Feta-Stuffed Koftas With Grilled Peppers

Ingredients

• 4 large mixed bell pepperses
• black pepper
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• lemon, zested and juiced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 100 g feta, cubed
• 50 g panko breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tsp paprika, divided
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp sea salt, divided
• lemon, for serving
• 25 g coriander, chopped
• 500 g lamb mince
• Chopped salad, to serve

Method

1. Put a large lidded frying pan on a high heat. Once it's smoking, lay in the whole peppers and weigh them down with a heavy-bottomed saucepan — the weight forces contact with the hot metal, which is how you get blackened skin instead of soft, steamed pepper. Char for five minutes a side until the skins are blistered and blackened in patches, then lift off the heat and let them sit until cool enough to handle.
2. Put three of the peppers in a bowl with the vinegar, the lemon juice, the olive oil and a generous pinch of salt and pepper. Leave to marinate while you make the koftas — the acid does the work of seasoning the flesh from the outside in. Set the pan aside, you'll use it again.
3. Pull off and discard the stem from the remaining pepper and tip it into a food processor with the onion, garlic, coriander and red lentils. Blitz to a smooth paste — the lentils keep the koftas tender without anyone clocking them.
4. Scrape the paste into a large bowl. Add the lamb, panko, lemon zest, cumin, aleppo chilli, half a teaspoon of paprika, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and a good grind of pepper. Season the mince generously — this is the only chance you have to season the meat itself. Mix thoroughly with your hands for a full minute, until the mixture feels tacky and holds together when you squeeze a pinch.
5. Divide into eight 70g balls. Flatten one in your palm into a disc, place a cube of feta in the centre, then wrap the meat around it and pinch the seams shut — any gap and the cheese leaks out into the pan. Shape into a torpedo, pinching the ends slightly. Repeat with the rest.
6. Wipe out the pan, add the olive oil and set it over a high heat. When the oil shimmers, lay in the koftas with a thumb's width between each — work in two batches if your pan is smaller. Don't crowd them: all at once and the pan drops in temperature, water comes out, and you've stewed the koftas instead of browning them. Fry for eight minutes, turning every two minutes, until deeply browned on all sides and the cumin and paprika smell toasted rather than raw — that's the spices blooming in the hot oil and finally tasting of themselves.
7. Scatter over the remaining quarter-teaspoon of paprika, cover with the lid and cook for a further two minutes, until the koftas are cooked through and the feta has softened inside. The garlic in the mix has been protected by the meat, but if you catch a sharp acrid smell at any point, pull the pan — burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter. Taste a corner of one kofta and adjust salt now, not at the table.
8. Lift the koftas onto a warm platter alongside the marinated peppers, spooning some of the lemony marinade juices over the top. Drizzle generously with tahini, scatter with torn mint, and serve with the lemon wedges for squeezing at the table.