This is common throughout the Middle East.

　　

Ingredients

serves 6

　　1 1/2 pounds ground lean beef, lamb, or veal

　　1 onion, grated or finely chopped

　　Salt and pepper

　　Vegetable oil

　　1 pound fresh spinach or frozen chopped spinach

　　1 tablespoon butter

　　A 14-ounce can chickpeas or two, drained

　　2–4 cloves garlic, crushed

　　2 teaspoons ground coriander

　　

Step 1

Put the ground meat and onion in a bowl. Add salt and pepper, mix well, and work with your hand to a soft paste. Roll into walnut-sized balls and fry briefly in shallow oil, in batches, turning them so that they are brown all over but still pink inside. Drain on paper towels.

　　

Step 2

Wash the fresh spinach leaves thoroughly, and remove stems only if they are thick. Put them in a large pan with the butter, and no extra water, over low heat for a minute or so with the lid on, until the leaves crumple into a soft mass. (If using frozen spinach, defrost it and heat it in the pan with the butter until it is soft.) Cut up the spinach very roughly with a pointed knife in the pan, add the drained chickpeas, season with salt and pepper, and stir well.

　　

Step 3

Put in the meatballs, stir, and cook with the lid on. In Egypt it was usual to cook a further 1/2 hour, adding a little water, until the meatballs were very soft. I like the meat to be still a little pink inside, so I cook for 5 minutes only.

　　

Step 4

The particular refinement of this dish comes from a fried mixture called takleya added in at the end. Fry the garlic in 2 tablespoons oil with the coriander until the mixture smells sweet. Stir this in at the end of the cooking.

　　

Step 5

Serve with rice.

　　

Variations

Step 6

A Turkish way of eating this is smothered in yogurt mixed with crushed garlic and a little salt, pepper, and dried crushed mint. The whole is decorated with a sprinkling of scarlet paprika. In this case, omit the takleya at the end.

　　

Step 7

A variation from Iran is khoresh sak, a spinach-and-orange sauce served with rice. The juice of 1 lemon and 2 oranges is mixed with 1 tablespoon flour and cooked with the meat and spinach for 20 minutes. In this case, add only crushed garlic fried in butter, without coriander, at the end.

　　The New Book of Middle Eastern Food Copyright © 2000Knopf