Kefta Chicken Meatballs

Posted by Dacia on Apr 29, 2010 in Photos, Recipes, Successes | 0 comments

Neko has finally started eating chicken. She still turns her nose up at poultry most of the time, but at least it’s a start.

The first recipe I found that got her to consume poultry was this one. It took some convincing to get her to try it, but I had two things working in my favor: 1.) These meatballs are seriously cute, and 2.) The recipe involves a dipping sauce. A dipping sauce made with Greek yogurt, second only to crème fraiche as Neko’s favorite dairy item.

I made these meatballs with ground white meat chicken and served them alone, but I imagine they’d be great made with ground lamb and used to fill pita bread.

Kefta
Heavily adapted from epicurious.com

Ingredients
For sauce
1 cup plain yogurt (preferably whole-milk Greek)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon salt

For kefta
2 slices firm white sandwich bread, torn into small pieces
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 lb ground chicken (or lamb or turkey)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted and finely chopped

Make sauce:
Stir together yogurt, mint, garlic, and salt in a small bowl and chill.

Make meatballs:?
Cover bread with water in a bowl and soak 10 minutes. Squeeze handfuls of bread to remove as much excess water as possible, then transfer to a bowl.
Pulse onion and herbs in a food processor until finely chopped, then add to bread along with meat, salt, spices and pine nuts. Mix with your hands until well blended. Form into 36 balls (1 scant tablespoon each).

Cook meatballs:
You can thread the meatballs onto skewers and grill them until they’re cooked or you can take the easy route, like I did, and place them on a baking sheet, then broil them, turning occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until cooked through.