Kofta with Cauliflower Salad

Welcome the sun and dust off the BBQ

The clocks have changed and the days are warm, time to clean out the BBQ (if you haven’t already) and enjoy the garden. Kofta’s are a go to favourite with my family, naked sausages as my boys used to say, and that’s exactly how I would think of them. Any meat, any flavouring and any size, just be creative. 

A lovely accompaniment is something fresh and crunchy, and with a few cauliflowers still to harvest, they make a delicious partner to the rich lamb. I like to use the whole vegetable, stalk, leaves and florettes in this salad, treating each element as an individual ingredient. 

To finish everything off some coal roasted baby leeks and a mint sauce style condiment using mustard leaves from the salad bags. Perhaps a few crunchy pumpkin seeds and a drizzle of yoghurt, a cold beer and the sun to shine. 


Serves 4
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Salad Ingredients:

1 cauliflower
2 baby leeks
Rapeseed oil
Apple cider vinegar
1 dessert spoon of honey
1 tsp cumin seeds
A couple of handfuls of pumpkin seeds
Sea salt flakes

Kofta Ingredients:
500g lamb mince
50g fresh bread
Milk
optional (1 tbs Baharat spice)
2 cloves garlic
A sprig of rosemary

Green sauce Ingredients:
A handful of mustard leaves
1 shallot
1tbs sugar
4 tbs apple cider vinegar
4 tbs rapeseed oil
Preheat the BBQ

1. The cauliflower benefits from a little time to marinade, so begin by cutting off the leaves and florettes from the stalk. Discard any damaged or tough leaves and shred the rest. Finely slice (or grate) the stalk and florettes, then add everything to a bowl. Add enough vinegar to coat everything evenly, then add double that of oil. Season with honey, salt and pepper and leave to marinade.

2. To start the kofta, dice the bread and add enough milk that it is all soaked up. Then mix in the lamb mince, crushed garlic and chopped rosemary. Season with plenty of salt and pepper. 

3. To shape the kofta onto skewers use wet hands to prevent the meat from sticking to them. Shape the mixture into long sausages down the length of a skewer and repeat as many times as you have mix. Try to make them a little thinner than a traditional sausage. This mix should make 8. Leave them to set for a few minutes.

4. To finish off the salad, toast the cumin seeds and pumpkin seeds and stir through. 

5. For the green sauce, chop the leaves and shallot, then add everything to a bowl and mix.

6. To cook the kofta and leeks make sure the coals are largely white. Wash the leeks and place directly on the coals until black and burnt all over. Remove and cool. Cook the kofta over the coals on a grill, making sure not to turn too quickly. 

7. Once cool enough to handle, wipe off any black skin from the leeks, slice and add to the cauliflower.

Serve with flatbreads and some yoghurt.
Chef Notes:
1. This recipe is also perfect with venison mince.
2. A hot grill or griddle pan can also be used to cook the kofta and leek.

Robin Popham
Chef at ‘Create Terroir’ and Sandy Lane Farm veg box customer