Turkish Meatballs with Cucumber-Yogurt Dipping Sauce.
When I started this experiment I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do and less of an idea of where it would lead. As it has gone along, this whole thing has evolved and moved in different directions. One of those evolutions has been the development of various series. As the series have grown I've found a commonality among them, the common theme that I've seen and fostered is food for entertaining. The grilling series was a great way to get you into recipes that you would want to make at a cook-out. The regular dinners are interesting and well-suited for entertaining family and friends at a dinner party and the snack series has been a wonderful way to introduce you to light and healthy snacks and appetizers to put out at a party or take to a get together. A couple of things that I've tried to express with these recipes are that food should taste good and cooking shouldn't be thought of as a difficult task but the one thing that I really want you to get from this is that food should be shared with others. If you've enjoyed the snacks that we've covered, make them and eat them with your friends and loved ones.
So, let's take a look at our last entry into the snack series.
Turkish Meatballs with Cucumber-Yogurt Dipping Sauce
Prep time 20 Min. Cook time 32 Min. Serves 12
Ingredients
1/2 cup uncooked burgur
1 spray cooking spray
1/2 pound 93% lean ground beef
1/4 cup scallions, sliced
3 tablespoons cilantro, fresh, chopped, divided
1-1/4 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
1-1/4 teaspoons ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup cucumber, finely diced
2 tablespoons fresh radish, finely diced
1 tablespoon dill, fresh, chopped
Instructions
Cook or soak bulgur according to package directions; drain any excess water and let cool.
Place oven rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 425f. Coat baking pan with cooking spray.
Put beef, scallions, 2 tablespoons of cilantro, 1 teaspoon each of garlic and cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, paprika, cinnamon and drained bulgur in a large bowl; combine ingredients with your hands until well mixed.
Roll meatball mixture into twenty-four 1-1/4 inch balls; place on prepared pan. Bake until lightly browned and cooked through, about 10 to 12 minutes.
Meanwhile, to make dipping sauce, in a small bowl combine yogurt, cucumber, radish, dill, remaining tablespoon of cilantro, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of garlic, cumin and salt; mix well.
To serve, place meatballs on a serving platter with toothpicks and spoon sauce into a small bowl.
This recipe yields 2 meatballs and about 1-1/2 tablespoons of sauce per serving.
Note: You can form the meatballs up to 6 hours before cooking and keep them refrigerated until you're ready to cook them. The dipping sauce can be made up to 6 hours ahead too, but stir in the cucumber and radish just before serving.
The snack series has been a long running part of this blog and I want to thank you for working through them with me. I hope that you have been entertained by reading about them and I hope that you have opportunities to serve them to your friends. Lastly I want to wish you a Happy New Year.
Next week - One-Pan Pork Chops with Fennel, Onion and Apple or Easy and Delicious.
1 comment:
Those are good Turkish meatballs, i like this way of making. Nice recipe!
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