Prep time 20 min cook time 15 min
Moist turkey burgers with a light tahini sauce is a great mid-week treat.
Jerusalem the cook book authored by Yotam Ottolengi and Sami Tamimi is brilliant.
They have taken traditional Middle Eastern food to new heights and is a must for anyone serious about the wonderful recipes from that geographic melting pot. There is one drawback though. Many recipes in the book require a whole host of ingredients that I find a little excessive and time consuming to purchase and cook.
One recipe I keep coming back to is this simplified version of their turkey burgers. The genius of the recipe is the addition of grated zucchini to the minced turkey that lightens them. Smothered with an even lighter 
tahini yoghurt sauce and you have a great mid week summer dinner. Any leftovers make a delicious lunchtime snack in a flame seared pitta bread.
Turkey Koftas With Tahini Yoghurt Sauce
by
Derek Farwagi
Ingredients
The Tahini yoghurt Sauce
- 3 tbsp tahini paste
- juice of one lemon
- 2 tbsp Greek Yoghurt
- 2-3 tbsp water
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- salt to taste
The koftas
- ½ lb minced turkey
- 1 zucchini coarsely grated
- 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup bread crumbs
- 2 tbsp fresh mint
- 2 tbsp fresh cilantro
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ½ tsp Cayenne or Aleppo pepper
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Make the sauce first
- In a small bowl mix three tablespoons of Tahini paste with the juice of one lemon (It will start to thicken).
- Mix in two tablespoons of water.
- Add more water if needed to get a thick but runny consistency.
- Add a crushed garlic clove.
- Salt to taste
The Koftas
- Grate the zucchini.
- In a bowl, mix the minced turkey meat, grated zucchini, dried bread crumbs and all the dry ingredients.
- Shape mixture into 2 inch diameter patties.
- Heat up a pan with three tablespoons of vegetable oil on a medium heat and sear burgers in batches for about 3 min each side until golden brown.
- Plate, garnish with cilantro and serve with sauce on the side.
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