The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.
As of December 2025, we’ve revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.
Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.
Harissa Beef Koftas with Turmeric Brown Rice, Cucumber Yoghurt & Pomegranate
Bring Middle Eastern flavours to British beef, thanks to one tasty ingredient: fragrant harissa. Sizzle your homemade koftas until juicy and tender, then serve alongside a fragrant turmeric rice, tangy pickled onion salad and cooling cucumber yoghurt. Ruby pomegranate seeds complete the feast.
High protein
7 plants
Serving size
Ingredients
- 280g beef mince (british beef mince (10% fat))
- 75g pomegranate seeds
- 20g mixed salad leaves
- 110g baby tomatoes
- 80g greek style yoghurt (Milk)
- 1 midi cucumber
- 1 handful of fresh mint
- 1 tbsp harissa paste (Water, Rapeseed Oil, Diced Red Pepper, Red Pepper, Paprika Flakes, Garlic, Salt, Rose Petals, Ground Cumin, Ground Coriander, Black Pepper, Paprika Oleoresin, Crushed Chilies, Natural Flavouring Smoke, Oregano, Citric Acid, Parsley)
- 4 tsp garlic paste (Garlic, Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Citric Acid)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (red wine vinegar (100%))
- 100g rice (brown) (100% Brown Rice)
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 onion
Nutritional Information
Calories: 695
Protein: 39g
Carbs: 59g
Fat: 27g
Ingredients
- 140g beef mince (use half) (british beef mince (10% fat))
- 20g mixed salad leaves (use half)
- 100g rice (brown) (use half) (100% Brown Rice)
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar (use half) (red wine vinegar (100%))
- 1 midi cucumber (use half)
- 75g pomegranate seeds (use half)
- 80g greek style yoghurt (use half) (Milk)
- 110g baby tomatoes (use half)
- 1 onion (use half)
- 1 tsp turmeric (use half)
- 1 handful of fresh mint (use half)
- 1 tbsp harissa paste (use half) (Water, Rapeseed Oil, Diced Red Pepper, Red Pepper, Paprika Flakes, Garlic, Salt, Rose Petals, Ground Cumin, Ground Coriander, Black Pepper, Paprika Oleoresin, Crushed Chilies, Natural Flavouring Smoke, Oregano, Citric Acid, Parsley)
- 4 tsp garlic paste (use half) (Garlic, Olive Oil, Sea Salt, Citric Acid)
Nutritional Information
Calories: 574
Protein: 24g
Carbs: 59g
Fat: 20g
Harissa Beef Koftas with Turmeric Brown Rice, Cucumber Yoghurt & Pomegranate
Bring Middle Eastern flavours to British beef, thanks to one tasty ingredient: fragrant harissa. Sizzle your homemade koftas until juicy and tender, then serve alongside a fragrant turmeric rice, tangy pickled onion salad and cooling cucumber yoghurt. Ruby pomegranate seeds complete the feast.
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Cooking Instructions
Before you start
- Bring a medium saucepan filled with salted water to a boil
- Pull out a medium frying pan, 2 medium bowls, a small bowl, a sieve & a grater
Get the rice on & pickle the onion
- Add the rice and turmeric to the saucepan and boil for 25-30 mins, until cooked, then drain and return to the pan
- Thinly slice the onion and place half into a medium bowl with the vinegar and a pinch of salt. Mix and leave to pickle
- Heat the medium frying pan with 1/2 tsp oil on medium-high heat. Once hot, add the remaining onion and cook for 4 mins, then stir in half the garlic paste and cook for a further min. Remove from the pan and set aside
Make the koftas
- Meanwhile, add the mince to the other medium bowl with the harissa and remaining garlic paste. Season generously with salt and pepper, then form into 6 sausage-shaped koftas, 2cm thick
- Reheat the medium frying pan with 1 tsp oil on medium-high heat. Once hot, add the koftas and cook for 18 mins, until golden brown and cooked through
Prep time
- Pick the mint leaves from the stalks and roughly chop
- Coarsely grate half the cucumber, then add to the small bowl, along with the yoghurt and mint. Season with salt and pepper
- Cut the remaining cucumber into 1/2cm thick half-moons. Halve the tomatoes. Add both to the bowl with the pickled onion and set aside
Last bits
- Once cooked, stir the cooked onion through the rice and season to taste
- Add the salad leaves to the pickled onion bowl and toss to combine
Plate up
- Check your meat is cooked through; it should be golden brown, steaming hot, the juices should run clear when cut and there should be no pink / rare meat inside
- Share the koftas between plates, with the rice and salad alongside. Add a dollop of the cucumber yoghurt and scatter with the pomegranate seeds to finish
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