The World That Was - Medieval Syrian Spiced Lamb Koftas

Hello and Welcome to The World That Was!

This week, I'm taking a look at another medieval Syrian recipe from the Kitab al-Wuslah - this time, a simple spiced lamb kofta (meatball) in a herbal garlic sauce. Lamb was a staple meat for the Near and Middle East in the Medieval period - but beef and chicken could also be used here!

In any case, let's now take a look at The World That Was! Follow along with my YouTube video above!

Ingredients (makes 12 koftas)

500g lamb (minced)

parsley or coriander leaves (minced)

ground coriander

ground cumin

ground cloves

salt

pepper

head of garlic

olive oil

water

Method

1 - Prepare the Ingredients

To begin with, go chop a whole head of coriander - or parsley, if coriander. Do this by rolling it into a tight ball, and chopping it. Put this in a bowl for later.

Place your lamb meat into a bowl. On top of this, put 1/3 of your chopped herbs on top of the lamb, keeping the rest in your bowl for later. Then pour in your ground coriander, for a bit of zest, and your salt and pepper, for seasoning, and finally your ground cloves. Pre-ground spices work well, but they'll be slightly less fragrant than freshly-ground ones!

Crush two cloves of garlic on top of all this as well. Peel the rest of the garlic cloves from the head, and leave them be in a bowl.

2 - Prepare the Koftas

Knead all of this together for a couple of minutes using your clean hands. Don't over-knead it or the texture of the koftas will be negatively affected. Mix it so you can see flecks of your herbs throughout the mixture.

Now, take a small lump of the mixture in your hands, and roll it into a firm ball shape. Place your finished koftas back into the bowl. You should be able to make about 12 koftas (based on 500g of lamb mince)

3 - Cook the Koftas

Place a large pot over a high heat, and pour a large amount of oil into it. I used olive oil here - because it was used a lot in the Near East due to its climate - but really any oil would work well. When the oil starts to shimmer, place your koftas into it - you may have to work in batches, so you don't crowd the cooking surface too much. Keep them moving in the pot, so the meat browns all over. When they're browned, remove them from the pot.

4 - Make the Sauce

Pour off some of the oil, keeping a few tablespoons in the pot. Now return your koftas to the pot, and toss in your remaining herbs and whole garlic cloves. Add some water to all of this, until it's just covering the koftas. Bring this to a rolling boil for about 15 minutes. The original recipe doesn't explicitly state cooking times, but this should be more than enough time to cook them through. Keep cooking the remaining liquid in the pan, until it reduces to a fairly thick sauce - this might take about 20 minutes. Return your koftas to the sauce, and stir them around in it. Bring this up to temperature, and serve up warm!

The finished dish is deliciously fragrant, and has a delightful herby taste to it! The leaves of the herbs you use in the koftas really add a nice bite of flavour to each one. Although I used lamb here - as it was and is a staple food for the near east - chicken or beef mince can also be used! As the original recipe was listed more like a methodology rather than a step-by-step process (suggesting that this was recorded for professional cooks, rather than an instructional thing) a lot of this video relies on Charles Perry's translation and reconstruction of it - with a few adaptations here and there. For example, it's unknown how this was served in the medieval period - I plated it up on a bed of rocket leaves, because it looked nice - but this was probably served along with flatbread and other dishes.