Chicken Meatballs With Yogurt Sauce (Sue Li, NYT Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound ground chicken
• 1 small zucchini, grated (optional, for moisture
• 1 large egg
• 1 small shallot, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated

• ¼ cup finely chopped parsley leaves and tender stems, or
• ¼ cup finely chopped mint leaves, or
• ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems

• ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, drizzle with the olive oil and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine chicken, egg, shallot, garlic, (parsley, or mint, or cilantro), paprika, cumin, coriander, shredded zucchini, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. With a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, vigorously stir the mixture until well combined. With a standard soup spoon, scoop about 2 tablespoons of the mixture and scrape it against the palm of your other hand to shape it into a meatball. Drop the meatball onto the prepared baking sheet and repeat to form the remaining meatballs. (You should wind up with about 20 meatballs.)

Bake until the meatballs are cooked through, 14 to 15 minutes.

In a small serving bowl, whisk together the yogurt and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

Serve the meatballs hot, with the yogurt sauce and lemon wedges.