Moroccan hamburger with cucumber, tomato and yogurt salad

I’m shortly off to South Africa, where I will be criss-crossing the republic
on a cooking tour, so stay tuned for some updates on that front. In the meantime, here’s a recipe that’s suitably Middle Eastern, a Moroccan staple done with a tangy North African-style salad.

This particular kefta (that’s a hamburger, Jim, but not as we know it) is a slight adaptation of one I first came across in Marcus Samuelson’s rather marvellous The Soul of a New Cuisine, a pan-African collection of some of the continent’s dreamiest foods and flavours. Samuelsson is an Ethiopian-Swedish chef with oodles of talent. His collection is worth the price of admission for the photographs alone. He’s not as famous as Yotam Ottolenghi, not yet anyway, but really deserves to be. 

I’ve switched around a few of the New York-based chef’s ingredients and measurements for this one. His recipe calls for veal rather than lamb,
for example, and Spanish onions rather than garden-variety brown ones. But
what the hey? I made it again the other night. It’s scrumptious.

LAMB & BEEF KEFTA

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium brown onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
12 ounces ground lamb
12 ounces ground beef
1-1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 pitas breads

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the
oil begins to shimmer, add the onions, garlic, and chilies and sauté until
the onions are softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the coriander and cumin,
and remove from the heat.
2. Combine the lamb, veal, chili-onion mixture, garam masala, oregano, and
salt in a large bowl and mix with your hands. Shape the meat into patties.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the patties, in batches
if necessary, and sauté for 5 minutes on each side, until deeply browned.
4. To serve, slice the pita breads open halfway. Put 1 tablespoon of the
salad in each bread, add a patty, and top with an additional 2 tablespoons
salad.

TOMATO & CUCUMBER SALAD

Ingredients
* 2 red tomatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
* half a cucumber 
* 2-3 jalapeño chilies finely chopped
* Juice of one squeezed lemon
* 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
* 2 garlic cloves minced

Method
Put the tomatoes into a bowl of boiling water for a minute, then hold them
under running cold water for a bit. Now: peel and cut into wedges; slice the
cucumber, and add that in to the bowl, next the minced and seeded jalapeño;
fresh lemon juice; kosher salt; and pepper, and then mix in the yogurt.
Cover and chill at least 1 hour.

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