Turkish Recipes: Domates Soslu Misket Köfte

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Ahh, our love of köfte once more makes itself known on this blog.

I wonder how many times we’ve written about it now…recipes for Tekirdağ Köftesi and just good old barbecued köfte; stories of köfte appreciation in Eskişehir.

And, easily the most distinctive version we’ve tried to date, Doğubeyazıt Köftesi – that really was a find!

For this post, we’re back to the köfte recipe rather than devouring those made by other people. This recipe is a favourite in our house, Domates soslu misket köfte (köfte in a tomato stew).

And, as usual, we play around with it to suit our own taste.

A quick scan around the internet reveals others do the same so we don’t need to feel too guilty about that.

Let’s get started…

Turkish Recipe – Domates Soslu Misket Köfte

Köfte comes in all shapes and sizes and, for this recipe, ‘misket’ means your köfte is rolled into little balls. They’re usually smaller than the ones in our recipe – we like golf ball sized misket köfte.

In this recipe, we used a mixture of minced beef and lamb. You can do this or choose one of the two.

• Finely chop or grate one small (or half a large) onion and add it to 300g of minced meat.
• Now add a generous handful of breadcrumbs.
• Break one egg into the mixture.
• We’re generous with our herbs and spices at this point. Sprinkle in some cumin, chilli flakes, coriander powder, oregano, and season with salt and pepper.
• Give it all a good stir together – and then you need to get your hands dirty. Get your hands in there and knead your meat mixture for a few minutes.
• Now take small portions of the meat mixture and roll it into small rounds. You can choose how big or small to make them.
• Roll each one in a little plain flour.

For The Tomato Sauce

Again, for the tomato sauce, we tend to throw in whatever’s left over in the fridge. Green beans or peppers are a favourite.

On the day we made this particular domates soslu misket köfte, we had mushrooms and spinach in the fridge so they found themselves making up part of the stew.

• Finely chop one small onion.
• Sauté the onion in a deep pan with a glug of olive oil and, once it begins to sweat, if you’re using them, add your mushrooms / peppers / spinach.
• Stir these round for a few minutes until they begin to soften.
• Now add 2 medium-sized, chopped tomatoes (or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes) and stir.
• Add a pinch of oregano, chilli flakes, one sugar cube (half a teaspoon) and a small splash of vinegar.
• Season with salt and pepper, give the sauce a stir and leave to simmer.
• While your sauce is gently simmering, heat a large non-stick frying pan on a high heat. When it’s hot, add your misket köfte and sear on all sides so that the juices are sealed.
• Now reduce the heat to medium and saute until cooked through. (How long you need to cook them for depends on how big you make your köfte. Ours take 10-15 minutes.)

Do a taste test with your sauce and add more seasoning if needed.

You can now either add your köfte to the sauce, cover and leave to simmer for a further few minutes a further few minutes, or serve your köfte on a plate straight away and drizzle the tomato sauce over the top.

We prefer the latter because we prefer the seared texture on the outside of the köfte. Some people serve their domates soslu misket köfte with rice on the side.

If you would like to do this, click this link for our Turkish rice recipe. However, as this is one of our favourite dishes, we leave it completely as it is and savour the meaty flavours.

If you love meatballs in tomato sauce but you’d like some extra ingredients to fill it out, try making Izmir Köfte.

Find more Turkish recipes to tempt your palate…

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