Arabic | Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

RAVE

I was pretty impressed with Trader Joe’s frozen “Middle Eastern Style Kebabs, Seasoned Beef Patties”. Kind of a Middle Eastern hamburger with lots of spices. I found these quite tasty and flavorful with lots of nice spices. Now I’ve made these style of kebabs myself in the past, and TJ’s version pretty much tasted like something I might have made. These are good enough I thought to imagine like what you could get in a Middle Eastern joint.

These kebabs are well seasoned with an authentic Middle Eastern style flavor as they have coriander, cumin, allspice, cloves plus other spices. I was even quite sursprised that my wife (some who is really tough on Trader Joe’s prepared foods, turning up her nose on the vast majority of items I ask her to try) like these and said they were tasty. In fact she even asked if I had made them or bought them from TJ’s (hah!)

The ingredients listed are nice and simple, and sound pretty much like what I would use – Ground beef, onions, eggs, breadcrumbs, parsley and seasonings (salt, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, allspice, pepper, coriander, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, black pepper).

COOKING: I think they benefit from a little more browning. So I cooked them in a pan on the stove – in spite of them not even listing this as way to make them, trust me you can and for me its the best way, especially as I cooked other things at the same time in the pan. I added sliced onions and a tablespoon of olive oil. Then later I warmed up my flatbread in the same pan. Other ways they list are oven, grill and air fryer too and microwave (however I say don’t just nuke it!)

I just put a little olive oil in a pan and cooked them on medium low until they were hot and nicely browned, which took maybe 7-8 minutes per side. You can also make them in the oven or in an air fryer or on a grill. Microwave? I wouldnt suggest that though the package says so. I think they will be far better getting a bit more browning from actual cooking.

These can be a great lunch or dinner. I served the kebabs on flatbread with veggies and a sauce. Actually I used flour tortillas as my flatbread and those work fine or serve them with Pita or Naan or best perhaps might be TJ’s LAVASH flat bread. I topped them with thinly sliced red onions, tomatoes and parsley. Then put sauce on top. Cucumbers, red or yellow peppers, or some greens all will work great with these kebabs.

SAUCE: I made an easy sauce of Greek yogurt and garlic – or just use use TJ’s Tzaziki sauce which is basically that with a little cucumber added. Or spread your bread with TJ’s yummy garlic spread. A few drops of lemon too will send these skyward.

On the side, I made some a delicious Yemeni rice dish, a recipe I found on YouTube, which I put below if you want to try that. It tastes amazing with these kebabs but even just some Basmati or Jasmine rice will be great as well.

I think these are one of the better frozen foods I’ve found at Trader Joe’s, along with many of the frozen Indian dishes.

I think they were about $6.50 (12 oz) with 6 kebabs in the bag. These would be great to have in the freezer to come up with a quick dinner easily.

I would buy them again.

Want to try your hand at making these style of “kofte kebabs”. Here’s a recipe for a Lebanese beef kofte. You might even use the Organic Ground Beef if you made them yourself.