Meatball Tagine (Kefta Mkaoura)

Some friends of mine recently returned from Morocco and told me of a tagine they had which seemed a tad weird but tasted great. I did a quick search on line and lo and behold there it was. Basically you make a simple tagine sauce, add some beef or lamb meatballs, but then add some eggs and bake in the oven. It's essential that the eggs are cooked but remain runny. As the tagine is only cooked for about half an hour, it's not as rich as maybe the two hour lamb dish, which means that the eggs work well. To serve, just make some couscous and warm some type of flat bread. For two people the cost is about £2.75 per head, although we had plenty left over and could've fed three. The whole dish can be either made in a tagine if you have one big enough or in a casserole dish.

Ingredients : Meatballs - 500g minced lamb or beef, 1tsp cumin, 1 tsp paprika, handful of chopped parsley, seasoning. Sauce - finely copped onion, 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, tsp cumin, tsp paprika, 2 crushed garlic cloves, seasoning, handful of coriander, 2 medium eggs, 3 tbsp olive oil.
1. Pre-heat over to 200 / gm 6
2. In a bowl, add all of the meatball ingredients. Roll up your sleeves and scrunch together with your hands until all mixed in. Wash hands but don't dry them as this will make rolling the balls easier.
3. Make up about 20-25 balls, about an inch in diameter. Set aside in the fridge to firm up a little.
4. After about 10 minutes, heat 2 tbsp of the oil and brown the balls all over. Remove and in the same pan add the onion to 1tbsp of oil. Gently fry until soft, then add the remaining sauce ingredients except for the coriander.
5. Simmer for about 20 minutes until the sauce has thickened. This is important as the eggs will need a base to sit on. Stir the meatballs into the sauce and then make a couple of dips for the eggs. Crack the eggs into the tagine and then cover. Bake in oven for about 10 mins until eggs are just set.
6. To serve, sprinkle over some chopped coriander.