Lamb Meatballs With Rose Harissa and Tahini Sauce

Method

1. Crush the small garlic clove to a paste with a pinch of salt and stir it into the lemon juice. Leave it 10 minutes, which takes the raw bite off the garlic.
2. Stir the tahini in the jar until the separated oil is back through it, weigh 150g into a bowl, then whisk in the lemon and garlic mixture and the half teaspoon of salt. It tightens straight away.
3. Now the step that decides the sauce. Add the ice-cold water a tablespoon at a time, whisking hard after each one. The paste will seize: stiff, pale, grainy and claggy on the whisk. It will look ruined. Keep going. Around 80ml it lets go, and by about 120ml it is smooth, ivory and pourable. Taste for salt and lemon, then set it aside.
4. Soak the breadcrumbs in the milk for 5 minutes, then squeeze out the excess with your hand.
5. Put the lamb mince, soaked breadcrumbs, harissa paste, egg, crushed garlic, cumin, parsley and the teaspoon of salt in a bowl. Mix with your fingertips only until it just comes together. Overworked mince turns bouncy.
6. Fry a teaspoon of the mixture in a dry pan and taste it. It is the only chance to correct the salt and the heat before the batch is rolled.
7. Roll into 20 balls, about 25g each, and chill them on a plate for 15 minutes so they hold their shape in the pan.
8. Heat the olive oil in a wide frying pan over a medium-high heat and brown the meatballs in two batches, turning them every couple of minutes, about 6 minutes a batch. A crowded pan steams them.
9. Return the meatballs to the pan, add 3 tablespoons of water, cover and cook for 4 minutes. The steam takes them through to about 70°C without drying the crust.
10. Rest them off the heat for 3 minutes, then spoon the tahini sauce over them in the pan, zigzag the pomegranate molasses across it and scatter the seeds, the parsley and the preserved lemon skin if you are using it. Serve from the pan with warm flatbread, and the pita crisps for the sauce left behind.

Make ahead and leftovers

Rolling the meatballs a day ahead improves them: the salt and harissa season the mince through, not only at the surface. Uncooked, they freeze on a tray then bagged, and go in from frozen with 4 extra minutes under the lid. Cooked, they keep three days. Cold, split and pressed into warm flatbread with the sauce, shredded lettuce and thin red onion, they make the better lunch of the two. For the same mince on skewers, see our lamb kofte with pilpelchuma and pine nut oil.

Common questions

Why does my tahini sauce go thick when I add water?

Because the sauce has not finished. Tahini is sesame solids held in sesame oil, and the first splash of water cannot carry those solids, so they clump and the paste seizes stiff, pale and grainy. It looks broken and it is not. Keep whisking in cold water a tablespoon at a time and it flips into a water-based emulsion, thins and turns ivory. For 150g of tahini expect about 120ml of water, used cold, which sets it whiter and thicker.

How long does tahini sauce keep in the fridge?

Four to five days in a sealed jar. It thickens as it chills, so let it sit out for 10 minutes and whisk in a splash of cold water. The garlic gets noticeably stronger by day three, so if you are making it ahead, use half and add the rest on the day. It does not freeze: the emulsion splits.

What is the difference between tahini and hummus?

Tahini is one ingredient, hulled sesame seeds roasted and ground to a paste. Hummus is a finished dip of cooked chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt and oil. Tahini is an ingredient in hummus rather than a version of it, which is why one jar also makes dressings and sauces.

Can you use rose harissa instead of plain harissa?

Yes, spoon for spoon in most recipes. Rose harissa is milder and rounder than a plain North African harissa, because the dried rose petals soften the front edge of the chilli. If a dish needs fierce heat, add a little extra or use the Belazu smoked chilli harissa, which puts chipotle and balsamic behind the same blend. Our guide to cooking with harissa paste has the doses by dish.

The tahini, the harissa and the molasses sit together on the Belazu page, and shipping is free Australia-wide on orders over $100. Orders placed before 12pm on a weekday are dispatched the same day from our Corio, VIC warehouse, tracked with Australia Post.