Middle Eastern Meatballs With Yogurt And Tahini Sauce

Humble mince, I can remember joking as a child that my Mum had one hundred and one ways of cooking mince but this certainly wasn’t one of them!

Loved by the boys the meatballs are sweetened with dates and the sauce tastes very mild. I serve these with Lebanese flatbreads and salad, as we all know, food tastes so much better when you eat with your hands!

I use fresh gluten free bread for my breadcrumbs and these meatballs freeze well too. Just brown them, place in freezer proof tray, and pour over the sauce. Cool and then freeze.

Makes 40 meatballs.

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and quartered

3 garlic cloves

70g dates

80g breadcrumbs, gluten free if needed

100g pistachio kernals

5 teaspoons ground cumin

6 teaspoons ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon chilli powder

50g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks

salt and pepper

1 egg, beaten

600g ground beef/ minced beef

SAUCE

350g Greek yogurt

90g tahini

1 garlic clove, crushed

zest of 1 lemon

150mls water

salt and pepper

Method

Using a processor, process the onion and garlic.

Add the dates, breadcrumbs, pistachios, cumin, ground coriander, fresh coriander, salt and pepper.

Pulse until the nuts are finely chopped.

Tip this paste into a bowl, add the egg and minced beef and using your hands mix really well.

At this stage you can leave the meat in the fridge for 4-12 hours to develop its flavour or carry on as below.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees centigrade.

Heat a large non stick frying pan over a medium to high heat. You can add a little oil if you want but I tend to just use the dry pan.

Form the meat into small meatballs, you should get around 40.

Cook the meatballs in batches, just to seal the outside. Place the sealed meatballs in an oven proof dish and continue to cook the remaining balls.

Once all of the meatballs are sealed, spread them evenly in your oven proof dish.

In a jug, combine the yogurt, tahini, garlic, lemon zest, water and salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce over and around the meatballs.

Place the meatballs in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until they are just cooked through and the sauce has thickened.

Chickpea And Carrot Hummus

Hummus is very popular in our house, great to nibble on as a dip, spread in sandwiches or boxed up for school lunches.

Serves 6.

Ingredients

250g dried chickpeas, around 575g cooked

2 garlic cloves

juice of 3 lemons

4 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 carrots, peeled and grated

250mls olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

Soak the chickpeas overnight, drain and pour into a large pan, add three times the quantity of water and bring to the boil. Simmer for one hour until cooked, it may take a little longer depending on your chickpeas.

Drain the chickpeas and allow to cool completely.

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and process to a smooth paste.

Chickpea Hummus

Gosh I love this!

I quite happily have this for breakfast, lunch or dinner! The boys love a tub of this with crackers for school and I have been known to add a couple of spoonfuls to wraps and sandwiches to give them a little kick.

I do like to use dried chickpeas for this, infact, I always cook more than I need as they are so handy for throwing into salads and curries!

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

220g dried chickpeas, gives around 515g cooked chickpeas

2 tablespoons tahini

3 cloves garlic, crushed

4 lemons, juiced

175mls olive oil

salt to season

a little extra olive oil and paprika to serve

Method

Soak the chickpeas over night in a large bowl of water.

Drain the chickpeas and pour them into a large pan, top up with triple the quantity of water.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour, they may take a little longer.

Drain the chickpeas and allow to cool.

Process all of the ingredients, check for seasoning.

Spoon into a serving dish, use the back of a spoon to make a swirl pattern.

Gently drizzle a little olive oil over the hummus and a couple of pinches of paprika.

Beetroot Falafel

I love these, yet another sneaky vegetarian meal that seems not to be noticed as the boys eat these in wraps!

Served with quinoa tabbouleh and a good spoonful of Greek yogurt if you aren’t going all out vegan.

I have made the falafel into 40-50 g patties as they are inclined to crumble if you roll them as balls, this way they are easy to flip. I also start them in a pan and then pop them in the oven, you can make them a few hours ahead and then bake when you need them.

Makes 24 falafel.

Ingredients

2 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained, rinsed and mashed with a potato masher

650g fresh beetroots, topped and tailed and grated

1 onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

100g tahini

3 tablespoons ground cumin

150g fresh coriander, leaves and stalks, shredded

oil to fry

Method

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium to high heat and add oil.

Take small handfuls of falafel and form into patties, fry in batches, just a a minute or two on each side.

Drain on some kitchen towel roll and then place on the baking sheets.

Once all of the falafel have been made, pop the trays into the oven and bake until crispy, 15-20 mins.