Beef Koftas with Curried Yogurt Sauce and Salad with Carrot Dressing

Credit: Catherine Roscoe Barr

Fresh salad with carrot dressing complements these flavourful beef koftas

Serve these delicious meatballs, packed with fresh ingredients like garlic, ginger and cilantro, in a whole wheat pita with curried yogurt sauce

This is a quick and easy meal to whip up and, especially with a salad to start, it’s packed with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients from the carrot, cucumber, mixed greens, onion, garlic, ginger, and cilantro.

I mentioned my struggle to use up whole bunches of herbs in an earlier post, and this is a great recipe for using up any cilantro you may have on hand.

Filling up on a rainbow of fresh produce and adding tasty spices like curry, cumin, cloves and garam masala makes for an incredibly flavourful meal that is relatively low in calories. 

Using the leftovers for lunch the next day, we skipped the carrot dressing, and added the rest of the salad to our pitas stuffed with meatballs and curry sauce.

And speaking of the carrot dressing, I tweaked it slightly from the last time I made it and omitted the soy sauce. Both ways are great and this is one of our favourite dressings of all time.

Salad with Carrot Dressing

Ingredients

• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp white sugar

• 1 cup iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 1 cup mixed greens, torn into bite size pieces
• 1 cup cucumber, chopped

Instructions

1. Combine carrot, ginger, oils, vinegar and sugar, and blend until smooth.
2. Divide lettuces and cucumber into two bowls and dollop with dressing.

Beef Koftas with Curried Yogurt Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 small hot green chili pepper, seeded and minced, or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper 
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 500 grams ground beef or lamb
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 tsp vegetable oil, to coat hands

• 3/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. For koftas, combine first nine ingredients in large bowl, using hands to mix well.
3. Using oiled hands, roll mixture into 1-inch meatballs and place on rack on baking sheet (so fat can drip away).
4. Cook for about 25 minutes or until no longer pink inside.
5. Meanwhile, in small bowl, whisk together five remaining ingredients for sauce. 
6. Serve koftas in a whole wheat pita generously drizzled with sauce.