🍝 Daoud basha
Daoud basha is a Levantine dish of small lamb meatballs simmered in a tomato sauce with onions, finished with toasted pine nuts. The meatballs are soft and spiced, the sauce tangy and slightly sweet from slow-cooked onion. It is served over white rice and is a classic home-cooked family lunch.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 500 g minced lamb
- 1 onion, grated, plus 2 onions, sliced
- 1 tsp seven-spice (baharat), salt, pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 500 ml tomato sauce (passata)
- 250 ml water
- 30 g pine nuts
- 300 g rice, cooked, to serve
Method
- Mix the lamb with the grated onion, spices and salt and roll into small balls.
- Brown the meatballs in 1 tbsp oil and set aside.
- Fry the sliced onions in the remaining oil until soft, add the tomato sauce and water and simmer 10 minutes.
- Return the meatballs and simmer for 20 minutes until the sauce thickens.
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan, scatter over the top and serve with rice.
How to make it lighter
- Use lean lamb or bake the meatballs instead of frying them.
- Keep the rice to a small scoop and add a salad on the side.
- A small handful of pine nuts is enough for flavour; they are calorie-dense.
History
The dish is named after Daoud Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Mount Lebanon in the 1860s; the story goes that it was his favourite meal. It is cooked today in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine.
Count it in one photo
Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Daoud basha and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.
Download on the App StoreSimilar dishes
Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →