Middle Eastern Meatballs, for a home table

These flavor packed middle eastern meatballs are made with ground beef, onion, mint, parsley, and garlic, and then broiled to finish. Serve with a refreshing mint yogurt dip.

We had a lot of fresh mint herb left over from making our Thai beef salad the other day. And these Middle Eastern Meatballs came to our mind to use up the mint. Obviously they didn’t disappoint us.

We love Arabic and middle eastern food. Why don’t we make their memorable dishes more often? We are so glad that we finally get to share our middle eastern meatballs recipe.

These meatballs are packed with flavor. Fresh herbs like mint and parsley join with onion and garlic, finely chopped, and are added to ground beef along with cumin and allspice.

The result? – Fragrant, moist, savory meatballs! Yes, just tasty meatballs.

Serving these garlic mint meatballs with a refreshing mint yogurt dip is a savory choice. They balance each other well. With a few twist these meatballs become one of the exotic Asian recipes.

Neither the meatballs nor the yogurt dip take much time to make. Isn’t this a great recipe for all of us who are always searching for short and savory meal ideas?

GROUND MEAT CHOICE

Old-style middle eastern style meatballs tend to use ground lamb. We can’t access it easily where we live, so we used ground beef instead. We think these meatballs are equally savory with ground beef.

If you have an access to the ground lamb, use it by all means. That way you can enjoy the classic middle eastern meatballs. If ground beef is not your thing, you can also use ground chicken or a mixture of any meat choices.

INGREDIENTS FOR MIDDLE EASTERN MEAT BALLS

You will need ground beef, garlic, mint, parsley, onion, cumin, allspice, plain yogurt, lemon, breadcrumbs, salt & pepper.

• Instead of ground beef, you can use ground lamb, chicken, or mixture of both.
• You will need 3-4 garlic cloves.
• Allspice powder is missing in the photo above.

HOW TO MAKEMINT YOGURT DIP

We used Indian Dahi for the yogurt dip. Dahi is like an Indian old-style yogurt. It is smooth, creamy and has a slightly sweet profile than most yogurt we are accustomed to.

You can certainly use plain yogurt or keffir for this recipe. Please keep in mind that depends on the thickness of yogurt you use, the consistency of the dip might change.

• Make the mint yogurt dip first; mix yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, and finely chopped mint together.
• Chill the mint yogurt dip until ready to use. The flavor will deepens as it chills.

MAKING MEATBALLS

• Put onion and garlic in a mini food processor and process until they become tiny pieces.
• Add the parsley and mint and process again until they are finely chopped.

• In a large mixing bowl, add the ground meat, onion-herb mixture, breadcrumbs, cumin, allspice, lemon juice, salt & pepper.
• Mix the meatball mixture with your hand until everything is well incorporated.

• Roll the mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs (You will get about 18-20 meatballs), and place them in a greased baking pan.
• Put the oven rack about 4-5 inch below the heat source and turn your oven to broil setting.
• Broil these meatballs for 3-4 minutes. Turn the meatballs to the other side, and broil another 3-4 minutes or until they are fully cooked. Watch carefully to not to burn the meatballs.

RECIPE TIPS

These meatballs are short and direct to put together and the cooking time is short. Here are a couple of tips that we like to make it even better.

• Use a mini food processor: You will need to finely chop up the vegetables and herbs. If you don’t have a mini food processor, use a sharp knife skillfully to finely mince all the vegetables and herbs.
• Broil these meatballs rather than pan-fry: It is much quicker to broil them and you don’t need to add the extra fat; a win-win for the meatballs.

Ways to serve it

These middle eastern meatballs are great with the mint yogurt dip. However you can serve them with following side dishes as well.

• Savory dips
• Fruit chutney
• Plain rice
• Flat bread, Naan bread, or Arabic bread
• Tortilla
• Tabbouleh salad

OTHER MEATBALL RECIPES

• Beef Meatballs with Pineapple Soy Glaze
• Hambak Steak
• Korean Meat Tofu Patties (Wanja-jeon)

• Yield: 4 people
• Prep: 20 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

For meatballs

• 1 lb ground beef
• 3/4 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 cup mint, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup parsley, loosely packed
• 1/2 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp lemon juice

For mint yogurt dip

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup mint, finely minced
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Mix yogurt, garlic, lemon juice, and finely chopped mint together. Chill the mint yogurt dip until ready to use. The flavor will deepens as it chills.
2. Put onion and garlic in a mini food processor and process until they become tiny pieces. Add the parsley and mint and process again until they are very finely chopped.
3. In a large mixing bowl, add the ground meat, onion-herb mixture, breadcrumbs, cumin, allspice, lemon juice, salt & pepper. Mix the meatball mixture with your hand until everything is well incorporated.
4. Put the oven rack about 4-5 inch below the heat source and turn your oven to broil setting.
5. Roll the mixture into 1 1/2-inch meatballs (You will get about 18-20 meatballs), and place them in a greased baking pan.
6. Broil these meatballs for 3-4 minutes. Turn the meatballs to the other side, and broil another 3-4 minutes or until they are fully cooked. Watch carefully to not to burn the meatballs. Serve these meatballs warm with mint yogurt dip.

Notes

These middle eastern meatballs are great with the mint yogurt dip. However you can serve them with plain rice, naan or Arabic bread, tortilla, fruit chutney, or tabbouleh salad.