing dinner to serve!
What you will need:
- 1 lb and 1/2 kafta* (seasoned ground beef)
- 4 medium sized potatoes
Tahini sauce:
- 4 tbsp tahini
- 4 heaping tablespoons of plain yogurt
- juice of one whole lemon
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- salt to season
For potatoes, peel and cut into slices, pan fry in a little olive oil, just to brown the potatoes but not to cook, they will bake in the oven with the kafta. Season with salt and sprinkle some paprika for colour while pan frying.
This is an optional step, you may add the potatoes raw, but trust me this extra step makes a huge difference in the flavour, texture, and colour of the potatoes.
Prepare the tahini sauce, taste and adjust flavour to your personal liking by adding salt, lemon, or more tahini. If it’s too thick, you may add some water; the texture should be saucy. Taste it before adding to the pan to make sure you are happy with how it tastes and the consistency of the sauce.
Spoon evenly in a casserole dish, and add the meat on top. The easiest way to do that is flatten the kafta meat in the bag it comes in, then slide out of bag on top of the tahini sauce. Layer the potatoes on top and bake for 45 minutes at 350. Depending it might cook sooner or need more time depending the thickness of meat and the heat of your oven. Serve with rice and salad, enjoy!
*Kafta is a seasoned ground beef that you get at the Middle Eastern meat shop; made to order. Just ask for kafta and how many pounds of it that you want, they will make it for you. It is made with fresh parsley, onions, spices, and seasonings. You may ask for the butcher to add a little lamb if you like.
If you don’t have that available to you, you can make it yourself. Spices typically used are seven spice, cumin, salt, some people use cinnamon, you can add pepper, you can also use coriander. You may be able to find kafta seasoning at the Middle Eastern store. You can look up kafta seasoning as well for more ideas, and then just add the parsley and onion.
If you are making a larger pan, just double or triple the amount of ingredients for the tahini sauce, potatoes, and kafta. If I am having guests, I make a large pan like in the pictures. I don’t bother measuring, I just taste as I go along and add more until the pan is filled.
This is exactly how we prepare Kafta with Tahini 🙂 Looks Delicious!