This Lamb Koftas recipe is a family favourite of ours. Lamb mince is a tasty way to get in a serve of red meat (for iron, zinc, potassium, B12 and B6), but I think it’s the novelty of skewered meat that makes this dish fun to eat. With tasty meat on a stick and lots of colour, I hope this dish becomes one of your family favourites too! If you’ve got an extra pair of hands in the kitchen to mix the slaw and tzatziki while you watch the lamb koftas cook, you can have dinner on the table in well under an hour.

Lamb Koftas with Purple Slaw and Tzatziki

My method cooks the koftas in a frying pan for 10-12 minutes but you could also cook them in the oven. Spray (or brush) a baking tray with olive oil and arrange the kofats with a little space between each one. Bake in a preheated oven on 180C for 7 minutes, turn over and bake for another 3 minutes or until cooked to your liking.

Ingredients

Serves 4

12 kebab sticks

Lamb Koftas
½ cup rolled oats
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
½ cup parsley, stems removed
500g lamb mince
1 egg
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 tablespoons tomato paste

Tzatziki
¼ Lebanese cucumber, grated
½ cup natural or Greek yoghurt
2 cloves garlic, crushed

Purple Slaw
1 red capsicum, seeds removed finely sliced
1 yellow capsicum, seeds removed and finely sliced
1 small bulb fennel, finely shredded
¼ red cabbage, finely shredded
2 tablespoons parsley, stems removed and chopped
Juice half a lemon

Extra virgin olive oil spray
4 wholemeal Lebanese flat breads

How to

1. Soak the skewers in a large pan of water for 30 minutes to prevent burning.
2. To make the koftas, add the oats, spring onions, garlic and parsley to a food processor and blend well until fine chopped. Add the mine, egg, spices and tomato paste and blitz again until well combined.
3. Form form thick sausages out of the mince by rolling between clean hands. Poke a kebab stick through one end up the middle of each kofta. Place on a plate lined with baking paper and refrigerate for 20 minutes before cooking.
4. To make the tzatziki, squeeze the grated cucumber in clean hands over the sink to remove excess water.
5. Put the drained cucumber in a small bowl and add the garlic and yoghurt. Mix to combine and refrigerate until needed.
6. To make the slaw, combine the capsicums, cabbage, chopped parsley and lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix well to rub the lemon juice into the cabbage to tenderize it. Refrigerate until needed.
7. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat and lightly spray with olive oil.
8. Add the koftas, taking care not to over crowd the pan. You may need to cook in 2 or 3 batches.
9. Turn often for 10-12 minutes or until cooked through.
10. Serve three koftas with a Lebanese flat bread, some slaw and a generous dollop of tzatziki.

Of course, you can swap the herbs and spices for your favourites and make this dish suit what you already have in the pantry!

Sarah Moore is a mum, and university qualified Registered Nutritionist with a decade of experience working with families to improve their health and well-being. Sarah has a simplistic and practical approach to family nutrition and can help the overwhelm of eating and living well with private consultations, email Q&A and her school lunchbox ebook. You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram for more healthy tips and tricks.