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Kebab Karaz (Lamb Meatballs in Sour Cherry Sauce)

Kebab Karaz (Lamb Meatballs in Sour Cherry Sauce) reads umami 6.7, richness 6.7 and sweetness 6.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Syrian main, about 51 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 7.2 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 7.6 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 3.0 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 2.2 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 7.8 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 3.5 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 6.7 · Richness 6.7 · Sweetness 6.0 · Fruity 5.4 · Nutty 3.7 · Salinity 3.6 · Floral 3.0 · Sourness 3.0 · Allium 2.6 · Warm Spice 2.0 · Herbaceous 2.0 · Earthy 2.0 · Bitterness 1.3 · Funk & Ferment 1.2

What's in it (14)

• lamb shoulder roast — 600 g
• onion — 80 g
• salt — 7 g
• ground allspice — 5 g
• ground cinnamon — 3 g
• freshly ground black pepper — 3 g
• olive oil — 27 g
• cherries — 700 g
• caster sugar — 80 g
• pomegranate molasses — 15 g
• pine nuts — 50 g
• unsalted butter — 20 g
• flatbread — 200 g
• flat-leaf parsley — 15 g

Time & effort: about 51 min · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 183.2 kcal, 9.5 g protein, 10.2 g fat, 16.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains dairy — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (8 steps)

1. The cherries must be genuinely sour — the small dark Aleppo variety, or the Morello and Montmorency types sold frozen. Sweet dessert cherries make a cloying sauce and the dish collapses. If you can only find them in jars, use them drained and cut the sugar in half.
2. Knead the minced lamb with the grated onion, 1 teaspoon of the salt, the allspice, cinnamon and black pepper for 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture tightens and becomes slightly sticky. Roll into small marbles about 2.5 cm across; you should get around 30.
3. Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat and brown the meatballs in two batches, 4 minutes a batch, rolling them so they colour all over. They do not need to cook through. Lift out and set aside.
4. Put the cherries, the sugar and the remaining salt in the same pan with 100 ml water. Simmer over medium heat for 20 minutes, crushing about a third of the cherries against the side of the pan with a spoon, until they collapse into a thick dark sauce that coats the back of a spoon.
5. Stir in the pomegranate molasses and taste: the sauce should be assertively sour with a sweet edge behind it, not jammy. Adjust with a little more sugar or molasses.
6. Return the meatballs to the sauce and simmer very gently for 15 minutes, spooning the sauce over them, until they are cooked through and lacquered dark red.
7. Toast the pine nuts in the butter in a small pan over medium heat for 3 minutes until golden.
8. Lay the torn flatbread over a wide platter, spoon the meatballs and sauce on top so the bread drinks it, and scatter with the buttered pine nuts and the parsley. Eat with your hands, bread and all.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Lamb Tagine with Prunes and Almonds (Mrouzia) — Moroccan
• Chiles en Nogada Poblanos — Mexican · Puebla
• Biryaniya Kurdî (Rice with Fried Vermicelli, Raisins and Almonds) — Kurdish
• Gudeg Jogja (Young Jackfruit Simmered in Palm Sugar and Teak Leaf) — Indonesian
• Pomegranate Couscous — Middle Eastern

Keep reading: what umami, richness, sweetness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.