Meatballs in a Chickpea Broth-serves 10-12
This is good for a crowd! Serve with some simple baked rice or mashed potato. Dry frying the spices takes less than a minute but adds a completely different dimension to this dish. The flavour is more subtle than if you were to leave the spices whole and untoasted. Trust me!
Ingredients:
1.5kg minced beef/lamb
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds
1 egg, beaten well
2 large onions, sliced
2.5 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tins chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1.5 litres beef stock
S&P
Method:
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Have a large baking tray, lined with foil/baking parchment.
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In a small frying pan, dry fry the coriander and fennel seeds for 1-2 mins or until you can smell their aroma and they begin to jump.
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Take them out immediately and grind them in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, until they turn into a fine powder.
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In a large bowl, combine the spices with the meat. Add the egg and season with salt and pepper. Mix until all is combined.
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Make small meatballs, about 1 inch wide and set them aside. I made 45 balls from this amount!
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In a large, flat, lidded casserole dish, heat 2 tbsp of the olive oil and add the onions and teaspoon of salt. Cook on a low heat to let the onions start to soften. You don't want much colour on these.
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After about 5 mins, take the onions out and set aside in a bowl.
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Add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of oil and add the meatballs to the casserole dish in 2 batches, to ensure that all balls are browned well on all sides.
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Take the meatballs out of the dish and put the onions back in. Add the chickpeas and stir well.
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Now add the garlic and cook slowly on a very low heat for 5 minutes, stirring gently.
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Add the meatballs back to the pan and pour in the beef stock.
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Give it all a good stir and bring it to a simmer. Put the lid on.
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Simmer for 15-20 mins and check the meatballs are cooked all the way through. It doesn't matter if they're slightly pink in the middle.
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Serve scattered with finely chopped parsley.
