Koftit Roz (Rice Meatballs)

Maya's Mama's Note:

This is a wonderful and easy recipe. Very traditional in Egypt. Served over plain white rice. My grandmother, and mother... and all my aunties have been making this for decades. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

• Total Time: 1 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 6

Yield: 15.0 meatballs

Kofta

• 1 lb ground beef (you can use lamb, lean ground beef.. just what ever you have on hand)
• ½ cup short-grain rice (Egyptian rice if you can get your hands on it... but italian rice will do fine)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (or za'taar)
• 1 teaspoon dried coriander
• 1 teaspoon dry cumin

sauce

• 1 onion
• 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Puree the sauce ingredients in blender/food processor.
3. Combine together together all the kofta ingredients in a large bowl.
4. Ball your kofta into 1.5 inch balls and place in a 9in x 9in oven safe pan.
5. Pour sauce over kofta and cook in oven for 45-60 minutes turning once.

Reviews

[Boomette]

Since cumin is not my favorite spice I decided to use only 1/2 tsp but then this is all I taste in the meatballs. So if I do them again, I would use just 1/4 tsp. Or omit it. The sauce would need a little bit of seasoning. I used lean ground beef, italian rice. I cooked them 60 minutes and the rice was cooked. I like how easy the meatballs are cooked. I hate when it's fried so this method I really liked :) Thanks Maya's Mama :) Made for Ramadan tag game

[**Tinkerbell**]

Oh drat! I just realized the intro said, "served over plain white rice" & not that it just used plain white rice in the meat mixture. I served it over linguine pasta. Either way, I think it's a keeper! :) Super easy to make on a busy night, with minimal clean up. We used ground beef & long-grain white rice (what I had on hand) but followed everything else exactly. Our only change in the future would be to add some garlic; we add it to everything! lol Thanks for another great recipe, Maya's Mama! Made for Ramadan tag game.

[Cookgirl]

Next time I would increase the amount of cumin and za'atar (a homemade version with marjoram for thyme.) Used fresh local lamb and arborio rice which I coarsely ground in a spice mill for 10-15 seconds. Served over whole wheat spaghettini. The reason I ground the rice was I was afraid the grains if they were whole wouldn't cook and would taste raw. Took a full hour for the meatballs to bake. Reviewed for Best of 2010.