isithalal.food · Recipes

Köfte with Turkish peppers

Selin Kiazim's Turkish köfte with Halal lamb and beef: grilled mince sausages wrapped in lavash, served with marinated blistered peppers, chickpea and orzo rice, yogurt and Aleppo chilli butter.

Turkish · Main · Easy · 4 plates · 120 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The köfte are 250 g each of lamb and beef mince, which are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered animals; the peppers marinate in wine or cider vinegar, a scholarly difference, and the rice cooks in chicken stock.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Lamb and beef mince: Lamb and beef are Halal only from Halal-slaughtered animals, and mince without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy both from a Halal butcher or in certified packs. See Lamb and Beef.
• Vinegar for the peppers: The recipe allows red wine, white wine, moscatel or cider vinegar, all made deliberately from wine or cider; that is a scholarly difference: the Hanafi school and Indonesia's MUI permit it, while the Shafi'i rule does not. Use a vinegar your school accepts, or lemon juice instead (our swap). See Vinegar.
• Chicken stock: Bought chicken stock is a chicken product, and the UK's mainstream stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or meat fat. Use water, as the recipe allows, or a Halal-certified chicken or vegan vegetable stock. See Stock cubes.
• Thick yogurt and lavash: Gelatin turns up in set, low-fat and dessert yogurts, and some industrial breads use L-cysteine (E920) of unstated source. Choose a yogurt with no gelatin and lavash without E920, or certified. See Yogurt and L-cysteine.

Ingredients

Köfte

• 250 g Halal lamb mince, 20% fat
• 250 g Halal beef mince, 20% fat
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• 25 g flat-leaf parsley, with a little stalk, very finely chopped
• 4 lavash or flatbreads, without E920 or certified
• to taste flaky sea salt and black pepper

Marinated peppers

• 8 Turkish peppers, hot or mild
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2½ tbsp vinegar your school accepts, or lemon juice

Chickpea rice

• 15 g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, very finely chopped
• 200 g white rice (ideally Turkish baldo), rinsed
• 50 g orzo
• 400 g tin of chickpeas, drained
• 400 ml water, or Halal-certified chicken or vegetable stock
• to taste flaky sea salt

To serve

• 75 g unsalted butter
• ½ tbsp Aleppo chilli flakes
• 4 tbsp thick yogurt, gelatin-free
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Shape the köfte. Mix the lamb and beef mince with the onion and parsley, season generously and knead for a few minutes until well combined. Divide into 4, roll each into a tight ball and then a long sausage about 2 to 3 cm across. Space them out on a foil-lined tray, press indents along them about 1 cm apart with your fingers to flatten them slightly, and leave to rest.
2. Blister the peppers. Heat the grill to its highest setting. Grill the peppers for 5 to 10 minutes, turning halfway, until dark and blistered. Leave the grill on for the köfte.
3. Marinate the peppers. Let the peppers cool slightly, then peel off any dark skin that comes away easily. Whisk the olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice and garlic with some salt and pepper, pour over the peppers and leave to marinate for at least 1 hour.
4. Start the rice. Bring the water or stock to the boil in a small pan. In a medium pan over a medium-high heat, melt the butter with the olive oil and fry the orzo for 2 minutes until just turning golden. Turn the heat down a little, add the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, with a lid to help it steam, until softened.
5. Cook the rice. Stir in the rice, chickpeas and a little more seasoning, pour in the boiling liquid and turn the heat to low. Cover and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the liquid absorbed. Turn off the heat, lay kitchen paper over the pan and put the lid back on.
6. Grill the köfte. Halfway through the rice, grill the köfte for 3 to 4 minutes on each side until browned. Leave to rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Make the chilli butter. Melt the butter in a small pan over a medium heat and keep cooking until hazelnut-coloured. Strain through a sieve, leave to cool for a few minutes, then add the chilli flakes.
8. Wrap and toast. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat. Wrap each köfte in a lavash, trimming any excess, and toast seam-side down, then on all sides, for about 30 seconds each.
9. Serve. Slice each köfte wrap in half on an angle. Serve with a spoonful of yogurt, two marinated peppers and a little of their marinade, a drizzle of chilli butter and a scattering of parsley, with the rice in a bowl to share.

Allergens

gluten (lavash, orzo), milk (butter, yogurt)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from Great British Chefs' 'Lamb and beef köfte with marinated Turkish peppers and chickpea rice' by Selin Kiazim (serves 4; easy; 60 minutes plus 1 hour to marinate the peppers. Köfte: 250 g each 20%-fat lamb and beef mince, a very finely chopped onion and 25 g very finely chopped parsley, seasoned and kneaded, rolled into 4 long sausages, indented with the fingers and rested on a foil-lined tray; grilled 3 to 4 minutes a side and rested 10 to 15 minutes; wrapped in 4 lavash and toasted seam-down 30 seconds a side in a hot pan. Peppers: 8 hot or mild Turkish peppers grilled 5 to 10 minutes until blistered, loose skin removed, and marinated at least 1 hour in 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 2½ tbsp red wine, white wine, moscatel or cider vinegar and a grated garlic clove. Chickpea rice: 50 g orzo fried 2 minutes in 15 g butter and 1 tbsp olive oil; a very finely chopped onion cooked 6 to 8 minutes; 200 g rinsed rice and a drained 400 g tin of chickpeas stirred in; 400 ml boiling chicken stock or water, covered and cooked 15 to 20 minutes, then covered with kitchen paper. Chilli butter: 75 g butter browned, strained and cooled a few minutes, with ½ tbsp Aleppo chilli flakes. To serve: 4 tbsp thick yogurt and 1 tbsp chopped parsley). We specified Halal lamb and beef, flagged the vinegar by school with lemon juice as our swap, offered water or a Halal-certified or vegetable stock for the rice, and asked for gelatin-free yogurt and lavash without E920; we left out the source's closing suggestion of a glass or two of a named Rioja. Great British Chefs gives the total time only; we split it from the method into 15 minutes of preparation and 45 of cooking, with the hour's marinade as rest. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: seekh kebabs, a similar minced-meat kebab, not the finished dish from this recipe.