DUKAI
Recipe BookMeat

Signature Kofta

Fatty lamb, squeezed onion, hand chopped herbs, rested overnight and grilled over charcoal.

Fat is essential here. Lean kofta becomes dry and crumbly, so the mix is either 80 percent lamb to 20 percent beef, or fatty lamb on its own.

Written for 4.5 kg of mince · 2 kofta of approximately 75 g, by mince weight

Cook this

Mix in stages. Meat and salt first, until the mixture turns tacky, and only then the aromatics, herbs, spices and binders. That order builds the protein structure that keeps a kofta juicy.

Chef Paul Dukai

Ingredients

Serves 30

The meat

  • Lamb and beef mince, 80 percent lamb to 20 percent beef, or fatty lamb mince alone4.5 kg
  • Salt60 g to 70 g

The aromatic base

  • Onions, medium, grated and most of the moisture squeezed out in a cloth3 each
  • Coriander1 large bunch, finely chopped
  • Mint1 medium bunch, finely chopped
  • Parsleya small bunch, finely chopped
  • Garlic, cloves, microplaned to a paste12 to 15

The spice blend

  • Cumin3 tbsp
  • Coriander2 tbsp
  • Smoked paprika1 tbsp
  • Sweet paprika1 tbsp
  • Black pepper2 tsp
  • White pepper1 tsp
  • Cinnamon1 tsp
  • Ginger powder1 tsp
  • Turmeric0.5 tsp
  • Nutmeg0.5 tsp
  • Clovea pinch
  • Cayennea pinch

Depth builders

  • Tomato paste2 tbsp
  • Pomegranate molasses, if available1 tbsp
  • Lemon zestof 2 lemons
  • Preserved lemon, finely minced2 tbsp
  • Olive oil2 tbsp

Binding

  • Eggs2 each
  • Fine breadcrumbs, or fresh bread lightly soaked in milk. Enough for tenderness only120 g

Method

The mix

  1. Grate the onions and squeeze most of the moisture out of them in a cloth. This keeps the kofta juicy without making the mixture loose.

  2. Chop the herbs by hand. Do not blend them: hand chopping keeps the flavour brighter.

  3. Mix the meat and the salt first, until the mixture is tacky.

  4. Then add the aromatics, herbs, spices and binders. Do not overbind.

  5. Rest the mixture for a minimum of 4 hours, ideally overnight. The flavour changes considerably.

Cooking

  1. Shape, and cook over a hard charcoal fire. You want smoke, blistering and caramelisation, without drying it out.

  2. Cook to an internal temperature of 68°C for a juicy kofta.

Chef’s notes

  • For an especially soft kofta, fold in 150 g of frozen grated butter right before shaping.
  • The service yield is 30 portions of two kofta, each about 75 g weighed on the mince before the rest of the mixture goes in. That comes to the 4.5 kg batch exactly, and it is a DUKAI service specification rather than something the original document states.
  • A glaze of lamb jus, honey, pomegranate molasses, butter, smoked paprika and a touch of harissa, reduced until glossy and brushed on while grilling, lacquers them. It has no quantities yet, so it stays a note rather than a recipe.
  • Elegant accompaniments: saffron yoghurt, coriander oil, charred shallots, pickled raisins, burnt lemon dust. More rustic: grilled flatbread, smoked aubergine, mint salad, harissa. None of these are formulated yet.

Keeping

DUKAI storage guidance

The raw mixture rests refrigerated at 5°C or below and should be shaped and cooked within 24 hours, or frozen. Cooked kofta: cool it quickly rather than leaving it on the pass: to below 21°c within about two hours, and to 5°c or below within a further four. Use within 3 to 4 days.

Allergens and diet

Gluten, from the breadcrumbs. Eggs. Milk, if the bread is soaked in milk.

Also in the Recipe Book

Last refined · September 2026