Crockpot meatballs recipe. Syrian Kufta (Kawaj) is a a potato, tomato & minced meat bake, an easy weeknight dinner but this time it gets even easier with the slow cooker.
Syrian Kawaj recipe, is a recipe I've been making for years now without knowing its name!!. For me it was just a simple potato meatballs casserole that is swimming in tomato sauce, as simple as that. An easy recipe yet delicious 😋. Kids loved it, hubby loved it, I loved it so it was a win win recipe.
Until recently when I was searching for a Syrian recipe to make - as a tribute to this great nation which suffered, and still suffering a lot- and happily found out that my good old potato meatball casserole 😍 is actually of a Syrian origin.
We'll start simply by mixing meat, pine nuts, parsley and spices.
Then form meatballs as big or small as you like.
Heat up a large, deep skillet over medium high heat. Carefully place the meatballs in the pan. Allow them to get browned along the top and bottom.
Now arrange the meatballs,potato and bell pepper in a nice pattern, this is specially looks cool in an oven dish. Then cover with diced tomato.
Set it and forget it . The ease of this recipe is going to please you, my friends. A very delicious, kids approved easy weeknight meal. Serve with white or brown rice on the side.
I hope you'll like this simple Syrian recipe. Please do not forget them in your prayers ❤️️. May peace prevail.
I'll end this post by a lovely quote: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Martin Luther King Jr.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb ground meat .
- ¼ cup pine nuts . optional
- ½ cup chopped parsley I used a combination of parsley and cilantro, optional.
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste.
- ½ teaspoon black pepper.
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon.
- ½ Tablespoon Arabic bahar.
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil.
For the slow cooker
- 1 large onion sliced.
- 1 large green bell pepper sliced
- 2 medium potatoes peeled, sliced
- Additional salt and pepper
- 2 cans diced tomatoes or 8 medium fresh tomatoes peeled and diced.
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, mix the first 7 ingredients well and shape the mixture into golf ball sized meatballs.
- Heat oil in a skillet and brown the balls, not cook them just brown for about 2 minutes from all sides. Work in batches if necessary.
- Remove from heat and set aside.
- In your crockpot arrange onion slices at the bottom. then top with alternate meatballs,potato slice, and green pepper, alternatively.
- Mix diced tomatoes with salt and pepper and dumb in the crockpot.
- Pour the water over and let it cook on low for 6-8 hours.
- Serve with white / brown rice, bread and a nice green salad.
- Enjoy!!
Two-for-two! Both with great finds of recipes, and with the first time ever trying another cuisine - Syrian. Thanks heaps, this was a departure from my normal sort of schtick (usually I am more curry-based, or at least spicy and/or rich). I always look to expand my horizons. This meal was a winner on several fronts: relatively budget-friendly, healthy, used plenty of vegetables, quick, and easy to switch to a vegetarian version - would falafels go well in this? A tweak I made was using walnuts in the meatballs instead of pinenuts.
You may have well opened my eyes to Middle Eastern cuisine, because until now everything I knew was vaguely Lebanese with maybe a token Persian for good measure. Now, I am only more curious to explore what wonders await.
Signed, a guy who leaps at the chance to try a new cuisine - Restaurant or in the kitchen.
Do you have a recipe for making the Arabic bahar that you use in the meatball and potato recipe? I assume it is a powdered spice mix? My local stores don't seem to carry it and I would to try something new.
Candace, you can use the 7 spice mix if you can get a hold of it or to make things simpler for you, use allspice won't give the same taste but it will still be tasty. I hope this helps. Also, the 7-spice mix recipe is on the e-book you download when you sign up for the email list.
How would you make the same recipe if you didn’t have a slow cooker?
Thanks for you blog. You do a great job. Having lived in Damascus for a number of years..during a peaceful time...I really appreciate your efforts at bringing the plight of that hospitable and wonderful people to the attention of your readers. Keep up the good work.
Thank you Kaukab for you sweet comment, I hope you'll like the recipes.
This looks amazing ! As does your whole blog... have few questions I'm new in the kitchen . What meat fat ratio do you use for this and there is no onion in meatball like in Kafta right? and if I don't have a slow cooker how can I make this in oven?