I want sweet and savoury
The nutty flavour of tahini and the caramel taste of medjool dates combine with lamb to make a wonderfully warming winter dinner.
There is something wonderful about tahini. It has a velvety texture and a unique nutty flavour which will no doubt see you going back for additional helpings of the tahini sauce which accompanies the lamb koftas.
If you have never used tahini, I urge you to buy a jar of it next time you are at the supermarket. There are many uses for this condiment from spreading it on your toast with honey to baking and cooking with it.
The same goes for the medjool dates. Frightfully expensive, they are certainly not an everyday food, though they are well-worth searching out.
They are deliciously caramel in flavour and again go wonderfully in both sweet and savoury foods. The recipes below make a wonderfully warming winter dinner. I served mine with an easy carrot pilaf.
Lamb koftas with tahini sauce
Serves 4 Preparation: 15 minutes Cooking: 20 minutes
For the lamb koftas
FOOD
Warm a heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium-high heat and toast the cumin seeds until fragrant. Do the same with the coriander before putting both spices into a mortar and pestle and grinding finely.
Put these spices along with the remaining ingredients into a bowl and using clean wet hands, mix together until incorporated. Form the spiced lamb mixture into egg shaped-balls. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan and cook the koftas in batches until browned on all sides and cooked through. This will take about 10 minutes or so. Add more oil if necessary.
While the koftas are cooking, put the yoghurt, lemon juice and tahini into a small bowl, season with sea salt and mix to combine. Serve the koftas with the tahini sauce, beetroot salad and rice or flatbreads.
Beetroot and date salad
Serves 4 Preparation: 10 minutes Cooking: 0 minutes
medium red onion, halved, finely sliced 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 1 large beetroot (about 350g) 100g medjool dates (substitute with regular dates or raisins), stones removed, quartered
cup flat leaf parsley or coriander, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
Put the red onion into a bowl, along with the red wine vinegar, and set aside for 10 minutes to allow the red onion to soften and to reduce its sharpness.
To this add the remaining ingredients, season with sea salt and serve alongside the koftas.
Recipes, food styling and photography by Emma Boyd.