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.
Reference video
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
Lay the browned patties snugly in a single layer in the base of the dish, then shingle the potato and tomato slices over the top.
- 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.
Where Kafta bi Bandora comes from
It is the archetypal siniyeh — tray dish — and its appeal is entirely practical: one tray, one oven, no attention required for forty minutes, and a result that feeds a family. It is also, unusually for this atlas, a dish that everybody agrees is better made in quantity than made carefully.
Tomato tray or tahini tray? Telling the two siniyeh bakes apart
Think of it as the tomato twin of Kafta bi Tahini: both bake Levantine kafta patties with potatoes in one tray, but the layers run in opposite order. Here the browned patties go in first, potato and tomato slices are shingled over them, and a thin sauce of tomato paste whisked into hot water is poured around the edges so the vegetables roast instead of boiling. Foil stays on for 40 minutes, then comes off for 15 so the tops catch. In the tahini tray, potatoes sit underneath and the sauce goes straight over. The grilled route is Kafta Kebab, where that same seasoned mince goes onto flat skewers over charcoal.
Compare: Kafta bi Tahini · Kafta Kebab
How Kafta bi Bandora is cooked
The layering is the recipe. Kafta is pressed into the base of the tray as an even layer or shaped into fingers, then slices of potato and tomato are shingled over it, and the tomato sauce is poured around rather than directly over so the vegetables roast rather than boil.
Because everything cooks together, the components must be cut to finish together: potato sliced thin, tomato thicker, and the meat in a layer no more than a centimetre and a half. The tray is covered with foil for the first half so the potatoes steam through, then uncovered so the top browns and the sauce reduces.
Ingredients and shopping
The standard kafta mixture — lamb or beef, 20 percent fat, fine onion, plenty of parsley, baharat. Waxy potatoes sliced thin. Firm tomatoes rather than very ripe ones, which collapse into water.
The sauce is just tomato paste whisked into hot water with black pepper and a pinch of salt, so season the kafta itself assertively: it has a tray of potato to carry.
How Kafta bi Bandora is served
From the tray with rice or bread, yoghurt, and a sharp salad — fattoush or a simple cucumber and tomato with lemon. Pickled turnips. It is a complete meal in one dish and is served as one, with nothing else required.
Common mistakes
Pouring sauce over the top
It goes around the edges so the potato and tomato roast on top rather than boiling. Sauce over the top gives a wet, pale tray.
Thick potato slices
They will still be firm when the meat is done. Slice them thin, or par-cook.
No foil for the first half
The potatoes need trapped steam to soften. Cover first, then uncover to brown.
Very ripe tomatoes
They collapse into liquid. Use firm ones that hold their slices.
Kafta bi Bandora: questions and answers
What is a siniyeh?
A round metal tray, and by extension any Levantine dish baked in one. Kafta bi bandora and kafta bi tahini are the two most common.
Do I need to cover the tray?
Yes, for the first half of the bake, so the potatoes soften. Then uncover so the surface browns and the sauce reduces.
Can I prepare it ahead?
Yes — assemble the tray and refrigerate it, then bake when needed. It also reheats well.
Sources and further reading
- Lebanese Baked Kafta with Potatoes and Tomatoes (Kafta bil Sanieh) — Christopher Kimball's Milk Street
- Kafta bil Sanieh (Baked Kafta) — Zaatar and Zaytoun
