Dawood Basha (Middle Eastern Meatball Stew)
My husband and I married pretty young. I had barely graduated from undergrad and he had just started medical school. For the longest time, I was too afraid to make this specific meal by myself. My husband would try to be really subtle and hint to me that his favorite comfort food is “Dawood Basha” and I knew that he was super stressed at school, but…I would tell him “I bet your mom makes it best” and then wait patiently for his mom to invite us over for “Dawood Basha”. The first time I saw her make it, I realized that Dawood Basha was just Kufta! You see, they are of Syrian descent and I am of Palestinian descent. We call it Kufta and I would watch my own mom make this when she needed to be done quickly! I had no idea it was so easy to make and now, we have it regularly at our home. I still like to add shortcuts here and there, like pre-making meatballs and freezing them, but even without the shortcuts, it’s a very simple meal to make. And more importantly, it’s VERY hard to mess up:)
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Dawood Basha (Middle Eastern Meatball Stew)
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
Description
Meatballs and potatoes stewing in a light tomato sauce and spices…This is what we call comfort in a bowl!
Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup dried parsley or 1 cup fresh parsley
2 onions (one chopped fine and one sliced
1 tbls oil of your choice
1 tbls 7 spice
1 full tsp garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 table spoons tomato paste
4–5 small white potatos peeled and chopped small (one-inch cubes)
water to cover
Instructions
Mix parsley, beef, fine onions, spices together and roll into balls. Sautee beef in oil with sliced onions until mostly done.
Cover beef with water and add tomato paste, garlic with potatoes and salt to taste.
Boil on medium high until potatoes are cooked. About 30 minutes.
Notes
If you would prefer to cook this slowly so that it can be ready when you come home from work, then just put all the ingredients in a slow cooker instead of a pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.
Also, this freezes very well! But personally, I like to make extra meatballs and freeze half. That way, whenever I want a “fresh” meal, the meatballs are already done and I throw all the other ingredients in the slow cooker.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: dinner
- Method: one pot
- Cuisine: middle-eastern