Iraqi Jewish Meatballs

This is a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Claudia Roden's The Book of Jewish Food. Why do I love this cookbook? Well, the recipes are delicious, but there's something more to than that...

I guess my cultural/ethnic background is muddled at best, but basically I'm an atheist Southerner with Eastern European Jewish roots on my dad's side and down-home bible-thumping roots on my mom's. Growing up, my family observed the major Jewish holidays more or less, including what traditional foods the Harris Teeter in our small town could supply ingredients for; but we also ate more than our share of spicy-vinegary pork BBQ. So why do these ancient Middle Eastern recipes speak to me? I was 16 years old the first time I tasted hummus, and I thought "I could eat this stuff every day". Nineteen years later, I feel the same way. I don't know if these flavors (lemon, garlic, mint, olive oil) are encoded on my DNA or if I was Lebanese in a past life, but this is my favorite type of food.

So (finally getting back to the recipe!) here is an offering I would like to think is from my (far, far, removed) ancestors in the ancient Iraqi Jewish community:

Meatballs:
1 1/2 lbs ground meat (the traditionally lamb, I used turkey)
1/2 finely chopped Italian parsley
salt & pepper

Sauce:
3 T vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped (I used good-quality canned)
juice of 1 1/2 small lemons
1 T sugar
1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

Brown the meatballs in the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are soft. Add the tomatoes, a little salt & pepper, and water just to almost cover. Simmer, uncovered, about 25 minutes until the meatballs are very tender and the sauce is reduced. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and mint and simmer another 10 to 15 minutes. Serve over rice.

Schug (Middle Eastern hot pepper sauce)

1 lb peppers - mix hot and sweet to your taste, but go with one color family (red or green) so the sauce will have a good vibrant color
5-6 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
1 1/2 T cumin
black pepper and salt to taste
olive oil to cover

optional:
fresh cilantro, cardamom, and/or lemon juice

Throw peppers and garlic into a food processor and purée. Add spices and pulse a few times to mix. Store the mixture in a glass jar and cover with olive oil. Refrigerate.

Recipe from Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen

Notes
I used 2 large sweet red peppers (which I roasted and peeled), several red and yellow banana peppers, one red jalapeno, and 1 orange habanero (from my garden!). All peppers were seeded. I added a couple tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and a good strong pinch of salt. It's fantastic! It could even be a little hotter - I'm thinking about throwing it back in the food processor with another habanero! Though as it is, it has a delicious spicy garlic flavor and I can HEAP it on pita bread. If I make it hotter it'll become something to use just a dash of... we'll see.

5 red hot stars!

Falafel

1 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 large onion, roughly chopped (about 1 cup)
2 T finely chopped fresh parsley
2 T finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 t salt
1/2-1 t dried hot red pepper
4 cloves of garlic
1 t cumin
1 t baking powder
4-6 T flour

Vegetable oil for frying

In a food processor, chop the chickpeas and onion with the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin until blended but not pureed.

Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough that the dough forms a small ball and no longer sticks to your hands. Turn into a bowl and refrigerate, covered (preferably for several hours but at least 30 minutes).

Form the chickpea mixture into balls about the size of walnuts.

Heat 2-3 inches of oil to 375 degrees and fry 1 ball to test. If it falls apart, add a little flour. Then fry about 6 balls at once for a few minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels.

Serve in pita bread with tahina sauce, cucumber-yogurt sauce, and tomatoes. Hot peppers are also good, or even better, try it with Schug.

Notes

The falafel was much quicker to make than I thought, and was very yummy with good texture. Also good cold the next day (didn't reheat well in the toaster oven, though: greasy!). 4 stars.