Kefta-Lamb Meatballs

I have posted a recipe for lamb meatballs in the past, and that recipe called for meatballs flavored with dried apricots, feta cheese, and pine nuts. This recipe keeps the apricots, adds garlic and yellow onion and an egg, and is flavored with the Kefta Spice Mix. My side dishes were a handful of Kalamata olives and tricolor-ed couscous mixed with diced carrots and flavored with 7 Spice Mix. Both spice mixes include sweetness from allspice and cinnamon.



Kefta


1 pound ground lamb

1 yellow onion, diced and seasoned with sea salt, and sauteed in olive oil till golden.

3 cloves of garlic, diced or pressed.

1 egg,beaten.

12 dried apricots, first soaked in cold water for a few hours, then diced.

Kefta Spice Mix. Package directions cal for 1/4 cup of spice mix per pound of meat. I used 2 heaping tablespoons, and I dusted the meatballs lightly with the spice before I baked them.

1 Tablespoon of Pomegranate molasses.




Combine all ingredients and mix well. Form into small meatballs, as pictured. Dust meatballs with a little more Kefta Spice Mix, then place in a foil lined baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.


As a dipping sauce for the meatballs I flavored a little plain Greek yogurt with Pomegranate molasses.



Carrots and Couscous with 7 Spice Mix(also available at K&S World Market).


1 cup of Tricolor-ed or plain couscous

2 cups of chicken broth

2 tablespoons of butter

Sea salt to taste.

2 or 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced.


1 tablespoon of 7 Spice Mix.

Boil the carrots in a cup of the chicken broth (flavored to taste with sea salt). When the carrots are tender, drain and reserve the broth, and set the carrots aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauce pan, then add the couscous, tossing it to coat it with the butter. Turn the heat to medium and start adding the chicken broth bit by bit until the couscous has absorbed the broth and is soft. Then add the carrots , mix well, and add the 7 Spice Mix to taste.


Meatballs and couscous should serve 4.