داوود باشا باللبن Dawud Pasha

Lamb meatballs

1 lb ground lamb

Salt and pepper for seasoning

1 clove garlic

1 small onion or 1/4 large onion

Dash of Worstershire sauce or lemon juice

1 tsp Mint (fresh or dried)

1/2 tsp arabic 7 spice (recipe here)

lemon zest (optional)

Oil for frying

Grind or chop the onion and garlic very fine, add to the rest of the ingredients and blend.

Make small meatballs the size of an egg yolk.

Fry the meatballs in some oil until they are browned, remove and set them aside.

Most arabic recipes ask to fry the meatball, simmer in tomato sauce and then bake, but I really don't like to cook the heck out of lamb, but in the middle east we are used to killing our food twice and everyone I know takes their meat well done.

You can adjust the doneness of the meat according to your taste but I found that simply browning them on all sides yields a perfect meatball that is still juicy in the middle.

Traditionally in the recipe Dawud Pasha the meatballs are served in a tomato sauce, sometimes it even contains some pieces of potato that were simmered in the sauce earlier but because I have a mild tomato allergy and have eaten enough tomato this week I opted for a yogurt sauce (below)

Yogurt sauce:

Blend yogurt and heat gently, do not let it split. Pour over the meatballs.

Butter sauce:

Heat about 1 tbsp butter and grate 1 small clove of garlic in it, allow it to become fragrant then remove from heat, sprinkle some paprika in the oil and pour over the yogurt.

Garnish:

Brown some pine nuts and sprinkle over along with chopped parsley.

Serve with white rice and salad, enjoy!