In The Wild Heart Kitchen

Golden Curry Lamb Meatball Soup is full a bodied bowl of spiced meatballs, vegetables, lime, and a rich coconut curry broth.

Something magical happened this morning.

It snowed.

It’s the first snow of the season here and I woke up to that beautiful winter light you only get when it snows. The trees look like they were dusted in sugar and everything was quiet and I turned into that giddy five year old that still can’t get over that amazing feeling of winter.

Cold snowy days call for meals where you curl up in those fuzzy socks and eat everything out of a bowl. They are days for comfort food, flavorful layers that make your toes twist up in happiness. Yes…my toes twist in happiness when I eat something super yum. Don’t yours? Anyway – this soup…..this amazing Golden Curry Lamb Meatball Soup will make your toes twist and your face light up and you’ll say oh my goodness, yum!!!!

Embrace Meal Soup Season

I have two soup standards, the sipping soup and the meal soup. The sipping soup, like my Roasted Pumpkin Soup is delicious as an appetizer or served with grilled cheese and maybe a green salad. My meal soups need nothing else. They are complete meals within themselves. These include my Hearty Minestrone Soup, Yemeni Style Chicken Soup, Spiced Lentil Spare Rib Soup, Tuscan Kale & White Bean Soup with Chicken Meatballs. I fully promote the idea of a meal soup. And I know I have spoken/written to you about this concept many times, so I won’t go on my everyone needs to make a meal soup for dinner rant.

But….just hear me out….meal soups are something every home cook needs to have in their back pocket because they are one stop shop pots of golden dinner glory. They are relatively easy and fast to put together, they sit on the stove until whenever you and your crew are hungry, and they are filling and just so goodness gracious delicious.

For all those folks who have told me over the years, “I don’t have time to make dinner, I just need something quick,” please consider this soup or any meal soup for that matter.

Golden Curry Lamb Meatball Soup Is Hands Down Incredible.

I fully realize I am making a huge statement saying this soup is hands down incredible but it really is. Trust me on this one.

A good curry requires layers of spices and nurturing, and I’ve always found them time consuming. I want a curry in a hurry with less hands on time and more time out of the kitchen. I need a curry whose ingredients can be found at any grocery store.

My Golden Curried Lamb Meatball Soup encompasses all the main markers of what creates a fantastic curry and simplifies them…refines them…into a beautiful, yet quietly complex soup. This soup is filled with lamb meatballs, vegetables, lime, and a rich coconut curry broth. It’s a full bodied hybrid between a soup and stew. Adding meatballs is my easy, filling, and flavorful way to enhance any soup into a hearty supper. The boldness of the lamb stands up to the deep curry notes, the warmth of fresh ginger and the silkiness of the coconut milk. 

The meatballs can be make ahead of time and stored in the fridge or even frozen and popped into the simmering soup at any time. I often freeze meatballs of all kinds. Learn how to freeze them and many other things in my article, How to freeze anything.

This is “the soup” I want you to cozy up to this season because it checks all the boxes; hearty, spicey (but only slightly), brothy, and meaty goodness. Served over rice or rice noodles (my favorite) and a heavy twist of lime, we have just hit a whole new level of deliciousness.

Serve this soup all by itself or alongside roasted cauliflower. However you choose to enjoy this soup, I know this is will be the recipe you keep posted on your fridge and enjoy all winter long for an easy weeknight feast.  

I love using meatballs in soup. tuscan-kale-and-white-bean-soup sometimes I swap in beef meatballs in my Spiced Lentil Spare Rib Soup

Print Recipe

Golden Curry Lamb Meatballs Soup

Golden Curry Lamb Meatballs Soup is full a bodied bowl of spiced meatballs, vegetables, lime, and a rich coconut curry broth.

Servings: 6

Author: wildheartkitchen

Ingredients

For the Meatballs (makes about 20)

• 1 pound ground lamb
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 ½ teaspoon garam masala
• 1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 ½ tablespoon fresh parsley minced
• 1 ½ tablespoon fresh cilantro minced
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint minced
• ¼ cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 egg lightly scrambled

For the Soup:

• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup yellow onion about 1 large, small chop
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt divided
• 2 cups zucchini about 2 large, cut into ½ inch pieces
• 2 inch fresh ginger peeled and minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic minced
• ¼ teaspoon ground mustard powder
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons curry powder
• ¾ teaspoon garam masala
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 can 15.5 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 5 cups low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
• ¾ cup crushed tomato
• Half large lime juiced, plus more for serving
• ½ cups baby spinach washed and finely chopped
• ½ cup full fat coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons cilantro chopped, plus extra for serving

Instructions

To make the meatballs:

• Preheat the broiler on low.
• In a large bowl, combine the ground lamb, kosher salt, garam masala, garlic powder, fresh parsley, fresh cilantro, fresh mint, panko breadcrumbs, and egg. Using a fork, mix the ingredients until fully incorporated.
• Form meatballs the size of a ping pong ball/walnut, making sure to roll them lightly. Place the meatballs on a broiler safe, rimmed cookie sheet.
• Broil the meatballs for 2 minutes until the tops are browned.
• Remove the cookie sheet from the oven. Note that lamb is fatty. Carefully drain the drippings/fat into a heat safe bowl and set aside. Turn the meatballs over and return them under the broiler for another minute. Watch them very carefully so they do not burn.
• Drain off the remaining drippings/fat into the bowl and set aside.
• You can now use the meatballs for this recipe or freeze them for future use.

To make the soup:

• In a 6 quart pot, heat the olive oil over medium until shimmering.
• Add the onions and ¼ teaspoon of the kosher salt. Saute for about 8 minutes, until the onions are translucent and deeply golden.
• Add the zucchini and saute for about 5 minutes, until slightly golden.
• Add the garlic and ginger and saute for about 1 minute, until fragrant.
• Add the mustard powder, ground coriander, ground cumin, curry powder, garam masala, ground turmeric and remaining kosher salt. Stir and saute for about 30 seconds, until the spices are fragrant.
• Add the chickpeas, stock, crushed tomato, and meatballs. Stir well to combine.
• Cover the pot and simmer the soup for at least 1 hour or until you are ready to eat.
• Ten minutes before serving, add the finely chopped spinach, coconut milk and cilantro. Let the soup simmer for five minutes. Add the lime juice.
• Serve over rice, rice noodles, or all by itself!

Notes

Don’t have ground lamb? This meatball recipe also works with ground beef. But lamb really makes it extra delicious. 

Double or even triple the meatball recipe. Freeze excess meatballs for those evenings you’re short on time

When rolling meatballs, have a light hand and avoid squeezing the meat together.

These lamb meatballs will give off a lot of fat. Don’t throw it away! Freeze the excess for sautéing and cooking. 

I first published this soup during my soup and stew series in https://amimagazine.org/