Koofteh ghelgheli is one of the authentic and delicious Iranian dishes that can be cooked in different ways.
If you don’t have enough time to make stew and other time-consuming dishes, I suggest you make these delicious meatballs in less than 45 minutes.
A very healthy and nourishing food that you can eat with rice or bread.
This dish is very easy to prepare and is prepared from a combination of minced meat, onions, and various spices. Finally, it is put in a special sauce and served with rice or bread.
If you want to learn how to make these mini meatballs, stay with Meals cook.
How to make koofteh ghelgheli?
To cook this food, meat is combined with other ingredients such as vegetables and rice and then the interior is filled with desired ingredients. Then this food is put in a pot and cooked in a special sauce and spices.
One of the most basic challenges while cooking this food is to prevent it from loosening and falling apart.
With this article’s recipe for cooking delicious Persian mini meatballs, you will easily be able to cook delicious and professional koofteh without fear of losing them. Fasten your aprons and be ready for this exciting journey.
For: 4 people
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 40-45 minutes
Ingredients:
Minced Meat | 1.1 pound |
Tomato | 4 pieces |
Tomato paste | 4 tablespoons |
Large onion | 2 pieces |
Chickpea flour | 3.5 ounce |
Egg | 3 pieces |
Spices (salt, pepper, turmeric) | as needed |
Oil | as needed |
Instruction :
1. The first step to make this food is to wash the onions well and peel them. Then use a fine grater and grate the onion well.
2. In this step you need to take the onion juice to make koofteh. Therefore press them using your hand to collect excess water. Finally, add the onion to a large bowl.
3. Pour the minced meat that you have taken out of the refrigerator for a while into the bowl and mix it with the onions. Then add some salt, pepper, and turmeric to it and stir well until the spices are absorbed by the meat.
4. Now it’s time to add the eggs to the ingredients in the bowl. You should also add the egg to the meat and stir again until the ingredients are completely uniform.
5. In order to be able to do this better knead the ingredients by hand to make the meatballs better.If when you knead the ingredients you feel that it is a little loose and needs to be firmer you can add a little chickpea flour to make it more consistent.
6. You just have to be careful not to use too much chickpea flour so as not to create hard and dry ingredients in them. If you feel that the ingredients are too stiff you can use some water and knead again.
7. After the ingredients and meatballs are prepared you should put a hollow and almost small dish on the heat. Add some oil to the pan. Of course, make sure that the amount of oil is enough to completely float the meatballs in it.
8. Take some of the meatball mixture and shape it into a circle. Then put it in the oil and let it fry completely. Do this until you run out of ingredients.
9. While the meatballs are frying you can start making the special sauce for the meatballs.
10. To make the special sauce first peel the tomatoes and then chop them. Pour enough oil into the pan and let it get hot then add the tomatoes and let them fry.
11. Now cut an onion into large slices and fry in oil until they become completely soft and golden. After the onions are fried completely add tomato paste to them and fry again until the rawness of the paste is removed and its color is released.
12. After the tomato paste is fried well you should add chopped tomatoes along with some salt, black pepper, and turmeric. Finally, add half a glass of boiling water to these ingredients and let the sauce thicken. After the sauce reaches the desired concentration it is ready.
13. Now it’s time to add koofteh to the sauce.
To do this you should gently put them in the sauce and give them time to get flavored on a gentle heat.
Continue cooking them in the sauce until the amount of extra water in the sauce evaporates and starts to glaze.
Persian mini meatballs are ready and you can serve it in the dish you want and eat it with sabzi khordan or other side dishes.
How to prepare koofteh ghelgheli with potatoes
Another method that you can use to prepare and make this food with potatoes. By using potatoes in koofteh apart from the fact that you can create a new taste it is also possible to save meat.
To do this you need to wash a potato well and peel it, then grate it well using a fine grater.
Take the potato juice and add it to the meat and other ingredients and mix well. Do the rest of the cooking steps according to what we said.
How to prepare koofteh ghelgheli with fragrant vegetables
If you want your food to have a better aroma and taste you can also add some aromatic or dry vegetables to them. You can usually use vegetables such as parsley, coriander, mint, etc.
To use vegetables you have to chop them finely and when you are kneading the meat add the vegetables to it and mix well.
Koufteh ghelgheli is served with barbari bread, sangak bread, sir torshi, zeyton parvardeh, torshi liteh, and Persian doogh.
Notes :
- Adding too much chickpea flour to koofteh will make it hard and dry. If the meatball mixture is too hard add a little water to make it consistent.
- Koufteh ghelgheli is very similar to Koofteh nokhodchi and Koofteh Tabrizi.
- If you have a more delicious food fill a small deep pot with oil and float the meatballs in it. Fry the meatballs with low heat until they are cooked completely and evenly.
- The size of koofteh is very effective in its final taste. Try to prepare them in medium size. If the size of koofteh is too large its core will not be cooked and if it is too small it will burn and dry quickly.
- Do not knead koofteh too much. Kneading the material too much will make it too hard.
- You can customize the recipe of Persian mini meatballs by using aromatic vegetables, mushrooms, bell peppers, or garlic. For this purpose finely chop your desired vegetables (such as coriander, parsley, mint, etc.) and add them to your koofteh.
- Try to use fatty meat to make koofteh. If your meat does not have the necessary fat you can use olive oil or butter while kneading the ingredients.
Did you like this recipe?
- If you try Persian koofteh, Please share your experience with us.
- If you are looking for vegetarian food, I don’t suggest you this dish.
- You can ask me questions about Persian mini meatballs in the comments. I will answer your questions as soon as possible.
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