Egypt's grill-house kofta of beef or beef-lamb mix, seasoned with onion, parsley and cumin-forward spicing, always ordered as part of the 'kabab wa kofta' pairing with cubed lamb. Served on a bed of parsley with baladi bread and tahina.
Also known as kofta masri, kofta mashwiya, kofta meshweya.
Reference video
Ingredients
- 600 g beef mince, or half beef half lamb
- 1 onion, grated and squeezed
- 40 g parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1.25 tsp salt and plenty of black pepper
- Baladi bread or pita
- 150 g tahina sauce (tahini loosened with lemon, garlic and cold water)
How to make it
- 1
Knead the meat ingredients together, reserving a small handful of the parsley for serving, for a full 3 minutes; the paste should rope around your fingers.
- 2
Mold handfuls onto skewers in long, slightly flattened fingers, or shape free-form logs if grilling on a rack.
- 3
Charcoal-grill over strong heat 8-10 minutes, rolling a quarter turn as each face takes color.
- 4
Scatter the reserved parsley over the baladi bread and perch the cooked skewers on top while you finish the batch.
- 5
Serve with the juice-soaked bread, tahina, and a raw onion wedge on the side.
Pro tip: Egyptian grill houses lean hard on cumin and are not shy about it; underseasoned kofta tastes flat next to the tahina. Double what looks reasonable and taste-test one nugget in a pan first.
Where Egyptian Kofta comes from
Egyptian kofta is one half of the fixed pairing that defines Egyptian grill culture: kabab wa kofta, ordered together, weighed together, brought to the table together. Minced beef or a beef-lamb mix is seasoned with onion, parsley and a cumin-forward spice blend and grilled on flat skewers.
Cairo's old kababgi districts operate this way still.
More onion, more cumin: what makes Egyptian kofta its own
Beef leads in Egypt, alone or half and half with lamb, while Kafta Kebab calls for lamb or a lamb-beef mix. The Egyptian mixture also carries more grated onion, which keeps it soft and slightly sweet, and its spicing runs cumin first, then coriander, black pepper and a little cinnamon. Moroccan Kefta Brochettes share that cumin lead but add fresh mint and coriander leaf. At the table, these skewers land on a bed of chopped parsley with baladi bread and tahina, ordered by weight alongside cubed lamb kabab.
Compare: Kafta Kebab · Moroccan Kefta Brochettes
How Egyptian Kofta is cooked
The mixture is more heavily onioned than its Levantine neighbours — Egyptian kofta carries a high proportion of grated onion, which keeps it soft and gives it its particular sweetness. As always the onion must be squeezed, but the quantity going in is greater than in a Lebanese kafta.
It is kneaded until tacky and pressed onto wide flat skewers. Grilling is fast over hot charcoal. The finished skewers are laid on a bed of chopped parsley on the serving plate — not as decoration but so the hot meat wilts it slightly and the parsley picks up the fat, which is then eaten with the bread.
Ingredients and shopping
Beef, or beef and lamb mixed, at around 20 percent fat. Egyptian butchers will mince to order for kofta and add fat as asked. Grated onion in quantity, squeezed. Flat-leaf parsley chopped fine.
The spicing is cumin-forward with coriander, black pepper and a little cinnamon — warmer and less sweet than Levantine baharat, and distinctly more cumin than a Turkish mix. Baladi bread if you can get it; a wholemeal pita is the nearest substitute.
How Egyptian Kofta is served
On a bed of chopped parsley with baladi bread, tahina, salad and pickled vegetables, ordered alongside kabab laham. Torshi (pickles) and a plate of raw onion. Tea afterwards. In a kababgi it is priced by the kilo and shared across the table.
Common mistakes
Too little onion
Egyptian kofta is more heavily onioned than Lebanese kafta. It is what makes it soft and slightly sweet.
Failing to squeeze the onion
More onion means more water. Squeeze it hard or the mixture will not hold the skewer.
Under-cumining
Cumin is the Egyptian signature. A restrained hand gives you a Levantine kofta instead.
Skipping the parsley bed
The hot meat wilts it and it absorbs the fat. It is part of the eating, not the garnish.
Egyptian Kofta: questions and answers
What is kabab wa kofta?
The standard Egyptian grill order: cubed lamb (kabab) and minced skewers (kofta) together. They are ordered by weight and served on the same platter.
How is Egyptian kofta different from Lebanese kafta?
More onion, more cumin, and a spice profile that is warm and cumin-forward rather than the sweeter baharat of the Levant.
Sources and further reading
- Koftet el hati — Wikipedia
- Egyptian cuisine — Wikipedia
- Kofta al Hatee: Authentic Egyptian Grilled Meat Skewers — Chez Nermine (Nermine Mansour)
