Oriental Meatballs with Cherries

Ingredients

• 200 g sour cherries
• 350 g ground beef
• 30 g whole wheat breadcrumbs (2 tbsp)
• 1 egg yolk
• Salt
• Pepper
• 0.5 tsp ground cumin
• 0.5 tsp ground coriander
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1 pinch ground allspice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 Shallot
• 15 g Butter (1 tbsp)
• 2 cloves of spice cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp honey
• 80 ml cherry juice
• 200 g whole wheat pita (or whole wheat flatbread)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash and halve the sour cherries, removing pits. Mix ground beef with breadcrumbs, egg yolk, salt, pepper, and the ground spices. Shape 12 balls about 3 cm in diameter from the meat mixture.

2. 2.

   Heat oil in a pan and brown the meatballs on all sides over medium heat for about 7–8 minutes. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.

3. 3.

   Meanwhile, peel and finely dice the shallot. Melt butter in the pan, sauté the shallot cubes for 3 minutes over low heat. Add cherries, cloves, and cinnamon stick, drizzle with honey, and caramelize for 2 minutes. Deglaze with cherry juice and simmer everything over low heat for 10 minutes. Then remove the whole spices from the sauce.

4. 4.

   Slightly crush the cherries. Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for another 4 minutes. Serve with bread.