Turkish meatballs recipe

Photo: Turkish meatballs recipe

The Lebanese Recipes Kitchen (The home of delicious Lebanese Recipes and Middle Eastern food recipes) invites you to try Turkish meatballs recipe. Enjoy the Middle Eastern Cuisine and learn how to make Turkish meatballs.

Takes: 30 mins to prepare and 1 hr 30 mins to cook
Serves: 4

Ingredients

500g (1lb) lamb mince
1 medium egg, beaten
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp paprika
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 30g pack fresh dill, most of it chopped
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp honey
1 x 400g tin chickpeas
handful toasted pine nuts, to scatter over the top
Greek-style yogurt, to serve

Preparation

Preheat the oven to gas 3, 170°C, fan 150°C. Put the lamb and egg into a large bowl, and add half the onions, spices, garlic and chopped dill. Season. Using your hands, mix well.

Shape the mixture into 16 satsuma-sized balls. Heat a wide casserole dish, add the meatballs and cook for 10 minutes until golden. Set aside, leaving the fat and juices in the pan.

Add the oil to the pan and cook the remaining onion and garlic for 5 minutes until softened. Tip in the remaining spices, fry for 1 minute, then add the tomatoes, honey and the rest of the chopped dill and season generously. Return the meatballs to the pan, loosely cover, and cook in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes until the sauce is thick and rich. When there is 15 minutes cooking time left, stir the chickpeas into the sauce.

Season to taste, then scatter with the pine nuts and remaining dill fronds. Serve with spoonfuls of Greek-style yogurt and warmed pitta bread.

Make it in a slow cooker
Brown the meatballs in a frying pan. Add the fat and juices to a slow cooker and the remaining ingredients from step 3, using a 400g and a 200g tin of tomatoes instead of an 800g tin. Pop in the meatballs, then cook on Low for 6 hours, adding the chickpeas when there is 1 hour of cooking time remaining. If the sauce seems to have reduced in quantity, simply stir in a splash of water.

From TESCO Realfood  

More from the Lebanese Recipes Kitchen: 
 
Meatballs with couscous salad
Lamb & apricot meatballs 
Frike with Meatballs   
Vegie meatball sandwiches
Cheesy meatballs 
Middle Eastern Cumin Meatballs 

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