I wasn't too happy with the results of this recipe, but I changed it so much from the original that it may very well be my fault. Instead of using leftover cooked lamb and grinding it together with the onions, I cooked ground lamb with some salt and then mixed it with the onions, eggs and bread. Unfortunately the ground lamb was too coarse and I couldn't shape it into meatballs, so I put the mixture in the food processor until I got a paste. I made balls from that paste, covered them with bread crumbs and then fried them.

The results were meatballs that had a crunchy surface and a soft interior. They tasted fine, with a discernable lamby taste, but I didn't like the consistency. You might.

My other change was to halve the recipe, and then halve the amount of crushed pepper once again - I didn't want them to be too spicy. They weren't spicy at all, as I made them, so using the full amount should be fine.

The recipe below is as I made it.

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Spiced Lamb Balls

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground lamb
• oil
• salt to taste
• 1/2 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. peanut oil
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• bread crumbs*

Instructions

Saute the ground lamb with some salt on a little bit of oil and set aside.

Saute the chopped onion with the cinnamon, ginger, garlic powder, red pepper and salt until the onions are soft.

Put the lamb, onion mixture, egg and 2 tbsp. bread crumbs in the food processor and process until malleable.

Form meatballs with your hands, pass them through additional bread crumbs and place them in a plate. Refrigerate for one hour.

Deep fry the meatballs until golden.

* I used panko.

Adapted from a recipe at Uncle Phaedrus, finder of lost recipes