Dawood Basha is a middle eastern meatball stew made with cubes of tender potatoes and peas, simmered in a flavourful tomato sauce. It can't really get better than that! Serve it with a side of Vermicelli rice and you have yourself the perfect comfort meal.
What is Dawood Basha?
Dawood Basha is a dish from Syria and Lebanon that is apparently named after a famous "basha" which is from the Turkish "pasha" and is a title given to certain status figures, similar to Lord or Sir. It's basically a Middle Eastern meatballs stew that can be made with just meatballs or with added vegetables, you can consider it as the stew sister of Eggplant Casserole with similar vegetables and flavour.
What makes Dawood Basha SO good is that the meatballs are seasoned with middle eastern spices, and then the stew is also layered with flavour from the onions, garlic and the peas and potatoes. Everything is simmered in a tomato sauce flavoured with seven spice and pomegranate molasses, and the result is just the most comforting dish you'll have. I love serving it with rice, or you can even enjoy it with some bread.
I'm not sure who this Dawood Basha is, but I'm okay with eating this stew quite regularly in his honour.
Ingredients you'll need
You'll need simple ingredients to make this meatball stew:
- Ground beef; I use either regular or lean
- Parsley; this is added into the meatballs for extra flavour
- Onions
- Potatoes
- Peas
- Spices; I love using seven spice (a Lebanese spice mix that you can also swap out for allspice), garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper
- Tomato paste to make the base of the sauce
- Pomegranate molasses which is a common middle eastern ingredient that has sweetness and a lovely tartness
- Vegetable broth, or you can use chicken broth or just water will be fine too
How to make this recipe
- You start off by mixing together the meatball ingredients and shaping them into evenly sized balls. Then they get seared in a large deep skillet on all sides until brown.
- Next, cook the diced onions until translucent with some salt to help soften them, then add in the potato cubes.
Tip: Make sure the potatoes are chopped into small to medium sized cubes so they don't take too long to cook.
- Then add in the crushed garlic, tomato paste and the spices and allow them to cook for a few minutes until the garlic is fragrant.
- Next, add in the vegetable broth along with the frozen peas and mix together well. Then add the meatballs back into the skillet, cover and allow the stew to simmer for about 25 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
- After about 25 minutes, check for seasoning. I usually balance the salt if required and add a pinch of sugar if the stew is too tart. And you're done! Serve with a side of rice and enjoy.
FAQs and Expert Tips
I recommend using regular ground beef for the added fat, to keep the meatballs moist. However, you can also use lean ground beef and add a bit of vegetable oil to the mixture.
You can substitute allspice and it will taste delicious! Allspice is a spice made from the allspice berry and can be found at most grocery stores.
Pomegranate molasses is found in a lot of grocery stores or middle eastern shops, but if you can't find it, feel free to leave it out.
This stew is traditionally served with Vermicelli rice or any other plain rice. However, feel free to also serve it with bread and a side salad such as Fattoush.
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Dawood Basha (Middle Eastern Meatballs Stew)
Ingredients
For the Meatballs:
- 1 kg ground beef (regular or lean)
- 1 tablespoon onion powder (or use half an onion, grated)
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons seven spice (or replace with allspice)
- 1.25 teaspoons salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 1 cup parsley finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
For the rest of the ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large onion white
- 800 grams potatoes roughly 3 medium ones
- 2 cups frozen green peas
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 2 cloves garlic large
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon seven spice (or use allspice)
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1.5 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth, or water
- ½ tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- 1 pinch sugar
Instructions
For the Meatballs:
- Mix together the ground meat, all the spices, pomegranate molasses, and parsley really well using your hands
- Shape into medium sized meatballs, ensuring they are all roughly the same size
- In a deep large skillet with a lid, add the vegetable oil and sear the meatballs on all sides on medium heat. Each side should take about 30 seconds to get nicely browned. The meatballs don't need to cook through. Remove them and set aside.
For the Stew:
- Prepare the vegetables by finely chopping the onions, crushing the garlic, and dicing the potatoes into small cubes (don't make them too big or they will need longer to cook)
- In the same skillet that the meatballs were seared in, add the vegetable oil, the onions and the salt and cook for a few minutes on medium heat until translucent
- Add the cubes of potato and continue to cook on medium heat until they start to brown slightly (this builds up flavour). This should take about 10 minutes.
- Add the crushed garlic, tomato paste, seven spice and black pepper and cook for another few minutes until garlic is fragrant
- Add the vegetable broth, the pomegranate molasses, and the frozen peas and mix well
- Add the meatballs back into the skillet, cover and allow the stew to simmer for 25 minutes until potatoes are soft
- Taste and adjust the final dish. I typically add in a pinch of sugar if I find it too tarte, as well as balance the salt if needed. Serve with rice and enjoy!
Notes
- I typically use onion powder in the meatballs mixture to save time and it works great! But if you want to use fresh onions, be sure to grate it and add it in
- If you don't have seven spice, you can replace it with allspice (the allspice berry which is available at most grocery stores)
- You can add in other vegetables if you like, such as spinach, carrots, or mushrooms
- You can also make this without the potatoes and peas, with just the meatballs. Although I think the potatoes and peas add so much flavour
Comments
For the seven spices, I only have cinnamon, cumin and coriander. Is this sufficient or will the flavor be off?
Do you have any allspice? Allspice + cinnamon would be a great replacement for seven spice. But if not, that's okay! You can use a mix of the ones you have. Seven spice is made of allspice, black pepper, cinnamon, clove, coriander, cumin and nutmeg so feel free to use a combo of any of these.
Another hit in our house! Thanks! The potatoes really made the meal for me.
The potatoes are my favourite too! So glad you loved it.
Looks amazing can't wait to try your recipe.
Like most things assumed to be Lebanese, it is also commonly eaten in Palestine and Egypt too.
Loved it! Will make again, thank you Amina!
Easy and authentic middle eastern
Thank you
Literally, the BEST thing I have ever made, thanks for making the recipes so easy and delicious.