From the new restaurant in the heart of Sydney, Tom Kime, executive Chef, brings Ceru – a new concept of shared flavours from the Levant and street food from the Eastern Mediterranean.
This dish is an unusually striking, combination of flavours, which really makes your taste buds tingle.
Image credit: Ceru
It comes from an area of Turkey in the south, near Aleppo, which is close to Syria. I have had variations of this in Turkey and Syria and it is always very popular in both countries. Muslims, who settled in the area, originally made it. They were famous for mixing fruit with cooked lamb. In this region the famous sour cherries, which are now widely available, dried in supermarkets are in season in June, and so these meatballs are traditionally a seasonal early summer dish. Because of the popularity of this dish the cherry sauce is often made in large quantities and then frozen so that it can be enjoyed any time.
When I first had this dish the combination of sweet and sour elements in the sauce and the savoury and spicy elements in the little meatballs was so delicious and very memorable. They came at the end of a vast meal and yet room was made on the table and in our stomachs. The sizzling dish that was brought to the table was scraped clean and the extra sauce and liquid clinging to the edges of the dish were mopped up with copious amounts of flat bread. The fresh cherries that are traditionally used for this dish are so fresh and of such good quality that they are a bit difficult to come by unless you have a good Persian, Iranian, Turkish or Lebanese grocers near by. The dried sour cherries, makes a perfect substitute and are available from supermarkets.
Pomegranate molasses is a fantastic Middle Eastern ingredient. It comes in bottles, and is thick dark syrup made from the reduced juice of pureed pomegranates. It is fantastically sour and sweet at the time, similar to very good quality aged balsamic vinegar.
If not available you could use a bit of reduced balsamic vinegar instead.
INGREDIENTS
– 150g of dried sour cherries
– 150g of dried cranberries
– 200ml of water
– 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
– 1 tablespoon of honey
– 1 tablespoon of Pomegranate molasses
– 1 lemon juiced
– 500g minced lamb
– 2 onions finely diced – 1 for the sauce and 1 for the meatballs
– 2 cloves of garlic
– 2 small dried red chillies
– 2 teaspoons of ground coriander
– Half a bunch of flat leaf parsley
– Salt and freshly ground black pepper
METHOD
– Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add a little oil. Add one of the chopped onions and cook down without too much colour. After about 15 minutes add the dried cherries and dried cranberries
– Add the water, sugar, honey and the pomegranate molasses
– Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and gently simmer for 30 minutes until the sauce is thickened and syrupy.
– When reduced add the lemon juice, and taste. The meatballs will be salty, rich and peppery hot. The sauce will be sour and sweet
– Meanwhile make the meatballs.
– Finely chop the onion.
– Cut the garlic in half and remove the central green shoot from the garlic.
– Finely chop the dried chilli. With a pinch of salt crush the garlic with the dried chilli and the ground coriander and make a paste.
– Heat a heavy bottomed pan and add a little olive oil
– Fry the paste until fragrant and aromatic for 2 minutes
– Add chopped onion and fry quickly for 4 minutes.
– Remove from the pan
– Place the onion in a bowl with the lamb.
– Roughly chop the parsley and add to the mixture. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix together with the onion and lamb.
– Roll the meat into small balls about the size of cherry tomatoes.
– Heat a clean heavy bottomed pan over a medium high heat and add a little oil. Fry the balls in small batches so that they are golden brown all over. But not cooked all the way through Drain on absorbent kitchen paper.
– To finish this dish place the seared meatballs in a dish with sour sauce and bake in the oven until sizzling
The taste of this dish is really spectacular and absolutely delicious, it works well with something quite neutral in taste because it is very rich. It should be served as part of a main course as one of many different dishes of simple grilled and marinated meats, vegetables and lots of bread.
Serve with some fresh cucumber yoghurt and flat bread