Spiced lamb meatballs with cucumber and yoghurt sauce

I didn’t truly understand how much I loved meatballs until I had my daughter. They are such a family friendly dish, and a fantastic way of stretch a packet of mince and get a bit more bang for your buck. These lamb meatballs are a firm favourite, they’re packed full of flavour with a lovely herbaceous note thanks to copious amounts of fresh parsley and the mix of Middle Eastern spieces. I use a homemade 7 spice mix, but you can easily find a Baharat mix and use this to make things easier.

What I think is integral to the success of these meatballs though, is the breadcrumbs which results in not only a wonderful flavour, but the texture is almost reminiscent to that of kibbeh, which if you’re unfamiliar is a dish made of ground meat, spices and bulgur wheat. I love serving these on a bed of sort of tzatziki, with dried oregano and mint it’s perhaps more similar to a Lebanese khyar bi laban (cucumber and yoghurt sauce) - the mint takes it to another planet, trust me!

Serve it with rice and a crunchy salad and you have yourself a perfect meal.

Spiced lamb meatballs with cucumber and yoghurt sauce

Makes 16 meatballs

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Ingredients

For the meatballs

• 500g lamb mince

• 1-2 cloves of garlic, grated/minced

• An entire bunch of parsley, finely chopped

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 45g breadcrumbs (dry)

• 1 egg

• Pepper, to taste

• 1/2 tbsp 7 spices (I make a blend of equal parts black pepper, cumin, coriander, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, and all spice) - also found sold as Baharat spice)

For the cucumber and yoghurt sauce

• 200g pot set Greek style yoghurt

• 1 garlic clove, grated/minced

• 1 Lebanese cucumber, grated and set over a strainer for 20 min to remove as much liquid as possible

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp dried mint

• 2 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180c /160c fan-forced.

2. For the meatballs, combine all of the ingredients and shape in a large bowl and using your hands, squeeze and knead the mixture until well combined.

3. Use an ice cream scoop to measure a ball of the mince mixture, then roll this between your hands to form a meatball - make sure to roll until smooth.

4. Heat olive oil in a large pan and working in batches of 8, sear the meatballs for 2 minutes on each side before transferring to an oven dish.

5. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes.

6. Meanwhile make the cucumber and yoghurt sauce by combining all of the ingredients.

7. Serve the meatballs on a bed of the yoghurt sauce and enjoy.