Lamb Meatballs with Cilantro Raita

Whether you invite guests to a dinner party or go to a restaurant, appetizers are very important. I consider them as first impression and usually dictate how the rest of the meal will go. By experience, if you start off with a great appetizer, its taste will always be remembered, even if the main course is mediocre. On the other hand, a disappointing appetizer leads to high expectations and importance on the main course. If the main course is a let down, the meal becomes a total disappointment overall. Be sure to serve your guests with tasty appetizers.

A month ago, I made some new friends at rock climbing and invited them at my usual Sunday cooking session after a long and tiring day of climbing. Since this is their first invitation, I'm making sure that the food is the best thing that they ever tasted (and hoping that they lend their place for the following cooking sessions). I went for an appetizer that everyone is familiar with: meatballs. They are not complicated to make once you know how. Tender and flavor-packed, everyone can't resist of eating more than one. Simply add some spices and eggs to your ground meat. Grill, pan fry or broil the meatballs and finally, serve it with a dipping sauce.

Here the meatballs are packed with Middle East flavors, inspired on spices and herbs used for lamb kofta. These meatballs are dipped in a refreshing raita dip sauce, a yoghurt based condiment commonly used in India and Middle East, similar to the Greek tzatziki sauce.

Makes about 24 meatballs
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Food Made Fast: Small Plates

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 10 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

Meatballs

1 small onion, minced

1 lb ground lamb

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup parsley, minced

2 tbsp bread crumbs

1 tsp ground cumin

3 garlic cloves, minced

salt and pepper

Raita Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt

2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

1 garlic cloves, minced

Preparation

1. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions until transparent, about 5 mins.

2. Transfer onion to a large bowl. Add in lamb, eggs, parsley, bread crumbs, cumin, minced garlic, salt and pepper. Combine all ingredients.

3. Preheat grill pan (or skillet) over medium heat with a drizzle of oil.

4. Form mixture into walnut-sized balls. Place meatballs onto the grill pan. Grill meatballs, turning once, until brown and crispy, about 4-5 minutes each side.

5. In a small bowl, combine yogurt, cilantro, minced garlic and 1/4 tsp salt. Use raita as a dipping sauce. 

Palak Paneer

This is one of my craziest week ever and it will be even more crazier for the following ones as I'm in the process of writing my thesis. I will try my hardest of posting recipes at least once a week. To let you all know, my deadline is on June 21.

Here is the first Indian dish on Random Cuisine. I have to admit that I'm not a spice person so I don't have a large inventory of spices. I love the taste of Indian food and it does require a fair amount of spices. I'm glad that my Australian friend is into Indian cuisine because I always wanted to explore this cuisine. Palak Paneer consists of spinach and paneer cheese cooked in a curry sauce. I'm very impressed of the results. If you have never tried Indian dish, follow this recipe. He also sent me the recipe for homemade paneer. Unfortunately, I don't have step-by-step instructions, but it is straightforward to make it. Let me know of the results.

Serves 6-8
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 large bunch of spinach, shredded or 2 pks frozen spinach (16 oz.)
100-200 g paneer, cut into cubes
1 large brown onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp hot chilli powder
2 shelled cardamon pods with the seeds broken up finely
pinch of salt
4 leaves of coriander, chopped, plus for garnish
Basmati rice

Procedure

1. In large pot, boil spinach in 2 cm of boiling water, with the lid on.

2. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion until transparent. Add in garlic and cook for 1 min until fragrant.

3. Once the spinach has softened, add in onions, garlic and tomatoes. Let it cook together with the lid on, over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, fry paneer until the edges are slightly brown, and set aside.

5. Add spices and coriander to the pot. Taste and add more spices if necessary.

6. Once vegetables are cooked, add paneer. Let it warm and thicken with the lid off, over low heat.

7. Serve palak paneer on top of basmati rice. Garnish with coriander.

Paneer

about 2 L whole milk
Juice of one lemon
Cheesecloth

Procedure

In a clean pot, heat milk over high heat until it bubbles quickly up toward the rim of the pot. Immediately turn off the heat and drizzle in the strained juice of 1 lemon. Stir slowly and steadily with a clean spoon, around and around in one direction, until the curd (soft solid white bits) separates from the whey (yellowish-clear liquid), about 1 minute. (If it doesn't separate after a minute, put the pot over very low heat for about 30 seconds, stirring slowly--this should do the trick.) Stir slowly for another minute, then pour the curds and whey into a strainer lined with 3 layers of rinsed and squeezed cheesecloth set over a bowl to catch the whey. After most of the whey has drained into the bowl, gather up the edges of the cheesecloth and twist them to form a little ball of the curds and squeeze a bit more whey out; rinse the outside of the cheesecloth-wrapped ball for a minute under lukewarm running water, then put it back in the strainer and weight it down with a can or something heavy. Refrigerate for an hour or so, then unwrap the paneer and use it. Makes about 200 g of paneer.