After five years of terrible European foods/flavors labeled “American”, I don’t believe place descriptors on food unless the source demonstrates a good-faith connection to that place. Somehow I trust that the Israeli Embassy’s PR team knows Israeli cuisine.
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Possibly a little Germanized; I had expected ground lamb rather than ground beef, which is more common here. We usually buy gemischtes Hackfleisch, which is a mixture of pork and beef ground up together (it makes a great American meatloaf), but to honor the dish’s origins we splurged on pure beef. I’d love to try it with lamb sometime.
Then I bought Baharat Gewürzmischung at the Saturday weekly market. This is a word I have never heard pronounced in any language.
“Can I help you find something?”
“I am looking for Baharat.”
“What?”
“Baharat?”
“What?”
*I hand over my shopping list and point to the word “Barahat”*
“Oh! Baharat! Second row from the front. 2,75€.”
The fresh Koriander, cilantro in American, was easier.
Other than the omission of milk because koscher, the balls are prepared similar to other boiled meatballs. The sauce is very thin at first, but reduces as the meat cooks.
I served the meatballs with rice. The sauce was würzig aber nicht scharf, spicy-lots-of-flavors, not spicy-hot, and the combination of spice and tomato sauce was very warming on a rainy winter night.
And look! Green! It’s a salad!
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