Healthy Moroccan Beef Kofta Patties and Yogurt Sauce
Why you should make burgers the Mediterranean way.

We know you’re tiring of your usual beef recipes, so here’s a great way to switch it up! This beef kofta recipe comes from Moroccan cuisine and is actually a Mediterranean diet version of a meatball. However, this beef kofta is going to be shaped into patties, like a flavorful Moroccan burger. (FYI: Kofta, or “kefta” in some regions, comes from a Persian word meaning “to grind” because it is made from ground beef or lamb.)
In this episode of To Eat With Love, our Mediterranean diet cooking show, nutritionist Fiorella DiCarlo, RD, CDN, begins by making a classic yogurt sauce. This healthy condiment is used in a variety of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes, like a leaner take on mayo or ranch dressing. (Here’s more advice on selecting healthy condiments.) The sauce is made with fat-free yogurt, fresh chopped parsley, lemon juice, and freshly ground black pepper. Make sure the yogurt is plain and unsweetened (you don’t want vanilla in this sauce), and look for one that contains “live and active cultures.” That’s how you get those gut-healthy probiotics! (Here’s more on how probiotics can boost your health.)
The next step is to prepare the cucumber salad. This simple side dish is made by adding rice vinegar to sliced cucumbers. (Try using a mandolin to get thin, even slices.) This process is a quick way to pickle vegetables, which enhances texture and flavor of dishes. These pickled cucumbers make an excellent, crunchy addition to any Mediterranean diet sandwich or platter.
To prepare the beef kofta patties, mix a very lean ground beef with the following spices: cilantro, parsley, fresh ginger, coriander, cumin, and cinnamon. This results in a classic spice blend for North African cuisines. Using spices is also a smart way to cut the sodium levels in your food.
To plate the beef kofta patties after they’ve cooked, place the yogurt sauce in a bowl at the center of a serving platter. Add the patties on one side and a pile of the fresh cucumber salad on the other. Fill in the remaining space around the bowl with triangles of pita bread, which is perfect for stuffing or dipping with the other ingredients. For a special touch, grill the pita bread before adding to the plate.
Dinner guests will love creating their own pita wraps from this fresh, made-with-love platter! Add a side of couscous or a “salad vert” (lettuce and tomatoes) for an extra touch of Moroccan flare to your Mediterranean diet dish.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground sirloin
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, divided
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon chopped and peeled fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cups thinly sliced English cucumber
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup plain fat-free Greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 (6-inch) pitas, quartered
Instructions
1. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Combine beef, 1/4 cup parsley, cilantro, ginger, coriander, cumin, and ground cinnamon in a medium bowl. Divide mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 1/2-inch-thick patty. Add patties to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. 2. Combine cucumber and vinegar in a medium bowl; toss well. Combine yogurt, remaining 2 tablespoons parsley, juice, and pepper in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. 3. Arrange 1 patty and 1/2 cup cucumber mixture on each of 4 plates. Top each serving with about 2 tablespoons yogurt sauce. Serve each with 2 pita wedges.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition Information Based on a Single Serving
*Percent Daily Value are based on a 2000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Dietary Needs


Fiorella DiCarlo is a registered dietitian in New York City.
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Today we're spicing it up and
cooking moroccan style, beef kefta and
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cucumber salad.
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[MUSIC]
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We are cooking a protein and
veggie packed meal, moroccan style.
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And we're gonna start
with our yogurt sauce.
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And this is a very common
Mediterranean dip and
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sauce that is used to accompany
a lot of different entrees.
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So, we're gonna start with this
protein packed probiotic dairy,
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and we're gonna go ahead and
put it into our bowl.
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This particular is fat free,
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which is going to reduce the overall
fat content of this recipe.
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It also contains probiotics, and we know
how great probiotics are for healthy
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gut bacteria, which keeps blood sugar
in check and your immune system high.
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And we're going to add fresh
aromatic parsley to this sauce and
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we're going to add lemon juice, and
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what's interesting about this lemon
juice into this sauce is once we put it
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over any lean protein like the sirloin
that we're using today, it's actually
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going to be used to enhance the bio
availability of the iron in that sirloin.
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And the lemon is going to liven up
the flavor of this sauce as well.
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Very Mediterranean and very Moroccan.
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We gonna go ahead and spice a tad bit up
with some pepper and mix it all together.
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Into this beautiful creamy luscious sauce.
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One of the great parts of
the Mediterranean diet is how beautifully
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they dress their vegetables and
use them at meals.
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In Moroccan cuisine, hot and
cold vegetable dishes and
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salads begin every meal.
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Today we're going to start
with a cucumber salad and
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this is beautiful because it's fresh and
it's seasonal and we're gonna use
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it to enhance the antioxidant and
fiber content of this meal.
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We're gonna go ahead and
put some rice vinegar into it, and
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rice vinegar is very interesting.
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Actually any vinegar helps
reduce blood sugar levels for
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people in diabetes and work also as a
prebiotic in the body, so that is really,
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really an extra punch to this salad.
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And pickling vegetables is widely
common in Mediterranean cooking.
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It actually enhances the spiciness and
the crisp liveliness of the meals.
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Now, the cucumber, as you see,
I'm gonna pick this up with my hands,
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has been sliced with the skin around it,
which is where all of the vitamins and
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the fiber is located in this cucumber,
as well as a lot other vegetable, so
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I would always say to kind
of keep the skins on.
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It adds to the fiber which actually
reduces blood sugar levels as well,
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keeps you fuller longer and
is really helpful in weight loss.
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Moroccan spices are world renowned and
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if you're ever been to
a spice market in Morocco,
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you are just going to be Infused with all
of the aromas of these lovely spices.
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Everything from turmeric,
to cinnamon, to coriander, to cumin,
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just absolutely infused in every meal.
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As a matter of fact, the Moroccan
cuisine has a lot of Arabic influences,
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Mediterranean influences, and
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the indigenous influences of
the Berber tribes of North Africa.
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All of these gorgeous spices combine
to make what we know today as Moroccan.
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If you go through the beautiful
spice markets in Morocco you will be
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just absolutely entranced by the lovely
aromatics of all the spices that
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surround you with the beautiful colors.
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And today we're going to give homage
to some of those gorgeous spices
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in this recipe.
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Now, the first thing we're going to do is
we're going to take our very lean sirloin.
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This is a great, great choice for this
meal because it is full of iron and zinc.
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And it is a lean protein, so it's great
for everyone who is on a diabetic diet or
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is looking for weight loss.
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We're gonna go ahead and
put this into our bowl.
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And we're going to then add
the rest of our spices.
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We're going to put in our lovely cilantro,
which is going to give it a nice little
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lemon feel, and our wonderful parsley,
that is filled with a lot of
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different essential oils that are going to
enhance the aromas in this meal as well.
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Next, we're gonna put some
ginger in as an anti-microbial
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with lots of antioxidants here.
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So by adding all of these
antioxidants to your meal,
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you're giving it
an anti-inflammatory quality.
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Now we're gonna put in our coriander,
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as well as our cumin, which is going
to give it a very smokey feel.
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And again, both of these spices are very
Moroccan, very North African and
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enhancing the over all antioxidant,
heart healthy qualities of this meal.
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Finally we're going to put some cinnamon
and this is also a great combination.
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I'm gonna go ahead and
mix this with my hands as well.
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So what we're going to do once
this is wonderfully mixed in and
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it picked up all of the antioxidants from
these herbs, we're going to go ahead and
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form our patties.
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What we can use to get extra schmancy
is use one of these rings here.
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There we go, right on our board, and
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we have this beautiful slightly fancy,
cylindrical patty.
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Now, our pan has been on high heat, and
we're gonna feel a lovely sizzle as we
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put our patty down to give it a nice sir
that's exactly what we're looking for.
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[MUSIC]
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Great.
Now we have our little indoor grill,
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and it's time to flip them.
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All right, there we go.
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Look at that.
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Perfectly beautiful marks.
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[MUSIC]
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Perfect.
All right, so
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we're gonna cook them through to about a
medium, which is usually a crowd pleaser.
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And then we're gonna plate them.
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We're gonna take our patties, here we are.
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We're going to put them on our gorgeous
plate There we are, there we go.
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There we go, and next we're going to
add our beautiful cucumbers that have
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been chilling that we've mixed,
into this plate.
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And this is gonna be a great textural
experience with the crunchy cucumbers, and
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the savory steaks.
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And then of course, if you didn't forget,
we have this lovely,
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creamy sauce,
yogurt sauce that we've made before.
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And then of course, we're going to
add a nice little crunch of pita.
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And we're going to go ahead and
add it right to our plate Just gorgeous.
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These can be whole grain.
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Whole grain high fiber pita are great for
increasing the fiber content of this meal
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and really, really being heart healthy and
weight management savvy.
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That is a gorgeous Moroccan style meal.
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I'm Curella, and thank you so
much for joining me today, and
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I'll see you next time.
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[MUSIC]