Spicy meatballs with adjika and yogurt

Adjika, literally ‘red salt’, is a spicy and fragrant pepper paste from Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia. You’ll find it completely addictive and you’ll be using it as a condiment for everything, as they do in Abkhazia. It will keep in the fridge for a few days.

Credit: Kyle Books / Laura Edwards

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

Adjika

• 4 red chillies, deseeded
• 4 tomatoes, deseeded
• 4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• ½ celery stick, roughly chopped
  
• 15 g coriander leaves
• 15 g basil leaves
• 15 g dill fronds
• 2 tbsp walnut oil
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp sea salt

 

Meatballs

• 1 slice white bread, crusts removed
• 6 tbsp milk
• 250 g minced pork
• 250 g minced beef
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tbsp barberries
• 1 tbsp ground sumac
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tsp sea salt olive oil, for frying
• Greek yogurt, to serve

Instructions

For the adjika, put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse blend to a chunky paste. The flavour will become more rounded and mellow if you make the paste in advance and leave to sit for a while.

For the meatballs, soak the bread in the milk for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put all the other ingredients into a large bowl and use your hands to combine everything thoroughly. Mash together the bread and milk to make a paste, then mix this into the meatball mixture. Roll into meatballs; I like them golf-ball sized.

Heat a slick of oil in a frying pan and cook the meatballs in batches. Start at a high heat to brown the outside, then lower the temperature until the meat is cooked through.

Serve with the adjika and a generous dollop of yogurt.

Recipe and image from Samarkand by Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford (Kyle Books, hbk, $49.99). Read more about the food of this historic city here. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.