Arabic meatballs "Daoud Basha"

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 250 g minced beef
• 250 g minced lamb
• 3 cloves garlic
• 500 g onion(s)
• 1 bunch of coriander leaves
• 1 bunch of dill
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 150 ml oil (sunflower oil)
• 2 large tomatoes
• 75 g tomato paste
• 1 bunch mint, fresh
• 600 ml water, cold

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Finely chop 1 onion, 1 garlic clove, coriander, and dill, and mix with salt, pepper, cinnamon, and ground meat. Using wet hands, form this mixture into medium-sized meatballs. Fry them in a pan with 100 ml of sunflower oil for 10 minutes until golden brown. Peel and dice the tomatoes. Chop the remaining onions and garlic cloves and sauté in the remaining oil until translucent. Add the tomatoes and tomato paste, then add the meatballs to the pot. Add 600 ml of cold water and simmer for 30 minutes. Then add the fresh mint and simmer for another half hour. This dish goes well with Arabic rice. This is the Egyptian version of the recipe. In Lebanese cuisine, a bunch of flat-leaf parsley is used instead of coriander and dill, and the meatballs are much smaller.