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Middle Eastern Cumin Meatballs

"These Middle Eastern meatballs with garlic and cumin are heavy on the garlic, so feel free to scale it down if you wish. We love it as is! The meatballs and sauce are perfect served over bulghur. Bulghur wheat can be found next to the rice in Middle Eastern markets and even some of the bigger grocery stores. Prepare it as you would rice."

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Middle Eastern Cumin Meatballs

Why it works: Garlic and cumin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,082 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Middle Eastern Cumin Meatballs

4 servings
Prep15 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

954Calories
48 gProtein
36 gFat
108 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 12 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cumin1 tsp ground (2.1g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Meatballnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Garlic + cumintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,082 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Cumin + tomatotop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,272 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  4. Cumin + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,382 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  5. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the cumin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, egg, garlic, bread, pepper, tomato, sauce):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Oreganofits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Cuminthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, egg, garlic, bread, pepper, tomato, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.