Kofta stuffed with Sautéed Onions and Lentils

21 Thursday Jun 2012

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kofta served with cilantro chutney on a bed of couscous

So, I had a little bit of time in my hands today, and I thought why not indulge in my favourite hobby; which is of course cooking! I was about to make the chicken kebab which is a lot less time consuming than making this one, but I wanted to try something new. At first, I thought I would stuff a whole tomato in this kofta, but then I thought it would melt. So instead I opted to stuff with sautéed onions and green lentils. If you have a little bit of time, go ahead and make this, it makes a great presentation when guests are over. Otherwise, if you are looking for an easier chicken kebab recipe click here.

Ingredients

For the Kofta:

800 Grams Ground Chicken

2 Tbsp Garlic, minced

2 Tbsp Ginger, minced

½ Cup Onions, minced

½ Cup Fresh Coriander, minced

1 Tsp Turmeric powder

½ Tsp Chili powder

1 Tbsp Cumin powder

1 Large Egg

1 Piece of Whole-wheat bread, made into crumbs

For the stuffing:

400 grams Green lentils, cooked

1 Cup Onions, chopped into small pieces

½ Tsp Garam Masala

Salt to taste

Method:

In a bowl, combine the chicken and the rest of the kebab ingredients together.

Mix and blend the ingredients well

Set aside to marinate for at least one hour, and up to 2 days.

In a pan, heat up some oil and sauté the onions till they start to brown.

Sauté the filling ingredients

Add the lentils, garam masala, curry powder and season with salt.

Stir intermittently and gently sauté the ingredients together. Turn the heat off, once the ingredients begin to stick together.

Let the green lentil mixture cool down a bit. In the meantime, take out the kebab mixture from the fridge.

Form the kebab mixture into patties, as you would for sliders (small burgers).

Take one of the kebab patties and spoon some of the lentil mixture on top. Add another patty on top of this.

Shaping and Forming into koftas

Add the patty then close off the edges and shape into oblong/egg shapes.

(Don’t be afraid to do this, with the combination of the 2 patties and the lentil mixture, the kofta shape will turn egg shaped naturally!!)

Grease a baking pan, and place the stuffed kofta on the tray. Repeat with the rest.

Bake on 400F for 15 minutes then flip them over and bake for another 15-20 minutes.

Serve with cilantro chutney. I had some leftover filling, so I just served that with some couscous, or you could add it to a salad!