MOROCCAN BALLS IN TAHINI

MORROCAN MEATBALLS

Your subliminal response must have been meatballs in Tahini sauce?  Seriously.  This is a very Mediterranean dish, actually Moroccan and often served in Lebanon and Syria, where a lot of lamb and tahini are used daily.  In case you aren’t familiar with tahini, it’s a very rich and thick paste made out of sesame seeds and oil.  You can adjust tahini with your own flavorings and one its best uses is in hummus.

Remove any clandestine thoughts that the use of tahini here is unorthodox.  Once you serve these you’ll add them to your calendar and will make these balls a monthly occurrence; this meatball dish is that swoon-worthy!

TAHINI SAUCE

1 clove garlic – smashed with some salt

2/3 cup of Tahini

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup of water – to emulsify

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Chopped fresh parsley

BALLS

½ LB each of ground lamb and ground sirloin

3-4 cloves of garlic – pressed through a garlic press

1 small onion – very finely chopped

2 slices of stale bread – preferably white soaked in milk

½ TSP of cinnamon

¼ TSP of allspice

1/2  TSP of ground cardamom

½ cup of ricotta salata or feta cheese

2 eggs

¼ cup of toasted pistachios – very finely chopped

Zest of two lemons

Bunch of chopped fresh parsley

½ cup of fresh chopped mint

½ cup of fresh cilantro

1 TSP of Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper

Sumac powder

Place all the tahini sauce ingredients together (sans the mint to be added later).  Whisk all the ingredients together, adding a bit of water to emulsify, as you want the sauce smooth but not runny.  Add the chopped mint and parsley and set aside.

PREHEAT OVEN TO 375F

Sweat the minced onion in some olive oil with a pinch of salt.  Set aside to cool.

Place the ingredients for the balls in a large bowl and add the cooled onion.  Mix well together with your hands and don’t overmix.  Shape into 1″ size balls.   Place in a cookie sheet lined with foil and chill for about 1 hour then bake for about 20 minutes.  When cooked, transfer balls into a Dutch oven.  Pour the tahini sauce over them and heat through for about 10-15 minutes over low heat. The tahini will change color slightly and become a bit brown.  Taste sauce for seasonings.

Serve balls over basmati rice and spoon the sauce over them.   Garnish with parsley, mint and lemon zest, or a pickled cucumber slice on top.

NOTE

Cardamom is a common spice in Indian cuisine but not so much in Moroccan.  However, the use of cardamom in these balls is quite distinctive creating the most unusual and elevated profile.  Your guests will fathom what’s that elusive flavor making these balls so stellar.

The addition of both fresh mint and cilantro may seem as if they would clash, but I assure you that in this case its utterly necessary, so don’t skip it.

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