Spiced Meatballs, Chickpeas And Vegetables Soup

Dinner was meant to meatball salad again but I settled on something a little more hearty after the weather took a nasty turn. However the meatballs remained on the menu but they ended up swimming in a delicious tomato based soup rather than frolicking among tomatoes and salad leaves.

I added some cavolo nero towards the end of the cooking; to freshen up and to add colour to the dish, if you are unable to obtain cavolo nero, spinach, chard or dandelion greens are all good substitutes.

I made a rather large batch of seasoned mince as usual, way too much for what was required for this recipe. Halve the quantity of mince if you only want to be able to make enough meatballs for this recipe, otherwise I will share with you a few quirky dishes that I came up with using my leftover seasoned mince in the coming days.  At the meantime you can use the leftover mince for the following recipes found in this blog;

1) kebabs and warm beetroot salad with spiced yoghurt sauce

2) burger and chips

3) bunless burger

3) spaghetti with meatballs

4) baked kofta rolls with egg filling

5) kofta rools filled with spinach, almonds, pine nuts and raisin

recipe from the tummies' kitchen

serves 4 to 6 as a one dish meal

you'll need;

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large onion, peeled and finely diced

3 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

4 celery ribs, sliced

2 cups of crushed tomatoes

2.5 l of stock

1 can of chickpeas, drained

2 bay leaves
1 bunch of cavolo nero

salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley to serve

for the meatballs;

1 kg of beef mince or mince of your choice

1 egg, lightly beated

3/4 cup of breadcrumbs, soaked with 1/2 cup of milk 

1 onion, chopped

3 stalks of parsley, chopped

1/2 tbs of coriander powder

1/2 tbs of allspice powder

1 tbs of cumin powder

1 tbs of smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

a little oil for frying

Prepare the vegetables and set aside. Feel free to add other seasonal vegetables of your choice

Place all ingredients for meatballs/kofta in a large bowl and mix well. Cover and chill until needed.

Shape seasoned mince into meatballs the size of a 20 cent coin, you'll need about 30 meatballs. Brown meatballs with a little oil until golden all over and set aside, they don't need to be cooked through.

In a large pot, saute garlic, onion, carrot and celery for 2 to 3 minutes or until the onion is soften. Add the can of crushed tomato and continue to cook on medium heat for a further 5 minutes.

Add stock, chickpeas, bay leaves and allow the content to come to a simmer, season with salt and pepper.

Add meatballs to the pot, cover and simmer on low heat until the vegetables are tender and meatballs are soft and tender. Add cavolo nero and cook until wilted, check for seasonings.

Hearty but not too heavy... perfect for a mild spring night!