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Lebanese-style meatballs with mujadara

Sara Buenfeld's Lebanese-style lamb meatballs: Halal lamb mince with cumin and lemon, served on mujadara of brown basmati, green lentils and onion, with tahini sauce and a tomato, cucumber and olive salad.

Levantine · Main · Easy · 4 portions · 100 min

Each method follows published technique for the dish, and every Halal substitution is checked against the ingredient pages we cite. Photographs come from our ingredient library rather than the finished dish.

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Why Halal checks matter here

The meatballs are 250 g of lamb mince, which is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and the mujadara is cooked with bouillon powder, a bought stock product with its own ingredient list.

Halal-critical ingredients

• Lamb mince: Lamb is Halal only from a Halal-slaughtered animal, and mince without a Halal mark doesn't say how the animal was slaughtered. Buy the mince from a Halal butcher or in a certified pack. See Lamb.
• Bouillon powder: Bouillon powder is a bought stock product like a stock cube, and the UK's mainstream meat stock cubes contain uncertified chicken or beef fat, so the label decides. Use a Halal-certified or vegan vegetable bouillon powder. See Stock cubes.

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 250 g Halal lamb mince (10% fat or lower)
• 2 large onions (320 g): 1 very finely chopped, 1 halved and thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 3 tsp ground cumin (½ tsp for the meatballs, the rest for the rice)
• 1 lemon: half zested and juiced, half cut into 4 wedges
• 2 tsp rapeseed oil

Mujadara

• 200 g brown basmati rice
• 1 tbsp Halal-certified or vegetable bouillon powder
• 500 ml water
• 390 g can green lentils, drained

Tahini sauce and salad

• 2 tbsp tahini
• 4 tomatoes, cut into wedges
• ¼ (about 150 g) cucumber, sliced
• 12 Kalamata olives, quartered
• 1 tbsp chopped mint, plus small leaves to serve

Method

1. Shape the meatballs. Mix the lamb with a quarter of the chopped onion, the garlic, ½ tsp cumin, the lemon zest and some black pepper. Shape into 16 small meatballs and chill for at least 30 minutes.
2. Cook the mujadara. Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Keep most of the remaining chopped onion for the salad and fry the rest for 5 minutes until golden. Stir in the rest of the cumin, then the rice, bouillon powder, 500 ml water and some pepper. Cover and cook over a medium heat for 30 minutes, then add the lentils, cover again and cook for 5 to 10 minutes more until the rice is tender and the water absorbed.
3. Cook the meatballs. Meanwhile, heat the other 1 tsp oil in a non-stick pan over a medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and the sliced onion, cover and cook for 5 minutes, then stir and cook for 5 minutes more until the meatballs are cooked through and the onions golden. Stir the tahini and lemon juice with 3 to 4 tbsp water to make a sauce.
4. Serve. Mix the tomatoes, cucumber, olives and mint with the reserved chopped onion. Serve the mujadara topped with the meatballs and onions, spoon over the tahini sauce and add the salad, lemon wedges and a few mint leaves. Leftovers keep in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.

Allergens

sesame (tahini)

How this recipe was researched

Method adapted from BBC Good Food's 'Lebanese-style meatballs with mujadara' by Sara Buenfeld (serves 4: 2 large onions (320 g), one very finely chopped and one halved and thinly sliced; 250 g lamb mince (10% fat or lower) mixed with a quarter of the chopped onion, a grated garlic clove, ½ tsp of 3 tsp ground cumin, the zest of half a lemon and black pepper, shaped into 16 small meatballs and chilled at least 30 minutes; most of the remaining chopped onion kept for the salad and the rest fried 5 minutes in 1 tsp of 2 tsp rapeseed oil, then the rest of the cumin, 200 g brown basmati, 1 tbsp bouillon powder, 500 ml water and pepper, covered and cooked 30 minutes, then a drained 390 g can of green lentils for 5 to 10 minutes more; the meatballs and sliced onion cooked covered 5 minutes in the other 1 tsp oil, stirred and cooked 5 minutes more; 2 tbsp tahini stirred with the juice of half a lemon and 3 to 4 tbsp water; a salad of 4 tomatoes in wedges, ¼ cucumber (about 150 g), 12 quartered Kalamata olives, 1 tbsp chopped mint and the reserved onion; served with lemon wedges and mint leaves; leftovers keep 2 to 3 days in the fridge). We specified Halal lamb mince and a Halal-certified or vegetable bouillon powder; nothing else needed changing. Timings follow the published technique rather than a kitchen test.

Photograph from our ingredient library: meatballs in gravy, not the finished dish from this recipe.