Koofteh Tabrizi is one of the most difficult, yet delicious foods of Persian Cuisine. The preparation takes time, the stuffings vary, and you need to practice the professional skill of making huge meatballs. The tomato sauce plays a crucial role in Koofteh Tabrizi and needs sensitive taste buds to perfect. You also need to know your way around rice and ground meat, and fresh or dried vegetables.
# Put the split yellow peas in a pot, add boiling water until it covers them up and simmer for 15 minutes over low heat and drain.
# Fry the sliced onions in 2 tbsp vegetable oil until golden.
# Put the grated onions in a bowl, add the split yellow peas and 1/3 cup of the cooked rice.
# Add the ground beef to the bowl and mix.
# Add turmeric, ground chili pepper, salt and the minced herbs (keep 1/8 of the herbs to use in step 9) to the bowl and mix well.
# Beat one egg and add it to the bowl and mix thoroughly.
# Take a chunk of the mixture. Stuff with 1/8 of the boiled egg, walnuts, dried apricots and dried barberries. Wrap and pinch the edges to seal and make a meat ball shape.
# Back to the frying onion pot, add turmeric, persian spice mix (Advieh), ground chili pepper and continue frying for 5 minutes.
# Add 1 tbsp tomato paste and the rest of the herbs, stir well and fry for 5 more minutes.
# Add boiling water to the pot and stir.
# Put the meatballs in the pot, let it simmer for half an hour.
# Flip the meatballs over and continue simmering over low heat for 30 more minutes.
Iranian Appetizers: Pumpkin Soup with Persian Recipe
