Lamb and Chickpea Balls with Watercress and Radish Salad

This weekend I am planting up the  herb and salad planters, building on the success of the sorrel last year some new things for this burnet, garlic chives and lovage. Depending on weather I may nip out for a quick wild green forage but til then I am happy to buy large bunches of  fresh radishes , barbie pink with the leaves still on  and thicken stemmed British watercress.

I really like bitter salad leaves ( most strangely watercress in cheese and marmite sandwiches) . I wanted to make some leafy salads but I thought I better get some protein into the dish hybrid falafel-meatballs  (chickpea and lamb) seasoned with plenty of onion, garlic , ground coriander and cumin, following my fear of frying I baked these in the

Since the oven was going on made up some flatbreads, it’s so nice watching these pop up in the oven. I dressed the salad with plain yogurt and a sprinkling of sumac .

I cannot wait to eat this dish in the warm sunshine but it’s certainly a taste of things to come.

Lamb and Chickpea Balls

Makes 20 small balls

200g of minced lamb
300g of chickpeas
1 onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of coriander
1 tsp of ground cumin
1 tsp of dried chilli flakes

1. Mix together all the ingredients.
2. Using 1 heaped tablespoon of mix form it into balls.
3. Bake at 180degC for 15 minutes, turn halfway through.

Oven Flatbreads

Makes 6 flatbreads

300g of strong plain flour
1 tbsp of dried yeast
100ml of warm water
3 tbsp of olive oil

1. Mix together the flour and dried yeast
2. Add the olive oil and slowly add the warm water until a dough is formed
3. Knead the dough until smooth about 5 minutes.
4. Leave for 2 hours in a warm place to rise
5. Preheat the oven to 220degC, with a oven tray to warm
6. Knock back the dough divide into pieces and roll out to as thin as possible ( a few millimeters thick)
7. Place the rolled dough on the hot oven tray and place it in the oven , the breads will puff up and brown in 5 minutes