Kofta at Home

For dinner, I had some kofta with rice and a glass of red wine.

Everything came from Phoenicia Market, aka the greatest place on earth. Or at least in Houston. My shopping trip also involved picking up their yummy Armenian-style vegetarian dolmades, fresh hummus, whole-wheat pita made by the bakery down the street, Sicilian olive oil, za'atar, and more of my beloved Palestinian-style fava beans.

The kofta was house-made. I wish it had an ingredient list, but no. I think it was just beef, chopped onion, and some spices. We pan-fried it in olive oil until it was nicely browned. It was a little salty, but otherwise much better than kofta I've had at restaurants, which is usually very bland.

The rice was covered in butter and some sumac. I also bought za'atar today, which is a Middle Eastern spice blend that generally contains thyme, sesame seeds, sumac, coriander, and a few other things. It's really good on pita bread (like, addictively good with some olive oil), so I broke down and bought it. I thought about trying it on the rice, but didn't. Maybe next time.

The wine was pretty good, a Marques de Caza tempranillo, under $7. Just a generic and tannic Spanish red table wine.