Spicy North African-style meatballs with couscous and raisins
Good evening, everybody! According to esquimax’s excellent WFD Index, it’s been a minute since we had a meatball diary; the most recent I found was ninkasi23’s Chicken Parmesan Meatballs in WFD18.1.
The most common appearances of meatballs in my house growing up were porcupine meatballs (with rice cooked in the meatballs), saucepot meatballs (with a tomato/onion soup mix sauce) and Swedish meatballs. I don’t really remember spaghetti and meatballs, although we had spaghetti with other sauces. As an adult, I’ve added a meatball & vegetable soup and Thai chicken meatballs in peanut sauce to my rotation. But my current favorite meatball is this North African-style recipe with a spicy tomato saffron sauce served with couscous (although you could use rice, bulgur, quinoa or other favorite grain instead). It’s largely based on a New York Times recipe.
The ingredient list looks intimidating, but much of that is spices and seasonings; use what you have, and don’t be afraid to substitute if necessary or desired.
sauce ingredients (clockwise from L): broth, pepper, salt, tomato paste, garlic, cinnamon stick, saffron; onion softening in pan off-screen
North African Meatballs with Couscous
Sauce:
sauce before adding broth
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1-½ cups chopped onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 inch piece cinnamon stick
- large pinch of saffron, crumbled
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2-½ cups chicken broth, vegetable broth or water
Heat the oil on medium-high heat in a wide, heavy bottomed saucepan; add onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, tomato paste, cinnamon stick and saffron and stir well to incorporate. Generously season with salt and pepper and cook about 1 minute longer. Add broth or water and simmer 5 minutes. Sauce can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance.
Meatballs:
meatball ingredients (clockwise from top L): ground beef, garlic, bread soaked in milk, egg, spice mixture, parsley mixture
- 1-½ cups cubed day-old white bread
- 1 cup milk
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon each salt, turmeric and ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon each black pepper, cayenne pepper, ground cloves and ground coriander
- 1/8 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 3 tablespoons each minced parsley, cilantro and scallion, divided
- 1 pound ground beef (15-20% fat)
- flour for dusting
- olive or vegetable oil
meatball mixture ready for shaping
Pour milk over bread cubes and leave to soak for 5 minutes. Squeeze bread cubes and discard excess milk. Combine with egg, garlic, paprika, salt, turmeric, ginger, cumin, black and cayenne peppers, cloves, coriander, nutmeg and 2 tablespoons each of the parsley, cilantro and scallion (reserve remaining 1 tablespoon of each for garnish). After thoroughly mixing, add ground beef and mix gently by hand until just combined. (Note: may be covered and refrigerated at this point, up to 24 hours. If you refrigerated the sauce, put it on medium heat before the next step.)
Roll meat mixture into ping-pong ball size balls and dust with flour. Heat oil in heavy skillet and add meatballs a few at a time, frying until just browned on the outside, around 2 minutes total. Drain on a paper towel-lined shallow dish. Continue until all meatballs are browned, then add to sauce and
meatballs frying; half turned, half ready to be turned
simmer, covered, around 20 minutes.
Couscous:
- 1 cup dry couscous
- ½ cup raisins
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- salt (optional if using salted butter)
Cook couscous according to package directions. While it is cooking, pour hot water over raisins to soften. When couscous is done, fluff with a fork; add drained raisins, butter, cinnamon (and salt) and stir.
Serve meatballs with sauce over couscous; garnish with reserved parsley, cilantro and scallions (which you’ll note in the picture I forgot to do).
Makes 4-6 servings (about 36 meatballs).
