Think of this as a deconstructed Kafta Kebab. In fact, you could easily turn this recipe into a kafta kebob recipe by blending the beef, spices, and garlic into a meatball mixture. You can buy premade shawarma spice, ras el hanout, or kafta spice, but I have a basic mix included here with everyday spices you might already have in the pantry. The fragrance in the kitchen when this one is cooking is absolutely delightful. So much flavor, such an inexpensive and simple recipe. I might make this twice in one week because I can’t get enough.
Ingredients
olive oil
2 lbs. ground beef (or lamb or combo)
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 small head of cabbage, thinly sliced or shredded
5 tsp spice mix (recipe below)
3 cups beef broth (divided: 1 cup for beef, 2 cups for rice)
2 cups jasmine rice
plenty of salt
1-2 lemons
1/4 c. tahini (for serving)
4 Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
2 tsp. Zaatar (optional)
small bunch of fresh mint, parsley and cilantro, finely chopped
Kafta Spice Mixture:
3 tsp oregano
3 tsp coriander
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cayenne
Method
Cook 2 cups of jasmine rice in a rice cooker with 2 cups of beef broth, or on the stovetop with your usual liquid-to-rice ratio.
Meanwhile, coat the bottom of a large dutch oven with olive oil and turn it onto medium-high heat. Evenly salt your ground meat and sear, breaking it up into small bits of meat. Make sure to deeply brown the meat, do not rush this step. You want crispy caramelized meat for deep complex flavor.
Once the meat is browned, toss in the onions with a pinch of salt and allow the moisture in the onions to help deglaze the pan. Saute onions for a fewinutes until they begin to soften and turn translucent.
Make some space in the center of the pan, add a drop more olive oil, and then add the garlic to the oil and saute for just about a minute, until the garlic is fragrant but not burned. Then toss the meat mixture and garlic together and add all of the spice mixture, stirring to evenly coat the meat. Let the spices heat up for a minute or two until it smells amazing.
Then toss in the cabbage, another generous pinch of salt, and add about 1 cup of beef broth. Stir the cabbage and the spiced meat mixture until everything is evenly coated and distributed. Cover and let the cabbage cook/steam for a few more minutes until it is soft, but still has a nice bite. Taste, add a little more salt and perhaps another teaspoon of spice mix if needed. It should be deep, savory, fragrant and just absolutely delicious.
While the meat and cabbage is cooking, slice up a few cucumbers, add a pinch of salt to them, squeeze a few drops of lemon juice on them, and sprinkle them with za’atar. If you don’t have za’atar, use a little bit of sesame seeds, thyme, and black pepper. Also chop the mint, parsely and cilantro all together.
When the rice is cooked, and the cabbage is sufficiently softened, serve. Place a bed of rice in a bowl, then add the cabbage and meat on top. Drizzle with about 1 TBSP of tahini, sprinkle with a generous amount of fresh herbs. Lastly squeeze some lemon juice all over the top to brighten everything up. Enjoy.
Variations: I serve this with a simple tahini drizzle (dairy free) but tzatziki or tahini-yogurt would also be delightful.
