Lamb shish meatballs with chickpeas, courgette, bantams' and quails' eggs

Lamb shish meatballs with chickpeas, courgette and eggs

Mr Kate made this cracking #SOS dinner a few nights ago when I was caught up at work - one of the best meals he's ever cooked me!

We had found some #SOS lamb tandoori shish kebabs on the shelf the night before, quite remarkably reduced from £3.79 to 25p, and had some free bantams' and quails' eggs to use from Mr Kate's nan. I'd fancied cooking a Moroccan style meatball dish with the traditional eggs cracked into the dish - this was our twist on the Moroccan dish as we swapped the standard Moroccan spices for Indian ones to blend in with the tandoori flavoured meat.

Here's Mr Kate's recipe:

1) Fry the following in a shallow pan in hot oil: two cloves of finely chopped garlic, a teaspoon each of ground coriander, ground cumin, chilli flakes, ground chilli and shish seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
2) After two or three minutes add a finely chopped onion, a courgette diced into 1cm cubes and soften.
3) After a few minutes add a tin of chopped tomatoes, stir well and add a glug of white wine.
4) Remove the shish kebab meat from the skewers and combine with a beaten egg, chopped mint, and a dash of ground cumin and shish seasoning. Mix well and shape into meatballs.
5) Add the meatballs to the pan and space out evenly (I would have browned the meatballs before adding them to the pan but Mr Kate didn't bother and I didn't even notice!).
6) Add half a tin of chick peas and squeeze in the juice of half a lemon.
7) Simmer for 20 minutes over a low to medium heat.
8) Crack some eggs into the gaps between the meatballs, scatter over some fresh coriander and cover the pan with a lid or plate for about five minutes or until the eggs are cooked.
9) Finish with more chopped fresh coriander and mint leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.
10) Serve with warm bread.

We had this with some #SOS garlic naan bread (to mop up the lovely juices) reduced from £1.29 to 15p. When all the ingredients were added together this cost no more than £1.50 and was the tastiest meal I've had in a long time - the flavours packed a real zingy punch and complimented each other really well.

Cheap, healthy, tasty and creative use of cheap ingredients - the very essence of the #SOS way of life! Mr Kate can certainly make this one again!