Kafta Skewers make perfect little bites for your holiday parties! Flavorful Kafta mini meatballs with cherry tomatoes, fresh mint leaves and a silky labneh kiss.

Kafta is always a crowd pleaser!! Everyone asks for Kafta when I'm planning for a family meal or party menu. "Raf!!! Can you please make Kafta?". This new twist on a classical Lebanese recipe will become a favorite go to idea for parties or TV dinners.

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Bon Appétit!

KAFTA SKEWERS with Labneh

Recipe credits: Rafaella Sargi
Makes approx 40 skewers

Kafta Ingredients
500 g ground beef
250 g ground lamb
½ bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
¾ cup roughly chopped white onion
2 slices of white sandwich bread
1 ½ teaspoons of salt
¾ teaspoon of ground allspice

Dip Ingredients
½ cup labneh
1 garlic clove, crushed
Salt

40 fresh mint leaves
20 cherry tomatoes, halved

Directions
You will need one big bowl, one medium food processor fitted with the blade attachment, food safe gloves, two baking sheets lined with aluminum paper and one plate lined with paper towel.
Scale and prep all the ingredients.

In a big mixing bowl, put the ground beef and the ground lamb. Set aside.
In the bowl of a food processor, put the diced onions with the 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and ¾ teaspoon of allspice and process until finely chopped. Add the parsley a little bit at a time, and process each time until completely blended. Add the bread, one slice at a time and process until everything seems well blended. Pour this mixture over the ground meats, put your gloves on and mix well until the onion/parsley mixture and the ground meat are mixed homogeneously.

Heat the oven to 200 C.

Wearing food safe gloves, form small meatballs of kafta and place them on the prepared baking sheets. Bake in a hot oven for around 20 to 25 minutes until completely cooked through. I advise you to open the oven a couple of times and lightly shake the baking sheets so the kafta meatballs don’t get crusty on one side but cook evenly.

Meanwhile, mix the labneh with the garlic and season with salt. Cover and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Once the kafta is ready, let it drain for a few minutes in a plate lined with paper towel. Assemble the skewers combining one small meatball with one mint leave and a halved cherry tomato. Serve with the labneh dip: Perfect little bite!

*Recipe published in Taste & Flavors Magazine. Winter 2015.