This delicious recipe for meatballs and baked eggs in a spiced tomato sauce is from Greg & Lucy Malouf’s Malouf: New Middle Eastern Food. We really enjoyed the dish, fniding it a lot like a North Indian tomato-based curry in flavour.

Read our review of Malouf: New Middle Eastern Food.

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Lamb Kifta Tagine With Eggs

This dish is best described as lamb meatballs in a tomato-based sauce, with eggs baked on top.

Author Greg Malouf

Ingredients

Meatball ingredients

500 grams lamb, finely minced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil for frying

Sauce ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 x 400 grams tinned tomatoes, drained and chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Other ingredients

½ cup flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
¼ cup coriander leaves finely chopped
6 free-range eggs
optional baby radish leaves and sage flowers to garnish

Notes

Note: We halved all amounts, above and used chopped tinned tomatoes with all the juices.

Note: Malouf suggests liberally garnishing with radish leaves and flowers, and serving with plenty of Arabic flatbread to mop up the runny egg yolks. Alternatively, he proposes accompanying the tagine with a dish of plain buttered couscous and a dollop of thick natural yoghurt.

Note: Malouf suggests that anyone who enjoys a more piquant dish may add one finely chopped bullet chilli whilst sautéing the onion and garlic.

Instructions

To make meatballs, thoroughly mix all the ingredients, except for the oil, and with wet hands, form into walnut-sized balls. Heat the oil and brown the meatballs all over. Drain well on paper towel.
For the sauce, heat the oil in a heavy-based casserole dish and lightly sauté the onions and garlic until they are translucent. Add the tomatoes, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Then add the water, stir again and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer the sauce, uncovered, for about thirty minutes, or until it has reduced to a very thick gravy.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and continue cooking for a further 8 minutes. Stir in the parsley and coriander. Carefully break the eggs into the sauce, cover the pan with a lid and cook until the eggs are just set, which will take about 5 minutes.
Serve at once, straight from the pot.

Made the recipe? Let us know how you enjoyed it in the comments!

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New Middle Eastern Food by Greg & Lucy Malouf is published by Hardie Grant. With thanks to the publisher for the review copy.

Lamb Kifta Tagine With Eggs