Meatball Tagine With Herbs And Lemon Recipes

Steps:

• Prepare the meatballs: put the onion and parsley in a food processor and process until finely chopped.
• Tear the bread into pieces, add to the onion, along with the egg, and process briefly.
• Add the meat, cumin, paprika, pepper and 1 teaspoons salt and process to a thick paste, scraping down the side of the bowl occasionally.
• Alternative preparation: grate the onion, chop the parsley, crumb the bread, and add to the meat in a bowl with the remaining ingredients. Knead until the mixture is paste like in consistency.
• With moistened hands, shape the mixture into walnut-sized balls and place them on a tray. Cover and refrigerate until required.
• Prepare the sauce: heat the butter or oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook over low heat until softened and golden.
• Add the paprika, turmeric, cumin and chili or cayenne pepper, and cook for 1 minute, stirring.
• Add the chicken stock and cilantro and bring to a boil.
• Add the meatballs to the pan, shaking so that they settle into the sauce. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
• Add most of the parsley and the lemon juice and season, if necessary. Return to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes.
• If using preserved lemon, add now.
• Transfer to a tagine or bowl, and sprinkle with remaining parsley.
• Note 1: author suggests serving with crusty bread. I also suggest rice or couscous.
• Note 2: I substituted a yellow curry powder for the turmeric, as turmeric is a principal ingredient in curry powder.
• Note 3: I sometimes need to add a little additional stock for the sauce, depending on the pot I use.

Steps:

• Put the quartered onion in the food processor and process to finely chop it. Add the minced beef, 1 tbsp tomato purée, the garlic, egg and chilli powder and blitz to make a smoothish paste. Divide the mixture into 26 even-sized pieces and roll into balls.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the meatballs for about 5-10 mins to lightly brown them. Tip from the pan onto a plate.
• Now add the sliced onion and carrots to the pan and stir fry briefly in the pan juices to soften them a little. Add the spices and pour in the tomatoes with 1 ½ cans of water then stir in the chopped lemon zest, remaining tomato purée, olives and bouillon powder. Return the meatballs to the pan then cover and cook for 15 mins until the carrots are just tender. Stir in the coriander.
• While the tagine is cooking, tip the bulgur into a pan with the chickpeas and water from the can. Add 2 cans of water, the bouillon and coriander. Cover and cook for 10 mins until the bulgur is tender and the liquid had been absorbed. If you're doing the Healthy Diet Plan (serving two people), serve half with half of the tagine and chill the remainder for another night if you like.