I’ve tried this recipe with both quinoa, as pictured here, and millet. I’ve found that the latter works better with it’s creamy, couscous like flavor, but if you don’t have millet, quinoa or any other grain works great too.

Satisfy your gluten free cravings for meatballs and couscous with this Mediterranean inspired meal. Your taste buds will love the combination of lamb, millet, chickpeas, spinach & perfectly roasted sweet potatoes topped with garlicky mint yogurt.

This delicious dish came to be when I decided to throw an impromptu dinner party on an evening when that week’s remaining perishables needed to be eaten up. A bit like a one woman version of Chopped — there were no judges involved, but the stakes were high enough!

Luckily, the main ingredients were a pound of ground lamb, spinach, sprouted garbanzo beans and sweet potatoes. A pretty tasty lineup. I always have plenty of herbs and spices on hand, so by incorporating freshly dried mint, garlic and fresh ground cumin the meal was infused with a Mediterranean palate.

Here my leftovers were reheated with all the components thrown in together in a single pan. I preferred the grains and sweet potatoes mixed right into the meatball sauté. The grains took on the flavor of the meat juices and the whole dish became more flavorful. Pictured here topped with the Mint Yogurt Sauce, fresh basil and some homemade ruby kraut.

There are four components to this meal: the meat, the millet, the sweet potatoes and the mint yogurt sauce.

Don’t get overwhelmed by looking at the directions! The millet and sweet potatoes practically cook themselves. The mint yogurt is near instant.

I’ve outlined the best order in which to prepare each component.

If you follow this format, the hands on cook time should only run about an hour and fifteen minutes. The dishes are another matter!

The portions below feed about 4 people. You can easily beef it up for a larger party by making twice as many meatballs or adding twice as many chickpeas and preparing the rest of the recipe as is.

This is an excellent dish to make for the week.

The meatballs together with all the other components reheat easily in a single pan, but taste equally wonderful cold over arugula topped with plenty of Mint Yogurt for a no-cook instant lunch!

Pictured here is the version where the grains and sweet potatoes were each a discreet element brought together with the Mint Yogurt Sauce. There’s a certain elegance about this presentation. Give both ways a try!

A few cooking tips to keep in mind

If you want to keep things simple, after you’ve finished cooking the meatballs, toss the cooked millet and roasted sweet potatoes into the pot and stir all ingredients together (your dish will look as in the photo with the ruby kraut).

The other option is to serve the meatballs over the millet, with sweet potatoes placed on top. It’s up to you, but I prefer the whole thing mixed together!

Either way, dress the plate with plenty of Mint Yogurt Sauce and fresh chopped basil.

If it’s available, try putting some sauerkraut on top! Here’s how you can make your own kraut and why you should >

Soak the millet in advance if you can. Soak overnight in a bowl of water with a splash of vinegar. Discard water and rinse before cooking.

Soaked/ fermented grains have slightly faster cooking times. So if you’re not soaking your grains, add another cup of water and cook for approximately 25 minutes.

Lastly, as the meatballs cook, don’t forget to check on the millet and sweet potatoes! They should both be finishing up cooking at about this time.

Sweet potato before and after.

Formed meatballs await the pan along with my long-tailed, super sprouted chickpeas. I get these from a vendor at the Hollywood Framer’s market that sells all manner of spouted legumes and grains. I do ferment all my gains and beans, but this is another level!

On the left you can see I’ve pushed the onions as far up on the sides of the pan to prevent them from burning.