How to make Isfahan-style Chickpea Meatballs

Ingredients for 4 people:

• Ground beef: 400g
• Chickpea flour: 3 tablespoons
• Onion: 1 large
• Potato: 1 large
• Lapeh (dried whey): 1/2 cup
• Lemon: 2
• Tomato paste: 1 tablespoon
• Salt and black pepper: as needed
• Turmeric and oil: as needed

Chickpea Meatball Recipe

Step 1:

First, soak the chickpeas for a few hours before cooking so that they not only become soft but also cook easily. Next, finely chop the onions into small pieces and sauté them with some oil in a suitable pot until they turn golden brown.

Step 2:

Then, add some turmeric and black pepper and sauté for a while until the spices mix well with the hot onions. Next, drain the soaked chickpeas and add them to the pot with the onions, then sauté for one minute.

Step 3:

In this step, add tomato paste to the pot and sauté well until the rawness of the tomato paste is gone. After the tomato paste has turned slightly brown, add one and a half liters of water and let the chickpeas cook on low heat.

Step 4:

After 30 minutes, add dried limes and salt to the pot. To avoid the bitter taste of dried limes, make sure to puncture them with a fork 30 minutes before adding them to the pot, and soak them in a cup of water.

Step 5:

In this step, we move on to preparing the meatballs. For this purpose, grate the onion finely, and mix it well with the minced meat, chickpea flour, and some salt, black pepper, and turmeric in a suitable bowl until the meatball mixture becomes consistent.

Step 6:

After preparing the meatball mixture, make small meatballs about the size of small oranges, and shape them well with your hands until they become completely round. Then, put the meatballs into the pot gently and let the food cook.

Step 7: 

It takes about an hour to cook the meatballs, so after 30 minutes, we chop the potatoes into large pieces and add them to the pot to cook. The amount of water for this dish depends on our preference, we can serve it as a stew or with less water.