Iraqi Kofta - Oven-Baked Meat Patties with homemade chicken stock

👨‍🍳 Method

For the homemade chicken stock ✓ Homemade · or skip – back to store-bought

1. 1
   Put the chicken, the onion, carrot, celery, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns and the water in a pot and bring to a boil. Skim off the foam that rises during the first 15 minutes with a spoon.

   StovePot
2. 2
   Turn down and simmer gently 2.5–3 hours.

   Stove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
3. 3
   Strain the stock.

   Colander

For the Meatball mix

1. 4
   Mix the ground meat with the onion, garlic, parsley, egg, breadcrumbs, cumin, paprika, baharat, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.
2. 5
   With wet hands, shape patties the size of Egg.

   💡Wet hands don't stick to the mixture, and the patties come out smooth and even.

To assemble

1. 6
   Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F).

   Oven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
2. 7
   In the baking dish, mix the tomato paste and stock. The sauce cooks in the oven with the dish.

   Baking pan
3. 8
   Nestle the meatballs in the sauce in the pan and drizzle the olive oil over them.

   Baking pan
4. 9
   Bake 30–35 minutes, until the meatballs are golden.

   OvenBaking pan

   💡Meatballs baked in the sauce cook in it from below and brown on top, with no frying and no flipping.

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
5. 10
   Serve with white rice.