Shish kebabs & kofta…

I may be going out on a limb here, but when people hear the word shish kebab, they think of thin skewers with chunks of beef with peppers, onions, and other veggies. Am I right? 

I watch a lot of international cooking and traveling programs on TV. There are so many different series and shows to watch it’s staggering. I love the ones that showcase street food around the world. Some shows focus on the street food vendors and people who work at hawker stands for generations. 

Watching shows about cooking and different cultures inspires me to do research and search for recipes. Next, I decide what I’d like to try making, then hunt down the ingredients I’ll need. Sometimes I need to invest in kitchenware goods.

I made chicken shawarma a couple of months ago and wrote about it on my blog. It was delicious and tasted very close to the shawarma I had in Montreal. 

I wanted to make more Middle Eastern cuisine; this time I was going to make kofta. Kofta is a type of kebab with ground meat instead of chunks. 

The direct translation of shish kebab is “shish,” which means sword, and “kebab,” which means meat. So meat cooked on a sword. How cool! 

As long as there has been fire, people have poked holes in their food with whatever they had and cooked it over an open fire. It’s the most primal way to cook. 

I’ve made regular shish kebabs plenty of times; in fact, I did just a few Saturdays ago. The concept of kofta, forming ground meat on a sword or a one-inch wide skewer, intrigued me. I needed to make them. 

We found the one-inch sword-style kebab skewers on Amazon. I read up on what to do, the next thing I had to decide on was what kind of kofta I was going to make. 

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Almost every country and culture have its own versions of kebabs and koftas. I had to pick from Turkish, Persian, Moroccan, Lebanese, Indian, Pakistan. The list goes on and on. 

Next, I had to chose what kind of meat I wanted to use. Ground beef, lamb, chicken, or pork. I picked beef. The herbs and spices used in the different recipes from country to country were similar yet very different. I finally picked a recipe and went with it. 

I knew from my research that the meat should be mixed and chilled for several hours. The meat will adhere to the sword skewer easier if everything, including your hands, is cold. 

I followed the recipe, and we fired up the grill. Marty helped me since it seemed to be a two-person ordeal, especially when we were making kofta.

We didn’t initially lay the skewers on the grill grate because I wasn’t sure if they would stick. However, we found out quickly that the meat almost fell off the skewers with no safety net over the hot coals. Shit!

We put the grill grate on the grill, and it worked like a charm. The aroma was so exotic and smelled delicious. Noah was here for Father’s Day dinner, watching everything take place. 

Between you and me, I think he was unsure of what to expect and was dreading dinner. We decided if it sucked, I would make chicken. 

We kept rotating the kofta to get an even cook on the meat. We didn’t want to have them raw in the center or overcooked and dry. So we went with our gut when to pull them off. 

Earlier in the day, I made a Middle Eastern potato salad which was very lemony. I also made whole roasted Moroccan carrots. I found hundreds of recipes for kofta dipping sauces but made a tahini yogurt one.

Noah didn’t know what to make of the food. I put some meat on his plate and threw caution to the wind. Marty and I tasted the kofta and said, “Wow! What a flavor punch in the mouth.” The kofta was still juicy and really delicious. The sauce I made complimented the meat beautifully. 

The Moroccan carrots were also a home run. I will make this style of carrots from now on. I can already imagine all the different herbs and spices I could use to complement different proteins. Finally, the potato salad was meh. It was ok, but I’d make something different next time, like jeweled rice or gluten-free couscous.

I watched Noah take a nibble. Then a bite. Then he took some sauce and another bite. This was my picky eater as a kid, so this made my heart very happy to see him eat the meal. After we were done eating, Noah said the meal was flavors he never experienced before and liked it. He was happy he got to try something new. Yes! 😃

We had leftover kofta that Sam had the next day before his overnight shift at the hospital, and he liked it too. 

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Today I heated the leftover kofta, then thinly sliced it like gyro meat. Then, I made a wrap (gluten-free) with the meat, tahini sauce, thinly sliced baby cucumbers, and lettuce. It was even better than the original meal. 

Marty said after lunch that this was not food you eat at home; it was restaurant or food truck food. That, my friends, is exactly what I was going for! ✔️

The next time I make kofta, I will chill the meat mixture and put the skewers in the freezer for a few minutes to get them super cold. After that, they will go in the fridge until the fire is scorching, and we will use the grill grate right away. 

We live in a food desert here in Southern Vermont with very few choices of ethnic cuisine. I love trying all different kinds of ethnic foods. Like everything else, if we want to try something, I make it—end of story. 

Grilling season is upon us. I don’t really expect anyone to go online and order sword skewers like I did to make kofta. But…you can make kofta patties like a burger and get the same flavor and idea.

If your family is courageous when it comes to food, or if you are sick of eating the same old shit, try it. As a side note, I wanted to include that every time I wanted to type “shish,” my autocorrect changed it to shitshow! LOL!

Below is the recipe I used:

https://www.billyparisi.com/middle-eastern-kofta-kebab-recipe/