Recipes › Tomato (Plum) › Turkish Plum Tomato and Lamb Köfte Bake
Turkish Plum Tomato and Lamb Köfte Bake
Spiced lamb köfte nestle into a deeply flavoured plum tomato sauce, finished with a dollop of garlicky yoghurt and a drizzle of chilli butter. This is a weeknight bake that eats like something you have been slow-cooking all day — the plum tomatoes collapse into a rich, brick-red sauce that is the backbone of the whole dish.
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Ingredients
- 900 g Tomato (Plum), roughly chopped
- 500 g lamb minceor use beef mince
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1½ tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
- ½ tsp Aleppo chilli flakesor use mild chilli flakes
- 4 cloves garlic, 2 crushed for the köfte, 2 crushed for the yoghurt
- 20 g flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 tsp caster sugar
- 200 full-fat Greek yoghurt
- 30 g unsalted butter
- ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 10 g fresh mint leaves, roughly torn (optional)
Contains: eggs, milk.
Method
- Preheat your oven to 200°C fan. In a large bowl, combine the lamb mince, beaten egg, ground cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika, Aleppo chilli flakes, 2 crushed garlic cloves, the chopped parsley, and 1 tsp fine sea salt. Mix well with your hands until everything is evenly combined. Roll into 16 equal balls, roughly 35g each, and set aside on a plate.About 8 min
- Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large, ovenproof frying pan or shallow casserole over a medium-high heat. Add the köfte and brown on all sides for about 4 minutes, turning occasionally. You are not cooking them through here — just building colour. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.About 4 min
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil to the same pan. Add the diced onion and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes until softened and starting to turn golden at the edges. Add the tomato purée and stir it into the onions, cooking for 1 minute until it darkens slightly.About 5 min
- Add the roughly chopped plum tomatoes and caster sugar to the pan. Season with a pinch of salt and stir well to combine. Bring to a brisk simmer and cook for 5 minutes, pressing the tomatoes down with a wooden spoon to help them break down into a rough sauce.About 5 min
- Nestle the browned köfte back into the tomato sauce. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes until the köfte are cooked through and the sauce has thickened and reduced around them.About 15 min
- While the pan is in the oven, stir the remaining 2 crushed garlic cloves into the Greek yoghurt with a pinch of salt. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat and add the dried chilli flakes. Cook for about 1 minute until the butter is foaming and the chilli has bloomed. Remove from the heat.About 3 min
- Remove the pan from the oven. Spoon the garlicky yoghurt over the köfte and tomato sauce, then drizzle the chilli butter all over the top. Scatter with torn mint leaves if using, and serve immediately straight from the pan with flatbreads or rice alongside.
Tips
- Plum tomatoes are ideal here because their lower water content means the sauce reduces quickly without becoming watery — if yours are very ripe and juicy, give the sauce an extra couple of minutes before adding the köfte back in.
- Do not skip browning the köfte first. That crust adds depth and stops them falling apart in the sauce.
- The yoghurt will look like it might split if the pan is very hot — spoon it on just before serving, not while the dish is piping hot from the oven, and it will stay creamy.
Ring the changes
- Make it dairy-free by swapping the Greek yoghurt for a thick coconut yoghurt and using olive oil in place of butter for the chilli drizzle.
- For a vegetarian version, replace the lamb köfte with spiced chickpea patties made from 400g mashed chickpeas, the same spices, 1 egg, and 30g chickpea flour to bind.
Keeping it
Store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat gently in a covered pan with a splash of water. The yoghurt is best added fresh when serving, so store it separately if you know you will be reheating.
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