Summer Turkey Kofte

We’ve chatted about köfte here before (see our post for Sultan Selim Kofte). Usually they are made from lamb and/or beef, but really köfte can be anything. The origin of the word is from the classic Persian, meaning “to pound” or “to grind.” This obviously describes the ground meat, but really works for many other ingredients. We’re having steaks tomorrow night (a new attempt – in the cast iron skillet, on the grill!) and didn’t want red meat two nights in a row, so we thought we’d try our hand at some white meat köftes.

With the lighter turkey and the addition of the cilantro, these were a perfect summer dinner. They’re so flavorful, that when I was eating them it actually took me a minute to remember that they were turkey instead of a heartier meat. We grilled ours for ultimate summer-ness, but they would work well in a pan or under a broiler I suspect. There is a lot of delicious juice, so you want something to soak it all up. We had ours with flatbread, which was perfect for mopping up the plate, but rice or couscous would be great too.

Side note: You may notice in our pictures that we skewered ours on the grill. This is definitely unnecessary and probably hurt us a little bit. Next time I’ll put them directly on the grill. 

Summer Turkey Kofte

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb ground turkey (85/15)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp sumac
• 1 tbsp Aleppo pepper
• 1/4 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 turns fresh ground black pepper

Instructions: 

1. Combine all of the ingredients together. Can be done ahead of time and refrigerated for enhanced flavor melding.
2. Get you grill ready or place a grill pan over medium-high heat.
3. Form oblong köftes. Grill over medium-high heat for just 3-4 minutes on each side.
4. Serve with rice or flatbread. Hummus, veggies, feta, and/or tzatziki would go well too!

Serves 3-4