Spiced Pork Meatball Couscous Bowls

Every so often I get the urge to use a new spice or flavor for my family. This go around it was cardamom. While I have used it in baked goods before, I hadn’t used it in a savory dish for them as of yet. I decided to take it on in a couscous bowl – Spiced Pork Meatball Couscous Bowls to be exact. It does have a few components, but really not that much effort to get them each together.

This bowl of food has got such an amazing flavor profile with the herbs, spices and citrus. While it might be a long list of ingredients, it really does work together. The zucchini salad is especially yummy, and really quite simple to pull together. The grated zucchini keeps its crunch, adding a layer of texture to the dish. You want to be sure to get the onion sliced thin, so it is roughly the same size as the zucchini so that they absorb the lemon juice the same.

When you make the yogurt sauce be absolutely sure you are using PLAIN Greek yogurt. You do not want to use vanilla (it will be incredibly sweet). And you do not want to use another type of yogurt either – you need the sour note the comes from Greek yogurt. Also be sure to find Israeli or Pearl Couscous – the larger style. If you use the smaller grain style couscous, you just don’t as good of a base for this bowl.

Now Let’s Get Cookin’!

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Spiced Pork Meatball Couscous Bowls

Delicious spiced pork meatballs over couscous with a zucchini salad and yogurt sauce.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Mediterranean, Moraccan

Keyword couscous, greek yogurt, ground pork, pork, zucchini

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 6

Ingredients

For the Meatballs

• 2 lb Ground Pork
• 2 tsp Cardamom
• 2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Pepper

For the Couscous

• 2 cup Israeli Pearl Couscous
• 3 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 Garlic Cloves minced
• 1 tsp Salt

For the Zucchini Salad

• 2 cups Zucchini grated
• ½ cup Fresh Basil chopped
• ½ cup Fresh Mint chopped
• ½ Red Onion sliced
• 1 Lemon zest & juice

For the Yogurt Sauce

• 1 cup Plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp Cumin
• ¼ cup Honey
• 1 Orange zest & juice
• ¼ cup Fresh Mint chopped

Instructions

• Prepare all of the ingredients. Preheat oven to 400deg.
• In a bowl, combine meatball ingredients and form into 1-inch meatballs. Line them out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes.
• In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, add chicken broth, garlic, red pepper flakes and salt. Bring to a boil, then add couscous. Reduce heat to medium and cover with lid. Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, but do not remove lid until ready to build the bowls.
• In a bowl, combine ingredients for zucchini salad. Toss to coat and combine. Cover and set in refrigerator until ready to build the bowls.
• In a small bowl, combine ingredients for yogurt sauce. Stir to fully incorporate. Cover and set in refrigerator until ready to build the bowls.
• In a shallow bowl, start with a portion of couscous. Add 4-6 meatballs along one side of the bowl. Add a portion of the zucchini salad. Then add a dollop of the yogurt sauce in the center.