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
The strip drifts on its own — hover any dia to pause and zoom.
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.
The story of Kafta bi Bandora
Kafta bi bandora is the tomato twin of kafta bi tahini, and between them they account for the default weeknight fate of kafta across Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine. Kofta is layered with rounds of potato and tomato in a single tray and baked in seasoned tomato sauce.
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 book, a dish that everybody agrees is better made in quantity than made carefully.
The technique that defines it
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.
Choosing your ingredients
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 tomato paste fried with onion and garlic, thinned with water or stock, with pomegranate molasses and a little cinnamon or allspice. Seasoning should be assertive because it has a tray of potato to carry.
Mistakes that ruin it
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.
How it 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.
Questions about Kafta bi Bandora
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.
Why pour the sauce around rather than over?
So the potato and tomato on top roast and brown instead of boiling. Sauce over the top gives a pale, wet result.
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.
