Dawood or Daoud Basha recipe is the popular Levantine meatballs stew flavoured with Arabic spices (allspice and cinnamon) and stewed in tomato and pomegranate molasses sauce. Simple, delicious and best served with Riz bi Sharieh (vermicelli rice)
I am back with yet another Lebanese recipe! 🙂
Meatballs are a concept in every culture and are served in limitless ways, isn't it? I first came across the Daoud basha recipe under "recommended for you" videos on Youtube (maybe post my random research about the Don 😜) and I made a mental note to try it because I had all the ingredients required already in my kitchen! You know me now, I am a sucker for allspice and pomegranate molasses!
I don't want to mention the history behind the name of the dish as there are different versions for it and I shall leave that for the historians. The speculated and rumoured history with no substantial proof on why this dish is called after the man was another reason I wanted to try Daoud Basha! The first reason being it is a Lebanese recipe and uses allspice and pomegranate molasses.
Jump to:
When I tried the Dawood basha recipe for the first time last year, I followed Ream's Kitchen Youtube video that showed up on my feed and also borrowed the idea of adding potato from my favourite Palestinian blogger, Sawsan. I understand sourcing the ingredients or not knowing if you will ever use it again could be a reason not to try but if you ever land up with allspice and pomegranate molasses, I can assure you there are a few keeper recipes that will help you use them up.
Ingredients
- Minced meat (beef or lamb or mix)
- Veggies: onions, garlic cloves, green chillies, parsley, potato, tomatoes, and bell pepper.
- Spices: allspice powder and cinnamon powder
- Tomato paste
- Pomegranate molasses
- Olive oil
- Water
- Salt and pepper
How to make the meatballs for Daoud Basha?
Unlike the Italian Meatballs, you don't need breadcrumbs to make these meatballs! These meatballs are made with ground meat with fat so you don't need a binder like flour, egg or breadcrumbs. It tastes better this way than adding those binders but you can tweak as per the kind of meat you have. All you need to do is mix all the meatballs ingredients thoroughly so the flavour is distributed evenly.
TIP: If you are the kind who washes the ground meat, then give it enough time to drain completely else the chances of them breaking is high.
Make equal-sized balls and keep them refrigerated until needed or you can sear them immediately with some olive oil on medium to high flame.
Pan roast the potato chunks in the same skillet. Roast until browned both sides. Remove and keep aside.
Pan roast the red bell pepper pieces in the same skillet until charred and aromatic. Remove and keep aside. You can deglaze the pan and use the water in the stew.
How to make the Tomato Pomegranate Molasses Sauce?
The sauce starts with sauteing some onions and garlic that are finely chopped along with the flavours of allspice and cinnamon. I have pureed the tomatoes for personal preference but you can use chopped too. You will also need some tomato paste to intensify the tomato flavour and bring that bright colour to the stew. If you don't have the paste, you can add a tablespoon of ketchup. And lastly a good tablespoonful of pomegranate molasses!
You can replace allspice powder with equal quanity of pumpkin spice mix or use a mix of cinnamon and clove powder.
For Pomegranate molasses, the best alternative would be Grenadine or tamarind paste with some sugar.
Final steps to Daoud Basha
The stew comes together with the addition of pan-seared meatballs, pan-fried potatoes and some roasted bell peppers. Served hot with rice is the best way to have Daoud Basha, the Lebanese meatballs in tomato pomegranate molasses sauce.
Storage
You can make Daoud Basha ahead and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 3 months.
📖 Recipe
Daoud Basha | Lebanese Meatballs in Tomato Pomegranate Molasses Sauce
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 550 grams ground meat beef or lamb or mix
- 1 medium onion diced finely
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 2 to 3 green chilli chopped finely
- Handful fresh parsley chopped
- ½ tablespoon allspice powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- salt and pepper to taste
- Olive oil to sear
For the fried Potato chunk
- Olive oil to pan-fry
- 1 large potato cubed
For the Tomato Pomegranate Molasses Sauce
- 1 medium onion diced finely
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- ½ tablespoon allspice powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
- 2 large tomatoes pureed or chopped finely
- 1½ tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
- water to submerge the meatballs
- ½ bell pepper any colour, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- fresh parsley
Instructions
Sear the Meatballs
- You may use a mini chopper to chop together the onions, garlic, green chilli and parsley leaves. Then, add this to the ground meat along with the spices. Mix the meatballs ingredients and make 18 to 20 equal-sized balls.
- Heat olive oil in a thick bottomed pan and brown the meatballs in batches stirring every minute until it is no longer raw on the outside and has browned.
- Remove the meatballs and keep them aside.
Pan roast the Potato and Peppers
- If required, add more olive oil to the same pan. Pan-fry the potato chunks on medium flame until browned on both sides. Doesn't have to be cooked through now.
- Move the potatoes aside and add the chopped bell peppers and roast on high flame for a few minutes. Remove both the potatoes and peppers and keep them aside.
Prepare the Tomato Pomegranate Molasses Sauce
- Heat some olive oil in a saucepan.
- Saute the finely chopped onions and garlic until they start to brown. (you may use a mini chopper to chop them together)
- Add the spice powders along with some salt and saute for a few minutes.
- Stir in the chopped or pureed tomatoes and tomato paste and let it boil.
- Stir in the pomegranate molasses.
Cook the meatballs in the sauce
- Place all the meatballs carefully in a single layer.
- Pour enough water to partially submerge the meatballs.
- Cover and cook on low to medium flame for 10 to 15 mins till the meat is cooked through.
Cook the potatoes and peppers
- Add the pan-roasted potatoes and bell peppers. Taste and adjust the spices and salt. (You may deglaze the pan used for meatballs and peppers with some hot water and pour it into the stew)
- Cover and cook for another 15 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked through and the sauce thickens.
Serve Daoud basha
- Switch off and garnish with parsley leaves.
- Serve hot with white rice or Lebanese vermicelli rice along with some Tabbouleh and indulge in some sweet Layali Lubnan!
insanegownposse says
I made this tonight and it was absolutely delicious. The only tweak was I added a little bit of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes and pomegranate molasses, but other than that it was exactly as the recipe. Thank you, I'll definitely be making this one again!
Famidha Ashraf says
Thank you for sharing your feedback. 🙂