Istanbul & Beyond Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey

Meatballs with Pumpkin & Spice Butter from Istanbul and Beyond

Prep time: 1¼ hours plus 1½ hours for the rice to soak | Serves: 4

For this warming dish from Hakkâri, delicate lamb or beef meatballs studded with ground rice are laid atop a bed of pumpkin chunks and then steam-simmered in a light tomato sauce. Before serving, the dish is drizzled with sizzling tomato butter seasoned with purple basil and red pepper flakes, which play off the richness of the meat and the sweetness of the pumpkin. I ate this dish at the home of Șehmur and Baran Kurt, in Hakkâri.

A good meatball is light and tender, attributes achieved in Turkey by hand-chopping the meat, something even I am unwilling to undertake on a regular basis. But you can achieve a similar texture by spreading ground meat on a cutting board, sprinkling the seasonings over it, and cutting everything together with a knife. (This keeps the meat from turning into a paste, as it would if you mixed the ingredients in a food processor or by squeezing and kneading with your hands.) The process takes only about 5 minutes. Combine this technique with very light handling when you form the meatballs, and they’ll end up tender.

You must soak the rice for 1½ hours before proceeding with the rest of the recipe, during which time you can peel, seed, and slice the pumpkin and complete other prep work. The meatball mixture can be prepared ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator. Serve the dish with a simple cooked vegetable like spinach and plain Strained Yogurt. For a dinner party, give your guests an appetite-rousing preview by placing the pot in the middle of the table before pouring over the sizzling spice butter.

Directions

1. For the meatballs: Place the rice in a medium bowl and add water to cover, swish the rice with your fingers, and then drain off the water. Repeat until the water runs clear, then cover the rice with room temperature water and set aside for 1½ hours.

2. Drain the rice briefly, then process, blend, or grind (in a mortar) into pieces the size of coarse sand or kosher salt.

3. Spread the ground lamb or beef over a large cutting board, forming a rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Scatter the ground rice and onion evenly over the meat, then sprinkle over the black pepper, salt, ground chile, and purple basil (or basil and ground anise). With a large chef ’s knife, work your way horizontally across the meat, rocking the knife and cutting into the ingredients. Turn the cutting board 90 degrees and repeat, again cutting across the meat. Slip the blade of your knife underneath one side of the meat and bring about half of the rectangle up and over the center. Repeat from the opposite side of the meat, and then from the top and bottom. You should now have a small squareish lump of ground meat. Pat out the meat and repeat the cutting two or three times, until the ingredients are completely mixed into the meat. Gently transfer the meat to a medium bowl.

4. Put the pumpkin or winter squash in a heavy lidded pot large enough to accommodate it in one or two layers. Sprinkle the salt over the pumpkin.

5. Place a bowl of water within reach. With wet palms and a very light touch, pinch off tablespoon-sized pieces of the meat mixture, roll them into balls, and lay them on top of the pumpkin pieces; make a second layer if necessary. Handle the meat lightly—don’t squeeze or press it when you’re forming the meatballs, which needn’t be perfectly smooth or round. You should end up with about 26 meatballs.

6. Stir together the tomato paste and boiling water and pour over the meatballs and pumpkin. Place the pot over high heat and bring the liquid to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to a slow simmer, and cook until the pumpkin or squash is soft and the meatballs are cooked through, 25 to 35 minutes, depending on the type of squash. There should be a small amount of sauce at the bottom of the pot; check after 15 minutes, and if there is not sufficient liquid in the bottom of the pot, add ¼ cup water. Remove from the heat and set aside, covered, while you prepare the spice butter.

7. Make the spice butter: Melt the butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. When the butter begins to bubble, add the red pepper flakes and purple basil (or basil and ground anise). Swirl or stir the mixture as it sizzles for about 2 minutes, until the spices are very fragrant and darkening but not burning. Pull the skillet from the heat, pour the butter over the meatballs and pumpkin, and serve immediately.