Lamb meatballs with tahini and pine nut sauce
SERVES 4
This meatball recipe riffs on the Palestinian lamb siniyah, a dish of lamb baked with tahini. We’ve turned the lamb into meatballs and added crushed pine nuts to the tahini sauce for some more texture. To make this a full meal, try piling it all into flatbreads with sumac onions or serve a burghul salad on the side. 2 tbsp olive oil
Sumac, torn mint leaves and lemon wedges, to serve
LAMB MEATBALLS
1 small red onion
500 gm finely minced lamb 2 garlic cloves, finely grated 1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground allspice
PINE NUT SAUCE
50 gm pine nuts, coarsely crushed with a mortar and pestle, plus extra whole pine nuts to serve
50 gm unhulled tahini
½ garlic clove, finely grated Finely grated rind of
1 lemon, juice of ½
1 To make meatballs, finely chop onion in a food processor, scraping down the sides occasionally (1-2 minutes), then add mince, garlic and spices, season to taste, and process until mixture comes together (30 seconds-1 minute). Roll into 12 balls (about 50gm each) with wet hands and refrigerate until required.
2 For pine nut sauce, whisk ingredients in a jug with 100ml water to combine and season to taste.
3 Heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat, add meatballs and cook, turning occasionally until browned all over and cooked to your liking (6-7 minutes for medium). Spoon pine nut sauce over kofta in pan so it warms up a little, then sprinkle with sumac, top with mint and extra pine nuts and serve with lemon.