Turkish Lamb Köfte with Herby Yoghurt & Salad

Ingredients

• 600 g lamb mince
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• salt and black pepper
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 250 g plain yogurt
• 2 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1 lemon, juiced
• flatbreads, to serve
• 2 large tomatoes, roughly diced
• 0.5 cucumber, diced
• 0.5 red onion, thinly sliced
• Chopped salad, to serve

Method

1. Toast the cumin and ground coriander in a small dry pan over medium heat for 30–60 seconds, just until fragrant and a shade darker — this blooms the spices so they taste of themselves rather than dusty cupboard. Tip into a large bowl with the cinnamon and chilli flakes.
2. Add the lamb mince, grated onion, minced garlic and parsley to the bowl. Season generously with salt and black pepper — köfte under-seasoned at this stage cannot be rescued later. Mix thoroughly with your hands for a full 2 minutes until the mixture turns tacky and tightens; that's the protein binding, and it's what stops the köfte falling apart on the heat.
3. Divide into 12 equal portions and shape into ovals around skewers or free-form. Chill for 10 minutes — cold köfte hold their shape and char rather than slumping in the pan.
4. Stir the yoghurt with the crushed garlic, mint and half the lemon juice. Season with salt and taste — it should be bright and properly seasoned, not polite. Set aside so the garlic mellows into the yoghurt.
5. Toss the tomatoes, cucumber and red onion with the remaining lemon juice and a good pinch of salt. Leave for 5 minutes so the tomatoes weep their juice — that liquid becomes the dressing.
6. Heat a heavy griddle pan or cast-iron frying pan over high heat until you can see a faint shimmer of smoke. Brush the köfte with olive oil and lay them down with space between each — work in two batches if your pan is small. Crowd them and the heat drops, water pours out, and you steam the lamb instead of charring it.
7. Cook for 3–4 minutes per side without moving them, until deeply charred with dark griddle lines and just cooked through, 7–8 minutes total. The garlic in the mix is protected by the meat, but watch the surface — if it's blackening past char into bitter, drop the heat a notch. Rest the köfte for a minute off the heat.
8. Warm the flatbreads in a dry pan or directly over a gas flame, turning with tongs until soft and lightly blistered. Taste the salad and the yoghurt one more time — adjust salt now, not at the table.
9. Spread each warm flatbread generously with the herby yoghurt, lay three köfte on top, spoon the tomato-cucumber salad and its juices alongside, drizzle with tahini, and scatter torn mint over the lot.