Moroccan Lamb Kefta

Let's explore the world of food and spices. You'll impress your family and friends with this delicious entree. This is extremely easy to make and it's about the spices and textures. If you can make a meatball, you can make a kefta.

In Morroco, this sausage shaped ground lamb kabob is considered a street food. They can be prepared ahead of time and cooked on a grill when ready to eat. The kefta is a distant cousin to a meatball, but instead of the round ball shape, it's shaped into brochettes around a skewer.

In different regions, this could be called kefta or kofta. The Moroccan kefta is full of fresh herbs and served with a minty yogurt sauce for dipping. I like to take short cuts where I can and use a combined McCormick Moroccan Spice mixture. Not only is it less expensive but it's so much easier.

If you want to use individual spices, you will need: 2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 ground mace, 1/2 tsp coriander, and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.

Another great tip, is to boil the couscous in Herbox Chicken Granulated Bouillon. I use this to start chicken soup, homemade chicken dumplings, etc. Any dish that requires all day boiled chicken taste, can be achieved with this granulated bouillon. This is a great addition to your pantry!

Let's get cooking, you'll need: Serves 4

Kefta:

1 lb ground lamb

2 tsp McCormick Moroccan Seasoning

2 tbsp. chopped fine fresh parsley

1 tbsp chopped fine fresh mint

1/4 onion chopped

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 egg

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

lemon wedges for garnish

Yogurt Sauce:

1 cup whole milk yogurt

2 tbsp heavy cream

1 tbsp fresh chopped mint

1/4 tsp ground dry mint

1 tsp fresh chopped parsley

1/4 cucumber, seeded and grated

Couscous:

1 cup dry Roland Israeli Couscous

2 cups boiling water

1 tbsp Herbox Granulated Chicken Bouillon

1 tsp ground parsley

salt and pepper to taste

When preparing the kefta, combine all the ingredients in one bowl. The goal is to use as little breadcrumbs as possible. You want the meat to hold together but don't want to hide the natural lamb taste. I use metal skewers but you can use wooden ones. If you choose wooden ones, make sure you soak them for at least 4 hours before using. That will make the skewers water logged and reduce the chance of them catching on fire when grilling. Once combined, shape the meat onto the end of the skewer into a sausage shape. Pack it as firmly as possible and refrigerate for 1 hour before grilling.

Yogurt sauce can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. This will allow all the flavors to marry together and become herbaceous.

To prepare the Roland Israeli Couscous and add the Herbox Granulated Chicken Bouillon to the water that you are going to boil the couscous in. This is an old trick that has been passed on to me from a friend's Zaydeh (Grandmother in Yiddish). Makes sense, she said, "the flavor of the chicken is infused into the couscous as it's cooking." This is a wonderful suggestion and I do this also when I make noodles for chicken soup to enhance the chicken flavor.

Once cooked, allow the couscous to cool a little before you add the fresh herbs. The parsley will wilt and get soggy if you put them in the hot couscous. This is a great side dish for lamb or chicken. By adding browned mushroom and a splash of Marsala Wine, you can service this couscous with any beef entree. This is another staple for my pantry.

If you're not familiar with couscous, it's dried pearls of toasted pasta. Consider Pastina, which is star shape, on steroids and it becomes a pellet shape like barley. I'm sure that description gave you a vivid picture in your mind, probably one you'll never forgot. Pastina on steroids!

Time to get grilling. You have to make sure your grill is screaming hot before you put your skewers down. I used a stove top grill and made sure my exhaust fan is on. Your goal is to create a hard sear on the outside of the lamb, which may make a smoke condition in your kitchen. This can be done on an outside grill but watch for flare ups. Lamb tends to be very fatty and will make a mess of your grill.

This picture may seem a little foggy. It's not, that's the smoke rising from the kefta. Here's the smoke condition we spoke of and I used my exhaust fan.

My husband, who eats nothing out of the norm, loved this lamb. I told him they were lamb kabobs with pearl pasta on the side. It's our secret that it was Moroccan Lamb Kefta with couscous! It's called creative cooking to expand our pallet to new exciting spices and flavors, not lying. Little white lies do not count in the kitchen, you know like telling the kids there's no veggies in their food.

I hope you enjoyed our exciting Moroccan meal and travel with me to our next tasty location.