Kafta with Pomegranate Molasses - AFF featuring West Asia

Decided to post up my final post of the year by participating in this month's AFF. In fact I have been procrastinating on recipe since 1st week of Dec haha! Anyways, I am glad I finally got it done and over with....and it was really delicious haha! So no regrets there for sure. :) In fact this is perfect timing to make this dish since poms are on sale and you will need at least 4 of those big fruits to extract a cup of the precious molasses for this dish.

Please pardon the qualities of my pictures as most of them are taken using my phone camera haha! Anyway, brown coloured food are usually harder to produce nicer shots. ;P There is basically two steps in making this dish, first is of course making the pom molasses is most of the tedious part is the reduction of the juice. So here is the recipe:

Pomegranate Molasses (makes 1 cup)
3 large pomegranates, yields about 500ml juice
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup caster sugar

• Place all the pomegranate seeds into a blender and zap at high speed for about 1-2minutes.
• Using a fine sieve, drain through all the pom juice and toss the pulp and seed.
• In a saucepan, add in all the pom juice, lemon juice and sugar. Set to medium fire and bring to a boil. Then lower the fire to low and let it cook down till it is thick, much like syrup consistency.
• Let cool completely and set aside for later use.
• 

 Kafta with Pomegranate molasses (Serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

200g minced beef

1 large onion

2 -3 sprigs fresh parsely

3 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp seasalt

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp bread crumbs

1/2 diced onion 

2-3 tbsp pomegranate molsses

• In the blender, add in onion, parsley, garlic and all of the seasoning. Once it blend till paste form, pour into a mixing bowl.
• Add the minced beef & bread crumbs into the mixing bowl and stir to combine paste with meat till uniform.
• Form about 1.5" balls from the meat mixture. Then chill if needed prior to cooking so that it will be more firm.
• In a large skillet, add about 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat. Add the kafta balls and cook till golden brown. Add a couple tablespoons of water to steam cook if necessary.
• Remove the kafta balls from the skillet once cooked and add in the 1/2 diced onions and cook till soft.
• Return the cooked kafta balls into the skillet and 2-3 tablespoons of the pomegranate molasses.
• Toss and coat the meatballs with the molasses and dish up.Serve when it is still hot with steam rice.

I was really please when my two little ones love these meatballs! The meat was moist and tender and flavorful, yummy! Loving the slight tang the pom juice gave the meatballs, plus the spices wasn't overpowering at all...definitely a keeper around my household.

I am please to submit this month's  Asian Food Fest: West Asia hosted by Shannon from Just As Delish.

Signing off now and wishing everyone a wonderful new year! Promise I will post more often haha