
Kefta Mkaouara (Moroccan Meatballs in Tomato Sauce)
Small beef meatballs browned and then finished in a tomato and onion sauce with ras el hanout. It is Moroccan, and the fuller name for the dish is kefta mkaouara. The name belongs to an enormous family. Kefta, kofta, köfte, kufta and kafta are all the same word rendered from different languages, and versions of the dish run from Morocco through Egypt, Turkey and the Levant to South Asia. What distinguishes the Moroccan one is the seasoning, ras el hanout, the North African blend that varies by spice merchant but typically runs to a dozen or more spices, and the tagine format, where the meatballs finish in a shallow tomato sauce rather than being served dry. The size matters and is easy to get wrong. Moroccan meatballs are small, the source compares them to a large marble, because they are eaten communally from a shared dish with bread rather than plated individually. Larger ones do not work the same way. Eating it is part of it. The tagine is set in the middle of the table and everyone scoops from it with pieces of Moroccan bread, traditionally with mint tea afterwards. A separate Egyptian kofta recipe exists on this site. The two are relatives rather than duplicates: different meat, different spicing, different country.
Morocco55 minFoodChef

























