Lamb meatball soup
Delicious Turkish köfte soup
Serves
4 - 6
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 20 mins
Craving a nutritious, hearty soup? This Turkish-inspired recipe stretches 300g of mince to create a satisfying meal. Perfect for a change from the usual veggie, barley, and chicken soups common in Kiwi winters, this dish takes you straight to Gaziantep, an historic city in Southeastern Anatolia near the Syrian border.
This soup highlights ekşili köfte, tiny meatballs served in a complex stew with meat chunks, chickpeas, and a lemony sweet-sour broth spiked with dried mint, pepper paste, allspice, and paprika. Gaziantep's food is healthy, balancing meat, vegetables, and grains, and always delicious.
Enjoy this vibrant, flavourful soup for a taste of Turkey and a nutritious meal that feeds a crowd!
This recipe is courtesy of
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ShareIngredients
300g Quality Mark lamb mince
(½ cup) fine burghul
50g (⅓ cup) plain flour
1 Tbsp tomato paste
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp pul biber
chilli flakes
220g (1 cup) chickpeas
soaked overnight then drained1 bunch silverbeet
60ml (¼ cup) olive oil
2 onions
finely chopped4 garlic cloves
finely chopped or grated2½ Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp Turkish pepper paste
2½ tsp dried oregano
250g (1⅓ cups) brown lentils
2-2.25 litres (8-9 cups) chicken stock
lemon
wedgesplain unsweetened yoghurt
dried red chilli flakes
Method
Put the chickpeas in a saucepan with enough water to cover, bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and cook for 1 hour or until very tender. Drain well.
Meanwhile for the köfte, rinse the burghul, then drain well in a fine sieve, using your hands to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Combine in a food processor with the remaining ingredients, season to taste, then process until the mixture is smooth and elastic.
Alternatively, you can knead the mixture by hand until it is elastic and still a bit sticky.
Take scant teaspoonfuls of the mixture and roll into balls. Place on a baking paper-lined tray and refrigerate until ready to use.
Trim the silverbeet, reserving about half the stems. Finely chop the reserved stems.
Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the stems, onion and garlic, then cook, stirring, for 6-7 minutes until softened.
Add the tomato and pepper pastes, oregano and bayleaf then cook, stirring, for another minute.
Add the brown lentils and chicken stock, then bring to the boil.
Reduce the heat to medium-low, then simmer for 50 minutes or until lentils are tender.
Add the chickpeas and silverbeet, and bring back to a simmer, adding a little more stock or water if necessary.
Gently stir in the köfte, then simmer for about 8 minutes or until the lamb is cooked through.
Taste, then season the soup with salt and pepper. Serve with dried chilli flakes and lemon wedges, for squeezing over.
Nutrition Information per Serving (579g)
This nutrition analysis is based on 6 serves and doesn't include the lemon, yoghurt or chilli flakes to serve. To lower sodium, use reduced salt stock.
