Lamb Koftas with Tomato Salad, Yogurt & Flatbreads

Ingredients

• 500g lamb mince
• 1 red onion, finely grated
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 1.5 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 15g mint, finely chopped
• 300g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 0.5 cucumber, diced
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 15g flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
• 4 flatbreads, warmed
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 220g Greek yogurt
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• Chopped salad, to serve

Method

1. Tip the lamb mince into a large bowl with the drained red lentils, grated onion, grated garlic, cumin, ground coriander, smoked paprika and chopped mint. Season generously with salt and black pepper — koftas under-seasoned at this stage cannot be rescued later. Mix firmly with your hands for a minute or two until the mixture looks uniform and feels slightly tacky; that tackiness is the protein binding, and it's what stops the koftas falling apart on the heat.
2. Shape into 8 sausage-shaped koftas around skewers, or mould them firmly by hand. Chill for 10 minutes if you have time — cold koftas hold their shape far better the moment they hit a hot pan.
3. Halve the cherry tomatoes and dice the cucumber into a bowl. Add the red wine vinegar, the chopped parsley, a glug of olive oil and a good pinch of salt. Toss and leave to sit while you cook — the salt pulls juice from the tomatoes and the splash of vinegar dresses the salad from within.
4. Stir the Greek yoghurt with the lemon zest, half the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Taste it — it should be sharp and lifted, not bland. It's doing real work cutting through the spiced lamb, so don't hold back on the lemon juice or the salt.
5. Heat a heavy stainless or cast iron pan over a medium-high heat until properly hot — a drop of water should hiss and vanish. Brush the koftas with the olive oil and lay them in the pan in a single layer, in two batches if needed. Don't crowd them; all 8 at once and the pan drops in temperature, water leaks out, and you've steamed the lamb instead of browning it. Cook for 8–10 minutes per batch, turning every couple of minutes, until deeply bronzed on all sides and just firm to the touch.
6. The cumin, coriander and paprika in the spice mix bloom in the lamb's own fat as the koftas brown — that is where the deep, savoury aroma comes from, and why you want a proper crust rather than a pale finish. The garlic in the mince will catch and turn bitter if the pan runs too hot, so if you see any dark flecks forming on the surface, ease the heat down — you want fragrant and pale gold, not scorched.
7. Warm the flatbreads in the pan for the last minute, or in a low oven, just until soft and pliable — not dry at the edges. Taste the salad and the yoghurt one more time; adjust the salt now, not at the table.
8. Pile the koftas onto a board or plates, spoon the lemony yoghurt alongside, tip the juicy tomato and cucumber salad over the top, and tuck the warm flatbreads in for tearing and scooping.