Tabriz Meatballs

One enormous meatball a person, built around a core of boiled egg, walnut, fried onion and dried apricot.

Beef, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

• 700 g minced beef
• 150 g short-grain rice, boiled and cooled
• 150 g yellow split peas, boiled and cooled
• 2 leeks, finely chopped
• 60 g parsley, chopped
• 40 g mint, chopped
• 2 onions, grated and squeezed dry
• 4 eggs, hard-boiled and peeled
• 60 g walnut halves
• 8 dried apricots
• 2 onions, sliced and fried, for the filling and the braise
• 3 tablespoons tomato purée
• 50 g dried barberries
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• sangak or flatbread, to serve

Method

1. ONE ENORMOUS MEATBALL A PERSON, BUILT AROUND A CORE OF BOILED EGG, WALNUT, FRIED ONION AND DRIED APRICOT. Its article gives both halves plainly: the dish normally consists of a large meatball, and the filling is wrapped around a core of boiled egg, walnut, fried onion and dried apricot. So this is not a bowl of small meatballs -- it is four balls the size of a grapefruit, and each one is cut open at the table to show the egg in the middle. The size is what makes the core possible, and the core is why anyone remembers the dish.
2. THE MIXTURE IS MEAT, RICE AND SPLIT PEAS IN ROUGHLY EQUAL FEEL. Its article lists ground beef, rice, yellow split peas, leeks, mint, parsley, onion and spices. Both the rice and the peas are boiled and COOLED first -- warm starch makes the mixture slack and it will not hold a shape this big.
3. IT IS KNEADED HARD AND THEN CHILLED BEFORE SHAPING. Ten minutes of kneading until it is sticky and homogeneous, then half an hour in the fridge. A ball this size carrying a hollow core will split in the pan otherwise, and once it splits the filling escapes and it is over.
4. THE CORE IS ASSEMBLED DRY AND THE MEAT IS CLOSED OVER IT. Flatten a quarter of the mixture into a disc in your palm, sit a whole boiled egg in the middle with a few walnut halves, a spoon of fried onion and two apricots against it, then bring the edges up and seal them completely, smoothing every crack.
5. IT IS BRAISED, NOT FRIED OR BOILED. Its article says the kufteh are braised along with fried onions, tomato paste and barberries. Lower the balls into that sauce, liquid about two-thirds up them, and simmer covered for an hour and ten minutes, turning once very carefully.
6. THE BARBERRIES GO IN THE SAUCE AND ARE ADDED LATE. Rinsed, and in for the last ten minutes only -- they are tiny and they turn bitter with long cooking.
7. THE BROTH IS SERVED FIRST, WITH BREAD TORN INTO IT. Its article is specific: the juice is served in a separate dish with shredded sangak or lavash before the main course. So this is two courses from one pot, and the bread goes in the broth rather than beside it.
8. SOME VERSIONS PUT A WHOLE SMALL BIRD IN THE MIDDLE. Its article records it -- the meatball wrapped around a small stuffed bird before stewing. Worth knowing as the measure of how large these are meant to be.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Iran · All recipes