Lamb Kef­ta Meat­balls with Toma­to Sauce and Poached Eggs

Lamb Kef­ta Meat­balls with Toma­to Sauce and Poached Eggs

(serves about 6)

1 kilo lamb steaks, home-minced, mixed with 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf pars­ley, 4 cloves minced gar­lic and 1 tbsp Moroc­can ras el hanout spice, rolled into lit­tle 1‑inch meatballs
1/2 cup veg­etable oil
4 cloves gar­lic, minced
1 white onion, fine­ly minced
1 tbsp ras el hanout or Baharat seasoning

1 tbsp turmeric
1 1/2 tbsps ground cumin
1 tbsp lemon-gin­ger powder
1 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp salt
fresh ground pep­per to taste

2 large cans peeled plum tomatoes
5 extra tbsps fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley

In a very large, heavy-bot­tomed deep saucepan, saute the spices, gar­lic and onion in the oil until translu­cent, and add the toma­toes, break­ing them up with your hands as you put them in.  Add the spices and the parsley.

This sauce must sim­mer for at least half an hour, but it can sit almost indefinitely.

About an hour before you want to serve the dish, drop the meat­balls into the sauce, in one even lay­er, as many as you can fit. Then cov­er the pan and leave to sim­mer for 20 min­utes. Uncov­er the pan and turn the meat­balls over.  Again, these can sit almost indef­i­nite­ly with no risk of becom­ing tough.

When the meat­balls are thor­ough­ly cooked and you are about 10 min­utes away from serv­ing, break eggs, one at a time, and low­er into the sauce, one per per­son. Cov­er and cook until the eggs are poached, about 8 min­utes. Throw the remain­ing pars­ley on top. Resist the temp­ta­tion to play with the eggs until they are cooked through! A bite of egg yolk and a bite of meat­ball smoth­ered in the sauce was… divine.

This dish smells like noth­ing in this world. Your guests will feel they have died and gone to heav­en, and you will be a star. I served this with steamed pota­toes driz­zled with olive oil and sprin­kled with pars­ley, and a sal­ad made of cucum­bers and dill in sour cream.