Smitten Kitchen featured this recipe for grilled kefta and zucchini kebabs in August and it looked amazing. I modified the recipe to use grilled turkey instead of lamb and didn’t grill the meatballs but baked them. I didn’t have kabab sticks! This made for a delicious meal and made lots of leftovers as well.
KEFTA (meatballs)
- 2 slices firm whole wheat sandwich bread – torn into small pieces
- 1 small onion – finely chopped
- 1/4 c. fresh parsley
- 1/4 c. fresh cilantro
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 t. salt
- 1/2 t. cayenne
- 1/4 t. cinnamon
- 1/4 t. black pepper
- 1/3 c. walnuts – toasted and finely chopped
ZUCCHINI
- 3 T. fresh lemon juice
- 1 t. sugar
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1/4 t. black pepper
- 1/4 c. olive oil (I used less, just a few splashes)
- 2 medium zucchini – cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices
YOGURT SAUCE
- 1 c. plain yogurt (I use 2% Fage)
- 2 T. chopped fresh mint
- 1 t. minced garlic
- pinch of salt
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 lamb, salt, spices, and walnuts nuts.Form into small meatballs, about 40. Place them on cookie sheets to bake. Bake at 350 until mostly cooked and then brown under the broiler and to finish cooking. About 15 minutes total.
Marinate zucchini in the mixture in a plastic bag while you make the meatballs. Grill on a grill pan, crisping up each side.
Mix together the yogurt and sauce ingredients. Serve meatballs and zuccchini with the yogurt sauce.
Notes: These turned out very well. Next time I’ll try to have some kebab sticks on hand so I can actually grill them. They were great as left overs for lunch the next day too.
Servings: 2 dinner servings and 3 lunches (with the meatballs)
