Instructions: Wash the greens and spread them on a cloth, so it absorbs their water. Soak the greens and the legumes for a few hours (change the legume’s water for a couple of times), and then strain them. Now grind all the legumes, herbs, ground meat, and onion together. Then, add the salt, pepper, turmeric, and 3 to 4 tablespoons of fried onions (with no oil dripping) to the mix. Knead the ingredients well. Stir-fry the walnut slices with fried onions; add the raisins or barberries to the pan and put out the flame afterward and let it cool. You can also change the inside ingredients based on your taste; they just should not have any extra oil. You can also prepare the meatballs with no ingredients inside. In a suitable pot (which the meatballs should cook in it), stir-fry dried fenugreek with some oil. Then, add the remaining fried onions with turmeric and stir for some more. Now pour water in the pot and wait for it to boil. How To Cook: Now grab some of the ground ingredients (again, as much as a small orange). Put some of the walnut-raisin mixes in its center and shape it into a perfect meatball with no cracks. First, put 2 of the meatballs in the pot with its lid open, wait for 20 minutes. Then, if they were not crushed, add the other meatballs one by one to the pot. A good Koofteh should not be so hard that you need a knife to cut it; they should not crush in the pot either. If your test meatballs crush, add one egg to the ingredients and mix well. You can also add 1 or 2 tablespoons of wheat flour if you think it’s necessary. Although, if the greens are dried and legumes without water, and you knead the ingredient and shape the Koofteh well, this should not happen. When all of the meatballs are inside the pot, the water should be covering them. Only add hot water to the pot if you need to. After 30 minutes, put the lid on and wait for your Koofteh Sabzi to cook on a gentle heat for 1 to 2 hours.

Various types of meatballs are prepared across Iran. Some are popular nationwide, while others are traditional specialities of specific regions. Vegetable meatball is one of the dishes of Fars province, which is mostly cooked in Shiraz and Jahrom.

Ingredients

Rice: one and a half cups

Lentils: two cups

Split pea: one cup

Wheat or vetches: one cup

Vegetable (a special mixture of leek, coriander, and parsley): half a kilo

Dry tarragon and fenugreek: one tablespoon each

Onions: two

Raisins, walnuts and prunes: as per taste

Minced meat: 400 grams

Notes

The required vegetable is a mixture of leek, coriander, and parsley, usually chopped in equal amounts.

Rice, lentils, split peas, and wheat should be soaked separately overnight and thoroughly drained an hour before cooking, and completely drained one hour before cooking; otherwise, the meatballs may fall apart.

The mince should be mutton with low fat. Thigh mutton is the best type of meat to use in making vegetable meatballs.

Raisins, walnuts, and prunes are used to fill the middle of the meatball. However, raisins and prunes should not be used together.

Recipe

Mix two-thirds of the minced meat, rice, and a mixture of vegetables in a bowl, mix them properly, and grind the mixture. Add enough salt to the mixture before grinding it.

After grinding, the mixture should be kneaded well and placed in the refrigerator for three to four hours so that the mixture gets well-formed.

Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients that are to be used inside the meatballs. Chop the onions and fry them until they turn golden. Add chopped walnuts and raisins to it and continue frying. Note that at the end of the process of frying, the excess oil must be removed; otherwise, the meatballs will fall apart.

Take the ingredients out of the fridge and cut them into palm-sized pieces. After you spread it in your palm, add a mixture of walnuts and onion to it and make the meatball into a round shape. Then press it until it is well shaped and there are no cracks in it. If you want to make sure that the meatballs will be well-cooked, put the balls in the refrigerator for half an hour.

It is now time to make the meatball soup. Take a pot, pour a little oil into it, and fry a chopped onion in it. After the onion changes colour a little, add the dry tarragon and fenugreek and the remaining part of the mixed vegetables. After that, add the spice and pour a few glasses of water into the pot. After the water comes to a boil, put the meatballs in it one by one and wait for an hour until the meatballs are well-cooked in this soup. Do not cover the pot while cooking, so that the meatballs remain intact and cook evenly.

Vegetable meatball is one of the dishes of Fars province, which is mostly cooked in Shiraz and Jahrom.