Kefta: When things don't work out ...

This past weekend I tried making kefta. It was my first effort, and I looked at a dozen recipes, salivating at the thought of spicy ground lamb with a hint of mint or cilantro, served with a tasty cucumber yogurt sauce. Oh, the dreams I had! Things began to go down hill when the grocery didn't have ground lamb, so I bought lean ground beef. Not the same, I'm afraid. Also, the recipe called for shredding the onion. Well, to preserve my eyes, I will never shred onions without a food processor (and I am without a food processor). No matter how small you mince the onions, it really didn't seem to work very well -- getting it all stuck together in little egg-shaped balls was a nightmare. And then, there wasn't enough salt! Here's the recipe, which has some merit, but could use improvement ...

1.25-1.5 # ground beef (should use lamb)
1 onion minced
3 Tbsp. each, chopped fresh cilantro and chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp. each ground cumin, coriander, cinnamon (should go lighter on the cinnamon), and cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste (be liberal)

Blend all together and shape into 12-16 egg shaped balls of meat. Place on broiler pan and broil 4-5 minutes on each side.

So there's the kefta. I brought it to a party, and people did eat it after I salted it some more. I was disappointed that there were leftovers, however. I brought them home and delayed eating them for a day or two. Leftover meat doesn't sound appetizing to me! But I am on a new mission to stop wasting food, so I knew I had to eat them.

Step 1: Buy some pita.
Step 2: Impromptu feta-yogurt-dill dressing (1/3 c. plain yogurt, 1/4 c. crumbled feta, 1/4-1/2 tsp. dried dill, salt and pepper)
Step 3: Slice some fresh tomato and cucumber
Step 4: Heat the kefta, slice it, and load into pita with veggies and liberal amounts of dressing

Hmmm ... a surprise! It was a damn tasty sandwich, and tastier the more dressing I added. Nice to know you can make lemonade from some no-so-exciting lemons...