lebanese meatballs

Over the winter, Ed and I picked up some of Andrea Ogden's grass-fed beef.  We got some delicious steaks, and also some ground beef.  I decided at some point to attempt to make some Lebanese meatballs, also known as kibbeh, with the beef.  Traditionally, I think these things are made with lamb, but I had beef, so beef was used.  In the end, most of what I tasted was cardamom, which is ok by me!

I used this Recipe, from the Taste of Beirut blog, and I think I actually managed to follow the recipe pretty well.  The yogurt sauce was kind of a flop - I didn't think it tasted very good, and didn't like the texture, and Ed really didn't like it.  We also didn't both to make kibbeh with a hole in the middle.  So I guess I only sort of followed the recipe.  Anyway, the meatballs were delicious.  

Actually, the recipe doesn't list spices - I'll take a wild guess at the spices I used.  I remember toasting them and then grinding them.

-Cardamom

-Coriander

-Cumin

-Ginger

-Pepper

-Salt

We had many leftover meatballs, so I just froze them, and that was genius - it is super easy to just take a couple out from the freezer and cook them up for a quick lunch or whatever.  You should do this.

Here's an example of one of those quick lunches - I pan fried the meatballs until they were cooked, then put them down on some greek yogurt, covered with a cilantro-lime-tomatillo sauce.  Basically, dump two tomatillos, the juice of a lime, and a handful of cilantro into a food processor, add some salt, and blend it up.  The pomegranate seeds were a nice visual touch =).  With the bulgur in the meatballs, they're actually somewhat satiating, too, unlike if you were just eating a ball of meat.

This is making me think it's about time to mix up some more meatballs.  So convenient! So delicious!