Lamb curry meatballs!

In the May issue of Food & Wine Grace Parisi has a recipe for Mini Meatballs India Curry. Here's the link. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/mini-meatball-indian-curry
Well meatball, India and curry are some of my favorite food words and the meatballs are ground lamb-even better! I started to make them one night without reading the complete recipe, good lesson. The recipe includes cooked rice. I had brown basmatic rice which takes almost an hour so I was not cooking these meatballs that night. I made the rice and decided to cook the meatballs the next night. So take a clue from me and read your recipes through completely!

Mini-Meatball Indian Curry my way

~3/4 pounds ground lamb
1/2 jalapeño, seeded and minced
small knob of peeled fresh ginger, grated
1 large garlic clove, peeled, cored and pressed
1/2 cup cooked brown basmatic rice
1 large egg
~1 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon garam masala
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

1 tablesppon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 large garlic clove, peeled, cored and pressed
2 teaspoons medium-hot curry powder (I used 2 different kinds for fun).
6 tablespoons raw almond butter (recipe called for cashew butter, I couldn't find any and decided not to make it so I substituted almond butter)
1 1/2 cups tomato juice
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
small handful of cilantro, chopped
warm naan, for serving

Preheat the broiler and position a rack in the top 1/3 of the oven. In a mixing bowl, knead the lamb with the jalapeño, ginger, garlic, rice, egg, cilantro, garam masala and salt and pepper to taste. Roll the mixture into ~15 balls and place on baking sheet sprayed with vegetable spray. Broil for about 10 minutes, until the lamb meatballs are nearly cooked through and the tops are lightly browned.

In a large saute pan, heat the oil. Add the onion, cover and cook over high heat, stirring once or twice, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and curry powder and cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Stir in the almond butter and cook for 1 minute. Add the tomato juice and 2 cups of water, season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

Add the meatballs and any pan drippings to the sauce, cover partially and simmer over moderate heat, stirring frequently, until the meat is tender and the sauce is very thick, about 30 minutes. Stir in the cilantro and serve with leftover rice and warm naan.

I served these meatballs with cauliflower roasted with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and smoked paprika and the combo with warm naan and cuury lamb meatballs was irresistible. These are truly some of my favorite flavors, textures and spices and it did not disappoint. I served this with Sonoma Landing Pinot Noir and it was a good match. Enjoy!