Moroccan lamb meatballs with harissa & couscous

Moroccan lamb meatballs with harissa & couscous

All the flavours of a tagine in meatball form, with the kick of homemade harissa and a cooling dollop of yogurt

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 35 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

plus chilling
Freezable

Only the meatballs can be frozen

Method

  1. Heat a heavy-based pan over a low heat. Add the spices to the pan then toast for 2-3 mins until fragrant. Crush using a pestle and mortar. Set aside.
  2. Mix the breadcrumbs with 2 tbsp water and the garlic and stir well. Add the lamb, lemon juice, crushed spices, egg most of the mint. Season well. Mix well then shape into 16 balls. Chill for a good 30 mins.
  3. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Fry the balls for 6-7 mins, turning now and then, until golden brown and cooked. Keep warm. Put the couscous in a large heatproof bowl, then rub in the butter and harissa. Pour over 400ml boiling water, cover and leave for 10 mins. Fluff up and season. Shred the remaining mint, then mix through. Serve with harissa and yogurt.
Try

Homemade harissa

Put 2 tbsp each coriander, fennel and cumin seeds into a hot, dry pan. Toast for 2 mins until fragrant. Grind until fine in pestle and mortar. Wipe out pan, add 50ml olive oil, gently fry 4 chopped garlic cloves, 1 chopped red onion, 1 chopped red pepper and 6 fat red deseeded chopped chillies until soft. Mix spices and veg in food processor and blend to smooth paste. Leftovers will keep in fridge for up to a week, covered with layer of oil.

651 kcalories, protein 33.0g, carbohydrate 50.0g, fat 37.0 g, saturated fat 16.0g, fibre 0.0g, sugar 2.0g, salt 0.84 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, September 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-30

  • Binder photo emmascakesofbath

    20 January 2011

    emmascakesofbath commented on this recipe

    Lovely recipe, very tasty. Meatballs always come with a tomato based sauce, so this was a nice change I replaced the yoghurt with some creme fraiche and lemon juice (which i heated on the stove), which added a nice lemony kick to it. We will definitely do this one again!

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  • Binder photo Pelupi

    21 February 2011

    Pelupi rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    Well worth doing

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  • Binder photo mikokat

    14 April 2011

    mikokat rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo mlwtribe

    05 May 2011

    mlwtribe rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    Sorry, reallly didn't like this recipe. The end result far too dry for our tastes.

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  • Binder photo Melanie

    15 June 2011

    Melanie rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    tried this for the first time yesterday for dinner. I had actually prepared the meatballs before & kept them in the freezer so all I had to do was prepare the harissa. Both my hubby & me loved it. Added to our recipe repertoire, but next time i'll add more chillies to the harissa. Obviously that is just a matter of taste! Oh...and i also threw in a tomato in the food processor with all the other harissa ingredients because the red pepper I had was small. I must admit, it turned out better than I thought :)

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  • Binder photo K's binder

    06 August 2011

    K's binder rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really liked this recipe as it was full of flavour. Have just made a double batch so we can freeze half ready for a quick mid-week meal.

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  • Binder photo Katherine

    04 July 2012

    Katherine commented on this recipe

    Lovely - I added some chopped chilli to the meatballs, and served with a chickpea salad and mint yoghurt as it's a rare nice day!

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  • Binder photo Grace

    01 August 2012

    Grace rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very nice and quite filling. Served with a garnish of chopped tomato, cucumber, red onion and feta. Yummy!

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  • Binder photo susieone

    27 March 2013

    susieone rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Very tasty. I added finely chopped preserved lemon to the couscous and was "heavy handed" with the spices. Will do again.

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  • Binder photo Jord

    27 April 2013

    Jord rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this tonight, it was lovely!! Thought there was possibly a crunch of something missing, so maybe serve with a vegetable side dish or something but other than fab flavours! Didn't have any fresh mint so we used dried, worked just as good! Halved it to make it for 2, easy doable but I think the egg mass was a little too much. Will make it for 4 next time and chill the other half for another day. Delicious though! Most definitely will be making again. Yummy!! :)

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 4

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 35 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

plus chilling
Freezable

Only the meatballs can be frozen

Ingredients

FOR THE COUSCOUS

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651 kcalories, protein 33.0g, carbohydrate 50.0g, fat 37.0 g, saturated fat 16.0g, fibre 0.0g, sugar 2.0g, salt 0.84 g

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