Kafta in Tahini

Kafta in tahini sauce is a great one pot dish that comes together in no time. My version is light and zingy and won't leave you feeling heavy.

The onion and pine nuts give all kinds of savoury and you can either eat this with rice or scoop up with flat breads.

I've also posted fish in tahini and eggplant in tahini, and with this version you will be the Master of all tahini dishes.

Ingredients

My kafta recipe is also one of the most popular on our website and I will post it here again to save you opening a million pages.

I've used beef kafta here as I find it less fatty although you can use lamb or even a mixture of both.

Kafta is basically made up of:

• ground meat
• onion
• parsley

Using a food processor makes your life much easier when making kafta. Alternatively, if you live in an area with a very good Middle Eastern butcher, they can save you a lot of trouble.

Instructions

I like this recipe as it has only a few steps and takes no more than half an hour to cook once you've made the kafta. The rough steps are as follows:

Start with a large onion

Shape the kafta into golf sized balls

Sauté the kafta with the onions

Add the tahini sauce and warm through

You only need to simmer the kafta for about ten minutes and you're done.

Storage

You can store this dish in the fridge for up to three days. You can also freeze for a few months.

To heat up the next day, you might need to add a splash of water. Ten minutes on low heat should be enough to revitalise.

Top tips

The tahini sauce is much lighter than the one for sandwiches as it will thicken when cooked, and even more when cooled.

This means that it will take slightly longer to come together, just keep stirring stirring vigorously for about five minutes until it combines and doesn't look split.

If you don't make sure the sauce is combined before you add to the kafta, it will then split and separate when you cook and look wrong, so don't lose patience.

Lightly toast the pine nuts before you start so they'll be ready to sprinkle on at the end.

The absolute most important part of this dish is to make sure the sauce is lemony and not dull. I used two whole lemons and you can even squeeze a bit more at the end.

📖 Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Print

Kafta in tahini

Kafta in a light tahini sauce topped with pine nuts

Course Main Course

Cuisine Lebanese

Keyword Comfort food, Dinner Party, Homemade

Cook Time 30 minutes

Servings 4

Author Zaatar and Zaytoun

Ingredients

For the kafta

• 500 g ground beef
• 1 medium onion
• handful of parsley approx 1 cup
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon seven spice
• ¼ teaspoon salt (good pinch)

For the tahini sauce

• ½ cup tahini
• ½ cup lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1 cup water
• ½ teaspoon salt

Other

• 1 large onion sliced into ribbons
• handful pine nuts

Instructions

To make the kafta

1. In a food processor, finely chop the onion and parsley
2. Add the ground beef, spices, salt to the parsley and onions and run through the food processor until it clumps together
3. Using your hands, pinch off a section and roll into golf sized balls

4. In a pan, sauté the sliced onions and sauté in a good drizzle of mild olive oil until golden

5. Add the kafta balls to the onions and brown, turning gently for about five minutes

To make the tahini sauce

1. In a bowl add the water, tahini, lemon juice and salt and stir vigorously until well combined. Be patient and keep stirring, adding a little extra tahini if it needs
2. Taste the tahini sauce if it needs any extra lemon, salt or water. The consistency should be not be too thick
3. Pour the tahini sauce on the kafta balls and increase the heat to medium until it starts to boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for around ten minutes

To assemble the dish

1. In a non stick pan, lightly toast the pine nuts for a few minutes and sprinkle over the kafta when done
2. Serve with rice or flatbreads

Recipe Video

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