This recipe is filled with Mediterranean flavors and makes a nice dish that goes well with Tabouli and Crispy Couscous. If you are eating Keto, omit the bread crumbs and even the yogurt based mint sauce is okay. Depending on where you live, ground lamb can be hard to come by, but watch the discount meat section in your store, outside of specific neighborhoods, most people don’t eat lamb, which means you may be able to find it on the cheap. I recently paid $3 a pound for freshly ground lamb so had to stock up.
Ingredients
- Meatballs
- 1 lb lamb – ground
- 1 small onion, grated (~1/2 cup)
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs – or panko
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup coriander/cilantro/parsley – leaves & stems finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp paprika – smoked is good
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper – more if you like it spicy
- 1/2 tsp salt & Black pepper – or to taste
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Mint Sauce
- 1 cup plain Greek yogurt
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 tbsp fresh mint – finely chopped (or 1 tbsp dried mint)
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice – more or less to taste
- Salt and pepper to taste
Process
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
- Make Mint Sauce
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.
- Set aside in fridge for at least 1/2 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 deg F
- Make Meatballs
- Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Add onion, beaten egg, meat and bread crumbs. Use your hands to mix all the ingredients well.
- Using ~1 heaping TBL, roll mixture into balls ~24 meatballs.
- Place on a lined roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil.
- Bake ~20 mins until browned.
- Serve on a lettuce bed dizzled with the mint sauce.
