For those who love spice in their life and a bit of sweet on the side.

Harissa Meatballs with Lemon Date Salad has the perfect balance of spice, sweet and a touch of sour. Warming North African flavours that dance on the tongue. It starts with a mouthful of harissa-spiced meat dipped into zingy sumac yoghurt, followed by the sweet and sour lemon-date salad and finished with the crunch or toasted almond flakes.

If you are missing the carb element, then serve alongside rice or couscous.

Harissa Meatballs with Lemon Date Salad

Print Recipe

Spiced harissa meatballs with sumac yoghurt and a crunch green salad with lemon, dates and toasted almond flakes.

Author: Flaevor
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 1x
Category: Meatballs

Ingredients

Scale

Meatballs

500g beef or lamb mince
1 egg
2 tbsp harissa flakes (or paste)
2 tsp cinnamon
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp dried mint
Salt and pepper

Sumac Yoghurt

250g Yoghurt
2 tsp sumac

Salad

100gm lambs lettuce
Handful parsley leaves
10 dates, chopped into small chunks
4 tbsp flaked almonds
Olive oil
Lemon juice
Salt and pepper

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Instructions

Combine sumac and yoghurt, then place in the fridge for later use.
Gently toast flaked almonds in a dry frying pan making sure they don’t burn. Set aside.
Chop dates into small chunks and set aside with the almonds.
In a bowl gently mix together all meatball ingredients. Heat a small frying pan and cook 1 tsp of the meatball mixture as a test. If you are happy with the flavour then start rolling the mince into balls. Otherwise, adjust the seasoning until you are happy.
Heat a large frying pan with a splash of olive oil. Gently fry meatballs over medium-high heat, continually moving the pan about, or turning balls with tongs to ensure the meat is browned evenly. Meatballs can dry out very quickly so don’t fry on an aggressively high.
Place lettuce, parsley and chopped dates in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, a good squeeze of lemon then season with salt and pepper.
To serve: Add a generous dollop of sumac yoghurt to the plate then place meatballs on top. Layer salad alongside and sprinkle with toasted almond flakes.

Keywords: recipes, food, cooking, meatballs, harissa meatballs, harissa, sumac, sumac yoghurt