• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Greedy Gourmet | Food & Travel Blog

Greedy Gourmet is an award winning food and travel blog. Eclectic recipes from all over the world are regularly published, satisfying the blog's audience of adventurous eaters' needs.

  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Pantry
    • Ingredient Substitutes
    • Q & A
    • Recipe Compilations
    • Cook By Ingredient
    • Quizzes
  • About
  • Work With Me
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Cooking Times / b) 30 - 60 mins / Cumin Lamb Meatball Pitas with Mint & Apricot Dressing

Cumin Lamb Meatball Pitas with Mint & Apricot Dressing

15th May 2008 - By Michelle Minnaar
This post may contain affiliate links.

FacebookTweetPinYummly
Jump to Recipe
Cumin Lamb Meatball Pitas with Mint & Apricot Dressing

Oh, sod the British weather! For nine days in a row it was the most gorgeous conditions; bright blue skies, warm rays of sunshine with a gentle breeze to cool you down. In a whiff it’s all gone now, replaced by a solid sheet of pale grey, a slight drizzle of rain here and there and icy winds blowing from the north-east, sent with love from Russia.

In Pretoria, the capital of South Africa, where I used to live, weeks would go by in summer without rain and the soil would turn bone-dry and cracks would appear. Out of nowhere you would see a puff of cloud that formed in the distance. Then another and another, until the sky would fill with countless cumulonimbus clouds that look like marshmallows clumsily stuck together. Electricity fills the air and you just know it’s going to rain when the clouds turn a steely, dark grey and hear a rumble far away. After the prolonged heat day in and day out everybody would let out a sigh of relief when the first heavy drop splatters on the dusty earth. (Officially it would be known as a pancake day.) I never quite got used to the storms though. The lightning’s can be quite destructive and it’s not uncommon to hear people complaining about their fried antennae. At times the thunder is quite frightening as well and I’m thankful for not being incontinent.

Enough weather talk! Since I have no power over it, I might as well pretend it is summer. Therefore I present you these pretty, palatable pitas. If you enjoy eating messily like me, don’t be afraid to top your pita with copious amounts of apricot dressing. When you take a hearty bite of it, the yogurt will ooze lazily over your fingers, which you can suck off eagerly for dessert. Yum. You’ve been warned.

Cumin Lamb Meatball Pitas with Mint & Apricot Dressing
Print
clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon print print icon squares squares icon

Cumin Lamb Meatball Pitas with Mint & Apricot Dressing


★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

  • Author: Michelle Minnaar
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x
Print Recipe
Pin Recipe
Scale

Ingredients

  • 900g (2 lb) lamb mince
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 45ml (3 tbsp) fresh mint
  • 10ml (2 tsp) ground cumin
  • 15ml (1 tbsp) olive oil
  • 225g (8 oz) Greek yogurt
  • 8 ready-to-eat dried apricots, finely diced
  • 6 pita breads
  • ½ cucumber, thinly sliced
  • 1 head lettuce, finely sliced

Instructions

  1. For the meatballs, put the minced lamb, onion, 2 tablespoons of mint, ground cumin, and plenty of seasoning, into a bowl and mix well. Shape the mixture into 2.5cm (1 inch) balls and set aside.
  2. To make the mint and apricot dressing, put yogurt, apricots and remaining mint into a bowl and mix well. Season to taste and chill until required.
  3. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and fry the meatballs on all sides until browned and cooked.
  4. Meanwhile, put the pitas onto a tray and spray lightly with water. Cover with foil and put into a hot oven or under the grill for 5-6 minutes. Using a serrated knife, split open each pita to form pockets.
  5. Fill each pita with cucumber, lettuce, meatballs and top with a dollop of mint and apricot dressing. Garnish with fresh mint.

Notes

  • When guests are around, I let them fill the pitas themselves. It’s fun to do and they can prepare how they like their pitas, as well as omit anything they don’t like.
  • Greek yogurt is best for this dish because of its thick consistency. Natural yogurt is more runny, but could still be used.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 serving
  • Calories: 428
  • Sugar: 10.15 g
  • Sodium: 253 mg
  • Fat: 21.14 g
  • Saturated Fat: 9.52 g
  • Carbohydrates: 35.91 g
  • Fiber: 4.27 g
  • Protein: 25.55 g

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @greedygourmet on Instagram and hashtag it #greedygourmet

FacebookTweetPinYummly

RECEIVE FAB RECIPES, WIN EXCLUSIVE PRIZES + MORE

Subscribe to my free newsletter and receive an eCookbook of my most popular recipes!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anupama says

    16th May 2008 at 8:10 am

    Hey Michelle,

    Thanks for your very summery sandwich entry.Love Pitta myself and that Apricot and Mint dressing looks very refreshing. I know exactly how you feel about the weather. I have always been used to the same kind of weather in India that you enjoyed in South Africa. The rains were really welcome there when they arrived. Just hope all that sunshine comes back very soon.

    Will see you at the Round-up

    Reply
  2. Coffee and Vanilla says

    16th May 2008 at 9:47 am

    Thank you Michelle, beautiful pitas 🙂
    I will include this post in June edition that will be posted June 15th.

    Have a wonderful day, Margot

    Reply
  3. andreea says

    16th May 2008 at 10:15 am

    oh i love this idea. i am thinking easy work lunch? hmmm …

    Reply
  4. Helen says

    16th May 2008 at 2:30 pm

    I am definitely a messy eater like you are Michelle! These look so delicious, I would be very excited to find these in my lunchbox.

    Reply
  5. michelle @ TNS says

    16th May 2008 at 10:05 pm

    +1 on the messy eating. if i haven’t made a bit of a mess, i haven’t really enjoyed my food.

    i’m going to go lie on the couch and try to summon the energy to make something this yummy for dinner tonight.

    Reply
  6. renaedujour says

    17th May 2008 at 2:20 am

    What a great pita. I’ve never cooked with minced lamb before, but it looks wonderful. Nice photo.

    Reply
  7. Paul Nixon says

    21st October 2011 at 6:55 pm

    I love Greek cousine!

    And this look lovely! Thank you.

    Reply
  8. Sally says

    5th May 2020 at 8:31 pm

    what a cute little pita! perfect in times of staying home and needing a quick snack

    ★★★★★

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆ ★☆

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

RECEIVE FAB RECIPES, WIN EXCLUSIVE PRIZES + MORE

Subscribe to my free newsletter and receive an eCookbook of my most popular recipes!

Footer

 

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

 

  • Home
  • About
  • Work With Me
  • Contact
  • Copyright, Privacy & Disclosure Policy
  • Food Photography
  • Recipe Development
  • Food Videography
  • Site Map

All photos found on Greedy Gourmet are available for licensing. Contact me for quotes. Alternatively, go to Stock Photos to see what's available.

Copyright Greedy Gourmet© 2007–2021