kefta meat-balls with rice (minced meat in sauce)

Ingredients for 8 people :

* 1/2 tea glassful of polished rice

* 500 g (1 ib 2 oz) of kefta (see chapter on grills)

* 1 onion

* 1 good pinch of saffron (preferably crushed saffron flowers)

* 1/2 teaspoonful of pepper

* 100g(4 oz)of buffer

* 1 handful of chopped parsley

* 1/2 teaglassful of lemon juice.

Preparation: 

Wash the rice and mix with the kefta. Make small balls the size of a child’s marbles, wetting the hands from time to time, and toss the balls into a thick-bottomed saucepan as they are made. Place over a medium heat, adding 2 glassfuls of water, the grated onion, saffron, pepper and butter. Add salt and cook with the lid on , stirring from time to time.

When the rice is cooked, add a handful of chopped parsley and the lemon juice. Leave to simmer for a few minutes and remove from the heat before the sauce thickens. If the rice kefta has been cooked in advance, the sauce is liable to thicken as it cools, the rice having absorbed all the liquid. Add a little water, if this is the case, before re-heating. Serve very hot.