| Level: | Intermediate |
| Total: | 1 hr 30 min |
| Active: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Yield: | 15 to 20 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 gallon tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1/4 cup ground cumin
- 1/4 cup harissa
- 3 tablespoons smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 gallon bread cubes, day-old, no crust
- 5 cups minced yellow onions
- 3/4 cup minced garlic
- 5 pounds ground chuck
- 5 pounds ground pork
- 3/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
- 3/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup cumin seeds, ground
- 1/4 cup smoked paprika
- 1/4 cup black peppercorns, ground
- 1/4 cup salt
- 4 teaspoons ancho chile powder
- 1 tablespoon ground ginger
- 10 eggs, whipped before adding
- Vegetable oil
Instructions
- For the sauce: Mix together the tomato sauce, cilantro, cumin, harissa, paprika and cinnamon.
- For the meatballs: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Soak the bread in just enough water to cover for 1 minute. Pour into a colander and let sit for 10 minutes. Squeeze all the excess water out.
- Meanwhile, gently cook the onions and garlic until translucent. Let cool, then transfer to a bowl. Add the chuck, pork, cilantro, parsley, cumin, paprika, pepper, salt, chile powder, ginger and eggs and mix thoroughly.
- Portion and shape the mixture into 3 1/2-ounce balls. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large saute pan and brown the meatballs on all sides.
- Transfer to a large baking dish, cover with the meatball sauce and wrap with aluminum foil. Braise the meatballs in the oven until cooked through but not dry, 20 minutes.
- Let cool slightly, then serve.
Reviews
Excellent; but yes; needed 1/8th the recipe!
I have never written a review on a food network recipe, not because I don’t like them. These meatballs are great. They are very moist and have great flavor. I understand that Moroccans don’t eat pork, but I am living I the US, where it’s harder to find ground lamb. I am able to use grass fed beef and free range pork. I only made 3 changes to the recipe. I added dry red wine to the sauce and added garlic and onion granules to the raw meat mixture. The hardest thing about this recipe was that I had to convert the entire recipe down to 1/2 lbs of ground beef and pork each. There are two of us. When I converted the recipe to one pound of meat, I was able to get 10 3oz. Meatballs, which for two of us is 5 meatballs per dinner. Once I converted the entire recipe to 1 lb of meat, I had to double the sauce, to have enough for 2 dinners. I freeze half the raw meatballs as half the sauce for another dinner, rather than cook them all and save the cooked meatballs for later. It worked great.
While Moroccans dont eat pork, substitute that for lamb and this tastes just as amazing
They are very tasty! They have the flavors of Morocco- people shouldn’t give bad reviews based on what Moroccans eat. The review is for taste, ease of preparation, and accuracy.
This calls for harissa…do I use the powder or the paste?
Its an insult to call the “Moroccan” meatballs…….Moroccan’s DON;T EAT PORK PEOPLE!
I am Moroccan it is an authentic recipe but we don’t eat pork, we make our meatballs with lamb and beef
Moroccans don’t eat pork, should at least try to be authentic.
Excellent!!!!! We watched the show, and took notes, then printed off this recipe. Extremely tasty, meatballs were so moist and flavors amazing!!!!