The kafta mix changes from one country to another. My version is the Lebanese one. In short, kafta (also called kofte) is minced beef mixed with herbs and spices. For me, this is serious comfort food without being unhealthy! There are so many variations possible with the same mix. In this recipe, I make kebabs and grill them on the barbecue and then wrap them in tortillas. The list of ingredients may seem daunting; that’s because I’m making the tortillas and toum (garlic sauce) from scratch, which seems a lot of work but easily achievable within 45 minutes. To speed up the proceedings, you can use ready-made tortillas and Spanish aïoli (the closest you can get to Lebanese toum).

Kafta

  • 400 gr minced beef
  • 1 large onion
  • Big handful flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 heaped tablespoon 7 spices mix (see infobox below)
  • 1 teaspoons salt

Tortilla

  • 200 gr plain flour plus extra for dusting
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Parsley salad

  • 2 handfuls flat-leaf parsley
  • 2 spring onions
  • 2 tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon sumac
  • Olive oil

Toum: garlic sauce

  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 egg white
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • A good pinch of salt
  • 2 tablespoon ice water
  • 200 ml vegetable oil

Directions

  1. Start with the tortilla dough: mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add the oil and 100 ml water and knead until you get a soft dough. If it’s too dry, add a bit of water. Be careful when adding water, even the smallest drops can make a difference. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
  2. Make the toum: put the garlic cloves along with salt and 1/4 of the lemon juice in the blender. Blend on medium speed. Scrape the sides down and add the egg white and blend. Slowly add 100 ml of the oil. Reduce the speed and slowly add the rest of the lemon juice and then the rest of the oil. Add the ice water to get a creamy and light consistency.
  3. For the salad, finely chop the parsley, cut the tomatoes in small cubes and the spring onions in thin rings. Mix them together, add the sumac and olive oil and season to taste with salt.
  4. Place the meat in a food processor with the roughly chopped onions, parsley, spices and salt and whiz them until the whole gets a dough-like consistency.
  5. Divide the meat in four equal parts and shape them into thin sausages.
  6. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts and shape them into balls. Roll each ball into a thin tortilla on a well floured work area or between two baking parchments.
  7. Heat a pan. Once it’s really hot, bake them tortillas on each side until you get brown bubbles on the surface.
  8. Grill the kafta on a barbecue or a grill pan.
  9. Serve them with the tortillas, toum and salad. Enjoy!