Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs with Smashed Chickpea Salad and Yoghurt-Sumac Sauce

Cook' em...

Roll' em...

brown' em...

bake' em...

smash'  em...

 

eat' em.

My kids won't eat a garden pea to save their lives, but they'll inhale a truck-load of chickpeas. I'm thankful for small mercies.

Sesame-Spiced Turkey Meatballs with Smashed Chickpea Salad and Yoghurt-Sumac Sauce

slightly adapted from Deb Perelman's The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

Serves 4

For the Meatballs:
Olive oil
600g ground turkey
60g fresh white breadcrumbs
4 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon fine salt
1 egg
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch chilli flakes
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

For the Chickpea Salad:
450g cooked chickpeas (or you could use a couple of cans, drained and rinsed)
A large handful of stuffed olives, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon sumac
Chopped fresh parsley
Juice and finely grated zest of a lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
Olive oil

For the Yoghurt-Sumac Sauce:
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup low fat Greek yoghurt
1 teaspoon sumac, plus extra for sprinkling

Make the Meatballs:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl and knead together with your hands until everything is well mixed.

Form the mixture into 4cm balls and put them on one of  the prepared trays.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan and brown the meatballs in batches. Put the browned meatballs on the other prepared tray. When all the meatballs are brown, put the tray into the oven and bake until cooked through.

Make the Chickpea Salad:
Put all the salad ingredients into a large bowl and mash it lightly with a potato masher. You don't want the mixture too smooth, it should be quite nubbly.

Make the Yoghurt-Sumac Sauce:
Put everything into a blender and blitz until smooth.

Assemble the Dish:
Spoon the chickpeas out onto a large serving plate and dress with a extra virgin olive oil. Place the meatballs on top and drizzle with the Yoghurt-Sumac Sauce. Sprinkle with extra sumac.