Palestinian Fish Meatballs (Kofta)
Palestinian fish meatballs have a delicious crust and juicy center oozing with rich, savory flavors from a host of Middle Eastern spices. Flaky fish is fried and baked into a dish that’s a little spicy, a little herbal, and very delicious! Pair with creamy yogurt, labneh, or hummus.
In coastal Middle Eastern towns, many make their living bringing in plump, tasty fish from the sparkling Mediterranean. One of my absolute favorite Middle Eastern-style fish, or samak, recipes are these Palestinian fish meatballs.
This koftet samak puts all of the rich, warm, and earthy Palestinian seasonings on display: sumac, cumin, cardamom, and other essential Middle Eastern herbs and spices. Blended together in baharat samak, they turn the otherwise mild cod in this fish meatball recipe into something remarkable.
Koftet samak makes a great appetizer or light main course. Serve with some cooling, plain Greek yogurt or labneh (which is basically a rich Middle Eastern cream cheese) and eat your fill! It’s also nice to serve with smooth, silky hummus.
Table of Contents
If you’re familiar with other kafta recipes made with beef, lamb, or chicken, you’ll pick this one up in a flash.
Make ahead of time
Fish kofta meatballs can be made up to a day in advance – up to the point where they are about to go into the oven. Once cooked, they can be eaten immediately or refrigerated and served the next day. Serve either at room temperature or warmed through.
(Be sure to check the recipe card for a full list of ingredients and quantities)
- Cod – Use boneless, skinless fillets of any white or other mild-tasting fish.
- Onions – One white onion and one red for a good mix of juicy, sweet, and sharp oniony flavor and texture.
- Lemon – Let’s make the most of our produce — zest the rind and then slice into 6 wedges for serving.
- Red Chiles – Red chiles are very popular in Palestinian cooking. For this fish meatball recipe, I recommend either fresnos or red jalapeño. Thai chili would be another good choice — but it is hot, so proceed with caution!
- Fresh Dill & Parsley – These herbs add so much brightness and depth of flavor.
- Egg – Fish is much drier than the proteins we usually make meatballs with (lamb, beef, etc.). We don’t need any extra breadcrumbs or anything like that to hold them together. Just an egg!
- Fish Seasoning (Baharat Samak) – The perfect spice blend for white fish, shellfish… red fish, blue fish, everything! It contains cardamom, cumin, turmeric, paprika, cayenne, and a pinch of salt.
- Sumac – This is a lemony spice that’s very popular in Middle Eastern cooking — and great with seafood!
- Sauté. Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook the onions for 8 to 10 minutes. Once softened, add the garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.
- Blend. Add the fish to a food processor and pulse a few times to break down. Add the cooled onion and garlic, chile, herbs, zest, egg, fish seasoning blend, sumac, salt, and pepper to the blender and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped — but not broken down into a paste.
- Shape. Use a stainless steel scoop or your hands to shape the mixture into 16 meatballs.
- Fry. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the koftet samak in sets of 2 or 3 until browned all over. Transfer the browned balls to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake. Cook for 4 or 5 minutes at 450 degrees F. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Serve. Spread yogurt or labneh onto each plate. Place 3 or 4 Palestinian fish meatballs on top, then garnish and serve.
Recommended Tools
- Stainless Steel Scoop – A 3-tablespoon scoop is the perfect size to get 16 meatballs (a good four servings) out of this fish meatball recipe!
- Food Processor – Quickly chop and combine the batter for Palestinian fish meatballs with a food processor or blender.
Storing, Freezing, and Reheating
Uncooked fish meatballs can be refrigerated up to 24 hours in advance. And, if you’d like to freeze them (they can be frozen for up to 3 months), arrange the uncooked fish balls on a baking sheet, freeze for a few hours, and then transfer to a plastic baggie or other airtight container.
Once cooked, leftover koftet samak should be eaten within a week. Eat your leftovers cold or reheated in the oven, microwave, or air fryer.
You want to use a flaky fish rather than a meaty one. By this I mean the flesh should break off from the bone — it shouldn’t be so meaty and firm that you need to slice through it.
Additionally, it should be more lean than fatty (because fatty fish will be too wet).
My recommendations are cod, snapper, pollock, tilapia, bass, haddock, or catfish.
As long as it’s prepared properly, yes. Frozen fish needs to be thawed and thoroughly patted dry to remove any and all excess moisture. Too much liquid throws off the balance of the recipe and can lead to loose fish meatballs.
Make sure you have the right texture before you even shape the fish balls. Work the mixture in your hands until it has that sticky texture. If it’s too loose, you may need to give it a little more time in the food processor.
If it still feels too loose, then something in your mixture is too wet. Squeeze out any moisture that you can or add an additional binder, like breadcrumbs.
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Palestinian Fish Meatballs (Kofta)
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/4 cups large red onion diced (1 large)
- 1 1/4 cups large white onion diced (1 large)
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 1/2 lbs cod fillets skinless, boneless, cut into 1 1/4 inch chunks
- 2 red chiles fresno or red jalapeño, 1 diced, 1 sliced into rings
- 3/4 cup fresh parsley chopped
- 3/4 cup fresh dill chopped plus few sprigs for garnish
- 1 lemon 2 tsp zest then cut into 6 wedges
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp Fish Seasoning (Baharat Samak) ingredients below
- 1 tbsp sumac
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2/3 cup plain Greek yogurt or Labneh
Fish Spice Blend
- 2 tsp ground cardamom
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp paprika smoked or sweet
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°F.
- Put 3 tablespoons of oil into a large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, 8-10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- In a food processor, pulse the chunks of fish a few times until broken down a bit. Add the cooled onion mixture, chopped chile, herbs, lemon zest, egg, 2 teaspoons of the fish spice mix, sumac, salt and black pepper. Process again until finely chopped but not a complete paste.
- Using a 3 tbsp scoop or your hands, shape the mixture into about 16 meatballs.
- Put 2 tablespoons of oil into a large frying pan and place on a medium-high heat. Once hot, add the kofta and brown all over in batches of 2 or 3 and fry for about 4 minutes, turning often.
- Transfer to a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for 4 or 5 minutes, until just cooked through. Remove from the oven and set aside for 5 minutes to slightly cool.
- To serve, spread the labneh or yogurt evenly on plate and top each with 3-4 cod meatballs. Sprinkle the kofta with sumac, dill sprig and sliced chile. Drizzle last tablespoon of oil over and serve, with a lemon wedges.
Fish Spice Blend
- Whisk together in a small bowl to combine. Store in an airtight container if not using right away. I like to blitz this mixture in a spice grinder to make the salt powdered and thoroughly mixed, but this is optional.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
We enjoyed this one as a family and a different way to use fish! I used NZ snapper and it worked well! Very tasty but easy. I squeezed the lemon quarters over the top, as I knew my husband wouldn’t bother to do so! And sprinkled pomegranate seeds over the top to look pretty and coriander. Served with corn cobs and Turkish Pide bread and dinner was served!
Fantastic! I also have a Pide recipe coming out soon!
The flavors are amazing but DO NOT do the recipe with frozen fish freshly thawed. The meatballs were super watery and could keep shape. Totally my mistake.
Definitely need to pat dry any excess water from thawing. Thanks for trying and the feedback, glad you enjoyed these Elisabeth.
This is a great recipe. To make it with less fat, I sprayed with oil instead of pan sauteed in oil. Delicious. Happy to see NO bread.
will be making this soon with few subs will dm you if i make this and let you know how it goes Thanks Ramya