He-man Meatballs With Sour Cherry Rice And Hummus Sauce
“The chickpea challenge: thanks to our growing love of hummus, the popularity of this humble pulse has soared in recent years. But its future may be threatened by climate change.”
-Rebecca Seal, The Financial Times, November 2019
This is a marvelous melange of meatballs with sour cherries, almonds and pistachios, on a bed of fluffy rice, moistened by hummus.
Why he-man….? Well, it’s a beef thing….
NB: you can make everything ahead, only cooking the rice and frying the meatballs at the last minute.
Obviously the music to listen to while you cook this would be by Only Men Aloud.
He-man Meatballs With Sour Cherry Rice And Hummus Sauce
Serves – 6
Ingredients
- 1lb/500g minced beef
- 1 onion, chopped small
- 3 teaspoons smoked salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 oz/50g Panko breadcrumbs
- Indonesian long pepper
- 2 cups/350g dried, pitted, sour cherries
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 3 cups/600g basmati rice – for more about how to cook basmati rice go here, and for information about why it’s so special go here.
- 1 tbsp flaked almonds
- 2 tbsp chopped pistachios
- 4 tbsp melted butter
- 1 cup/200g hummus
- 2 tbsps greek yoghurt
- generous handful of chopped parsley
Instructions
- Make meatballs by mixing together the beef, the onion, 2 teasp smoked salt, the breadcrumbs, and a few grinds of the pepper and one of the crushed cloves of garlic.
- Mix in the beaten egg.
- Mould into about 16 flattish meatballs, cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge.
- Make the rice in the normal way (or use this method) using 2 tbsp melted butter.
- Mix the hummus and yoghurt.
- Mix together the cherries, the almonds, pistachios.
- Fry the meatballs about five minutes until browned all over, turning frequently.
- After about 15 minutes, take out the rice, add the cherries, almonds, and pistachios and pour over the remaining melted butter.
- Serve the meatballs with the rice, with the parsley sprinkled over, and the hummus sauce.
