Meatballs in Sour Cherry Sauce (Kabab Karaz) Recipe (2024)

Made this tonight with cherries from our back yard. It was fantastic. I needed more servings, so I doubled everything except the cherries. (Four and a half pounds seemed overwhelming.)The sauce would probably be great with any other ground meat, or even with roasted salmon. A keeper!

Hi, Cyndy -My cherries are regular eating cherries, but not as sweet as Bing. I think you could use any cherries for this, and just adjust for tartness with some lemon juice. I also subbed brown sugar for the raw, and baked the meatballs rather than frying them.

Kroger's sells sour cherries packed in water. I use them for cherry pie all the time. I plan to use a can or two for the recipe. Can never find them frozen either.

I served this dish to guests this evening, and everyone loved it. I doubled the amount of meatballs. Following Becky's recommendation, I didn't double the cherries, definitely a good decision. Recipe says to use the soaking liquid for the sauce; I used about half of it. Next time, I'll serve the meatballs on a rice pilaff instead. The pita was good, but home-made pita is more work than rice. (The store-bought pita I have access to could not be nice enough.)

Yes, readily available dried cherries are Montmorency cherries, which are sour. I poured boiling water over the cherries and let soak for 3-4 hours before cooking; worked fine. I think used about half the soaking liquid in the sauce.

Love this recipe! I used dried tart cherries and soaked them over night like the recipe suggested. The only thing I did differently was puree the sauce in my blender. This made a more cohesive sauce. The first time I made the recipe I didn't, and the sauce just never seemed to come together (which is why I wanted to puree). Maybe with fresh or canned cherries it's different?! The recipe is quite sweet, so you may want to up the salt a bit in the meatballs, or maybe a dash in the sauce as well.

Even with tart cherries, the sauce came out a little sweet. I think it needs a more savory base with onions, beef stock, etc. Also lamb meatballs needed some moisture in them, maybe in the form of egg and soaked breadcrumbs.

I used ground chicken and ground turkey cooked in a broth. I used preserved sour cherries. Worked out really well. Another keeper for weekly meals

Made with Strawberries and grapefruit due to new cherries. Do not leave enough for leftovers next time, the strawberries turn an unappealing gut red.

Sour cherries are weirdly hard to find where I live in Florida, I substituted strawberries and grapefruit/lemon juice. Would make again!

Love this recipe! I used dried tart cherries and soaked them over night like the recipe suggested. The only thing I did differently was puree the sauce in my blender. This made a more cohesive sauce. The first time I made the recipe I didn't, and the sauce just never seemed to come together (which is why I wanted to puree). Maybe with fresh or canned cherries it's different?! The recipe is quite sweet, so you may want to up the salt a bit in the meatballs, or maybe a dash in the sauce as well.

This was good. I made as directed (get fattier ground lamb - mine was too lean and dried out some) but cut the cherries down some because fresh sour cherries are expensive! I made a hastier but still very tasty version using ground beef that I browned with a little bit of chopped onion, then added frozen cherries, molasses, and Lebanese spice mix to simmer a bit. Served with rice and it was just as delicious!

This sounds wonderful but we don't eat lamb. I'm wondering if anyone has tried this with ground turkey or ground chicken?

Was really nice. I subbed beef meatballs because ground lamb isn't that easy to find here. Served with rice and zaatar roasted carrots. But the kicker was my side was a chicken liver pate on baguette. It added a great (fatty) richness that this dish needed. Used the chicken liver recipe from NYT. And it remained halal I believe. No pork!

Will make again but will tweek. Will cut the amount of cherries by a quarter. Mine were Turkish vișne. Totally authentic but they really overpowered the meatballs even tho I love fruity meat dishes. I'd also add a cinnamon stick to the cherries. Some salt maybe? Or Lebanese spice. Felt they needed to complement the meatballs more. That said I'll make the dish again. Looked so fabulous.

Used dried rainier cherries, soaked overnight in hot water with the suggested ratio. Needed more water once they got cooking on the stove, but overall delicious with a hit of sugar and a few tablespoons of homemade pomegranate molasses (Pom wonderful cooked down with a bit of sugar and lemon juice until thickened). Spice blend worked well with Beyond Beef, baked in oven for 15 mins at 350 then added to sauce to simmer. It was too long and I will reduce the baking time next time.

This recipe was delicious. I doubled the sugar and molasses, but my cherries were particularly sour. I also wanted to make more, so I added a pound of lean beef to the lamb and doubled the spice. Absolutely worth it to make the Lebanese 7-spice mix, too.I served it with the pita and a side of hummus. Yum!

I was disappointed with this recipe. Lacking any pita, I served the meatballs with Sam Sifton's baked rice which so splendid that it shamed its companion. Just my taste?

Delicious, interesting, relatively easy. The amount of cherries seemed right. I pitted the cherries and made the sauce yesterday, reheated it tonight while making the meatballs.Here in eastern Pennsylvania, we have access to local sour cherries at our farmers’ market in late June and early July. They are quite perishable, so usually are not transported far away or in bulk. They also are excellent for cherry pie and for homemade maraschino cherries.

I served this dish to guests this evening, and everyone loved it. I doubled the amount of meatballs. Following Becky's recommendation, I didn't double the cherries, definitely a good decision. Recipe says to use the soaking liquid for the sauce; I used about half of it. Next time, I'll serve the meatballs on a rice pilaff instead. The pita was good, but home-made pita is more work than rice. (The store-bought pita I have access to could not be nice enough.)

Can you reconstitute dried sour cherries? Any hints?