Lamb and pistachio meatballs, with red rice koshari
This is another of the more experimental recipes. The lamb meatballs are tried and tested - you can't go far wrong with lamb, pistachios, and a little sweet spice.The koshari is another matter, and honestly - tasty though it was - I've not quite nailed it.Koshari, if you don't know, (and I didn't until a friend suggested it on Friday) is kind of what would happen if an onion pilaf set out to annex every other culture's starches. It's one of those recipes you read with a mounting sense of horror that the author is not, in fact joking. Speaking its name alone will banish any Atkins dieters that have the energy left to run. It's semi-recent Egyptian pantry-clearing fodder, and contains two types of pasta, rice lentils, and chickpeas.I baulked a little.The red (camargue) rice was an impulse buy. It looked more interesting than the wild rice I was looking for in Brighton Sainsbury's. When a hasty Google showed that the packet copy was almost word-for-word identical to the wikipedia entry, I was too amused not to buy it. This is a poor basis for a recipe.Likewise, if you look at koshari, and think "maybe that's a bit too much carbohydrate", you should probably take that as a sign that koshari isn't for you. Instead I knocked out the pasta, and I think the final thing was the worse for it. Daft rice and no pasta made for a strange colour and texture, but it did go well with the meatballs and tomato.In hindsight, I'd probably serve them on just some spiced wild rice with onion, shooting for a lighter pilaf vibe. Regardless, here's the full thing.
Ingredients:
- Lamb, in this case about 300g
- Pistachio kernels, roughly 50g
- Bread, a chunk
- Flat leaf parsley, good handful
- Cinnamon, about 1/4 tsp
- Allspice, about 1/4tsp
- Half an onion
Koshari:
- Puy (or green) lentils, 80g or so
- Wild rice (or the funny red stuff), 100g or so
- Chickpeas, a tin
- The other half of the onion
Tomato sauce:
- Tomatoes, a tin
- Garlic, 1-3 cloves
- Oregano
- Veg stock powder, to taste
- Paprika (optional)
- Chilli (optional)