Moroccan Meatball Tagine with Eggs

This dish was outstanding!! This will be a regular in my household...and it was surprisingly easy! Even better after a tough workout at the gym. (Scroll down for more pics).

Meatballs
600g minced beef or lamb
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 eggs, to bind
salt and pepper, to season
sprinkling of finely chopped parsley
3 Tbs oil, for frying

Sauce
1 onion, chopped roughly
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 Tbs tomato paste (mixed with 500ml beef stock)
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tablespoon honey
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
4 eggs (or more)

To Serve
couscous or rice
bread of choice

Combine the meatball ingredients together in a bowl. Mix the meat and spices through thoroughly with your hands, add the onion, garlic, and parsley and crack the eggs in. Mix the eggs throughout the mixture well so that it binds together well.

Form small balls by taking a palm full of the mixture, flattening it out to remove air pockets, and then rolling between your hands to make golf ball sized meatballs. Obviously you can make them as big or as small as you want.

Using a tagine (you can just use a regular frying pan with a lid if you don’t have a tagine) and add a little oil to the bottom, then fry the sliced onion until it’s mostly cooked through. Add the meatballs on top of the onion and fry them until just browned all over, turning them over every few minutes to make sure they’re cooking evenly.

Once the meatballs are browned, add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste mixture over the top until the meatballs are almost covered. At that point sprinkle in the other spices and drizzle over the honey. Give the whole dish a gentle stir mix the spices through. Place the lid of the tagine on, and turn the heat down to quite low to let the flavours infuse and the sauce to soak into the meatballs. If the level of liquid in the dish is a bit low, then add some water.

Give this ten minutes or so to simmer and for the meatballs to cook through. Take the lid off and crack the eggs into the sauce (in between gaps in the meatballs). Add another good seasoning of salt and pepper, and then put the lid back on the tagine. Leave the eggs to poach for a few minutes until they are just soft and still runny inside.

Serve with couscous or rice, and bread.

This was the first time I used my new tagine.....and I loved it!!

Raw meatballs.

Raw mince 'kofta' mixture.

Just after adding all the sauce ingredients.

Browning the meatballs.

After serving.....

The eggs were poached perfectly!

The meatballs were cooked through.