Koufte Havij | Persian Carrot Meatball

Koufte Havij | Persian Carrot Meatball

Kufteh (meatball) is one of the popular foods in Iran. There are different kinds of Kufteh in Persian cooking, like: Kufteh Tabrizi (the most popular one in Iran, which is originally from Tabriz in Iran’s Azerbaijan province), Kufteh Berenji (rice meat ball), Kufteh Jafary (parsley meatball), Kufteh Havij (carrot meatball), and etc.

Kufteh havij, is one of the less known, but still delicious and nutritious kinds of Kufteh. If you are a fan of kebab or meat balls, you really need to try this one too. In this kind of Kufteh, we don’t use rice and split pea (like in Kufteh Tabrizi) and we use carrot instead. That is why this Kufteh enjoys less calorie than Kufteh Tabrizi. The carrot used in this food, makes it nutritious and gives it a specific taste. Let’s see how:

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Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine persian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

For the meatballs

• 250 grams minced lamb and veal
• 200 grams grated carrots
• 1 grated onion
• 1 egg
• ¼ tablespoon turmeric
• 40 grams parsley finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon white flour
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 15 grams walnuts finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon barberries
• 1 tablespoon raisins
• Oil, salt and black pepper as much as required

For the Sauce

• 1 tablespoon flour
• ½ tablespoon turmeric
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 3 tablespoons piaz dagh
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon brewed saffron
• 1.5 liter water

Instructions

 

Meatballs

• In a suitable bowl mix the meat with some salt. Then add carrots, onions, egg, some black pepper and turmeric. Mix them all. (use your hands!). Then add parsley and flour. Mix them again. At the end, divide the mixture to 5-6 balls.
• In a pan stir-fry the walnuts, barberry and raisins for 1-2 minutes.
• Place tangerine size ball from the meat mixture on your palm. Spread it evenly to a small disc. Place a little bit of the walnuts' mixture in the center of the meat disc. Bring up the sides together to cover the walnuts mixture and roll it up gently to make a ball. Do the same with rest of the meat balls.

Sauce

• Preheat some oil in a pot, then add flour to the pot and stir-fry till its color and rawness smell changes a little, then add ½ spoon of turmeric.
• In another pan, stir-fry the tomato paste and add all the other ingredients to it. Cook it over a low flame until it boils. Our sauce is ready.
• At the end, add the meat balls to the boiling sauce. Put the lid on and cook them over a low flame for 40 minutes.

How to serve and top carrot meatballs?

• Kufteh is usually served with pickles (Torshi), Sabzi Khordan (Persian herbs) and different Persian breads especially Sangak. Persian Kufteh is not usually served with rice, because it already has rice in its ingredients, but you can serve Kufteh havij with rice too.
• To top the dish, use the raw ingredients which are used for cooking it, such as raisins and walnuts.
• The dish has a reddish color, by adding some green vegetables (Sabzi Khordan), you can make it much more good looking!

6 helping tips for cooking koufteh havij or carrot meatballs

• Kufteh is nutritious enough to be considered a main course in Persian table.
• You can add some nokhodchi (chick pea) flour to the minced meat to give it a different taste and a stickier texture, which is necessary for making Kufhteh balls.
• When making balls, if you feel that the meat texture is still too loose, add some flour.
• You can use prunes instead of walnuts mixture for the center of the meat balls.
• Minced meat can be replaced with minced chicken, but Iranian kufteh is originally cooked with minced meat.
• The heads of the balls need to be out of the sauce when you place them in the sauce pan. In other words, don’t drown your Kufteh balls in sauce!