These Moroccan meatballs are made with minced beef and feature harissa, almonds & dried apricots they are finished with pomegranate molasses.

North African Influenced Meatballs.

These Moroccan influenced beef meatballs join an ever-growing list of meatballs from around the world on my site.

Unlike my Indian venison meatballs or Pork meatballs in a beer sauce, these do not come with a traditional sauce.

They get a final glaze of wonderfully sweet and sour pomegranate molasses, in many ways I suppose that makes them similar to my Teriyaki meatballs.

Hidden away in a rather frugal 200g (7oz) of minced beef is a real surprise of glorious flavours and textures.

We get a fragrant spicy background from harissa paste. I love this ingredient and use it in everything from my halloumi burgers to my harissa and garlic prawns.

We then get a sweet hit from apricots and a glorious texture from almonds!

Essentially classic flavours and textures of Moroccan cuisine, just with my “spin”.

How to Make Homemade Meatballs.

This beef meatball recipe features a pretty standard way of making meatballs. In fact, it is very similar in many ways to the making of both burgers, like this venison burger, or indeed my homemade sausages.

Regular readers will know that I am not one for making foods lean of fat. So go for a minced meat somewhere around 20% fat content. Fat adds both flavour and keeps your balls juicy!

Then it is a simple case of adding flavourings and binding agents. I strongly favour breadcrumbs and eggs.

It is then simply a case of forming your meatballs. This is as close to ‘hack’ as I get, use wet hands when forming your meatballs, it makes things easier.

I often see people recommend that meatballs are chilled before cooking. It is not something advise, I never cook meat straight from the fridge.

Serving Suggestions.

These North African influenced meatballs are wonderfully versatile.

You can serve them with plain bulgur wheat or a classic tabbouleh salad.

They would also work wonderfully with my roasted vegetable couscous.

Stuff them into pitas to with a nice green salad and maybe a little of this yoghurt and tahini sauce and you have a kick asss lunch!

But no need to stop there, make them a little smaller and cook them a little less and you have wonderful nibbles.

Stick them with fancy cocktail sticks and hand them around at your next “soiree”!