The tomato counterpart to kafta bi tahini: kofta layered with potato and tomato rounds and baked in seasoned tomato sauce in a single tray. It is the default weeknight fate of kafta across Levantine households.
Also known as: kafta wa batata, kofta bil sanieh, kafta bil saniyeh, kofta and potato tray bake
Visual recipe guide
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Watch it made
Ingredients
- 700 g minced beef or lamb
- 1 onion, finely grated
- 20 g parsley, chopped
- 1 tsp seven-spice and 1.5 tsp salt
- 3 potatoes, in 1 cm rounds
- 3 large tomatoes, in thick rounds
- 30 g tomato paste
- 400 ml hot water
- 0.5 tsp black pepper
- 15 ml olive oil
How to make it
- 1
Combine the meat, onion, parsley and seasonings and pat into thick oval patties.
- 2
Give them 10 min under a hot broiler for colour while you oil a deep baking dish.
- 3
Stand kafta, potato and tomato slices in alternating upright rows.
- 4
Whisk the tomato paste into the hot water with pepper and a pinch of salt and pour it around everything.
- 5
Cover with foil and bake at 190 C for 40 min, then uncover 15 min so the tops catch and the sauce thickens.
Pro tip: Slice the potatoes no thicker than 1 cm; any chunkier and they are still firm when the tomato rounds have already melted into the sauce.
