Lamb and pistachio meatballs, with red rice koshari

This is another of the more experimental recipes. The lamb meatballs are tried and tested - you can't go far wrong with lamb, pistachios, and a little sweet spice.The koshari is another matter, and honestly - tasty though it was - I've not quite nailed it.Koshari, if you don't know, (and I didn't until a friend suggested it on Friday) is kind of what would happen if an onion pilaf set out to annex every other culture's starches. It's one of those recipes you read with a mounting sense of horror that the author is not, in fact joking. Speaking its name alone will banish any Atkins dieters that have the energy left to run. It's semi-recent Egyptian pantry-clearing fodder, and contains two types of pasta, rice lentils, and chickpeas.I baulked a little.The red (camargue) rice was an impulse buy. It looked more interesting than the wild rice I was looking for in Brighton Sainsbury's. When a hasty Google showed that the packet copy was almost word-for-word identical to the wikipedia entry, I was too amused not to buy it. This is a poor basis for a recipe.Likewise, if you look at koshari, and think "maybe that's a bit too much carbohydrate", you should probably take that as a sign that koshari isn't for you. Instead I knocked out the pasta, and I think the final thing was the worse for it. Daft rice and no pasta made for a strange colour and texture, but it did go well with the meatballs and tomato.In hindsight, I'd probably serve them on just some spiced wild rice with onion, shooting for a lighter pilaf vibe. Regardless, here's the full thing.

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

• Lamb, in this case about 300g
• Pistachio kernels, roughly 50g
• Bread, a chunk
• Flat leaf parsley, good handful
• Cinnamon, about 1/4 tsp
• Allspice, about 1/4tsp
• Half an onion

Koshari:

• Puy (or green) lentils, 80g or so
• Wild rice (or the funny red stuff), 100g or so
• Chickpeas, a tin
• The other half of the onion

Tomato sauce:

• Tomatoes, a tin
• Garlic, 1-3 cloves
• Oregano
• Veg stock powder, to taste
• Paprika (optional)
• Chilli (optional)

Instructions:

This could easily get chaotic, given you're kind of making three things at once. But most of it will parallelise reasonably well, and it comes together at the end. The meatball stuff can easily happen while the starches are simmering.First, deal with the lentils. You may want to soak and rinse them before cooking. Just put them in a pan, fill with water and slosh it about a bit. If it goes cloudy, pour it off, and repeat until the water is basically clear. Then set them boiling on a low simmer, for 20-30 minutes or until tender but not mushy.While that's going on, make the meatball mix.Tear the bread into small pieces and let it soak in water or milk for a few minutes until softened. Press out some of the excess liquid. Finely dice half a large onion. Shred the parsley. Chop the pistachios. Combine all of these ingredients with the lamb and spices, and mix well. The bread pulp should do the binding, which is why I'm not bothering with an egg. Form the mix into little meatballs by rolling dollops between your palms.When the lentils are cooked, strain them and put them to one side. It's time for tomato sauce.Slice the garlic, and fry it gently in plenty of olive oil. It's best to use a frying pan for this. After a minute or two, add the tin of chopped tomatoes, and make sure it's on a medium heat. Stir well, and let it reduce down, cooking the harshness off the tomatoes. Once the volume's reduced by around half (using the frying pan helps speed this up) add some stock and any herbs or spices you're using. A little sugar can help at this point, as can a splash of wine. I covered both bases with about half a glass of PX sherry. The sweetness knocks the acid off the tomatoes.Let it reduce a little more, then blend until smooth.After, or in parallel, cook the rice. Do this however works best for you. I diced the remaining onion, fried it off, then added the rice to coat in the butter. I then chucked in water to cover and left it on low until done.Fry the meatballs. If you're worried about cooking them though, or just doing them in batches, let them finish in the oven.At this point, we need to combine the koshari mix. I found a few approaches to this, and wasn't wholly sure what to do, so mileage here will be seriously variable. Roughly in line with the recipe in the Independent, I dumped the lentils and chickpeas on top of the rice once the water was mostly gone, and left it to finish covered off the heat. There's a recipe in the Guardian that layers them up at the end, too. It worked so so. It'd probably have strained the rice, and just amalgamated everything, then brought it back to temperature in the oven in hindsight, and given it was on already.Anyway, get the koshari together, and up to service temperature, then serve everything by using it as a base layer for the meatballs, and drizzling sauce over the top.

As expected, the meatballs are good. The spices bring a light sweetness that works with the lamb, and the pistachios give a richness and crunch. Heck, they're not far off the koftas in Ottolenghi's Jerusalem. The tomato sauce cuts though it, of course it does. I'd have used a bit of chili, too, but my boyfriend really doesn't go for it, and it seemed cruel.The problems is the koshari. It's a bit stodgy, though I think that's an artifact of how I cooked it. The nuttiness of the red rice is pleasant, and ties together with the chickpeas and puy lentils. But it's just, I don't know, flat? Maybe it needs the pasta and the crunch of the fried vermicelli noodles. It's just a slightly off note.Probably I should have stuck to the recipe the first time around. Maybe I just don't like koshari. Either way, I have no regrets about the bizzaro rice. Ordinary wild rice would do, but the nutty, crunchy edge plays very nicely indeed with the meatballs.Photo credit for this post goes to my awesome (and very patient) boyfriend Kit.