Köfte & Loquat
Delicious köfte and loquat recipe (Turkish meatballs cooked with loquat) that demonstrates why it is such a nationally loved dish in Turkey.
Köfte are delicious Turkish meatballs traditionally made with lamb, but are just as tasty using beef or veal. I have taken the liberty of cooking them with the plum-like loquat, which adds a subtle sweetness to the lamb.
The meatballs are quite easy to make, and come together much like any meatball recipe, but because they use rice instead of breadcrumbs, they are gluten-free.
They are a lovely alternative to regular ground beef meatballs and go wonderfully over rice for a great low-calorie main dish.
If you have any difficulty locating loquat, these can be substituted with any variety of plum, and still turn out great. Usually, loquat can be found in Asian markets, or anywhere that specializes in international foods.
Ingredients
(Makes 6 servings)
1 lb ground lamb (or ground beef, or ground veal)
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup rice, uncooked
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons avocado oil (or other high smoke-point oil)
2 cups beef stock
4 loquat, deseeded and quartered
Directions
In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground meat, onion, rice, salt, and ground black pepper. Once thoroughly mixed, form the meat into 3/4-inch meatballs (makes roughly 18 meatballs).
In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the meatballs and brown on all sides.
Add the beef stock and bring to a simmer. Add the loquat, dispersed evenly across the pan.
Reduce the heat to medium and cover, allowing to simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the meatballs are cooked through, remove from heat, transfer to a serving dish and enjoy.
Nutritional Information Per Serving:
total calories = 271 | total fat = 16.57g | saturated fat = 6.4g | cholesterol = 72.89mg | sodium = 617.42mg | net carbohydrates = 7.65g | dietary fibre = 0.75g | sugars = 3.21g | protein = 20.97g
