Oh, my *balls!

I've been experimenting with East Mediterranean cuisine as of late (Turkish, Greek, Lebanese, Syrian) and came across a dish called Sabzi Kouftah. Essentially, they are heavily herbed balls of meat and rice stewed in tomato sauce and vegetables, almost like a tangine. It's basically a different take on my *balls. I've twisted it about to reduce the carb load and came up with this tasty dinner last night:

Balls
1/3lb ground *
Herbs (I've only used dry so far, but want to try fresh. I'm not entirely sure of quantity other than, equalize the amounts and make sure the mix is very green - I think I used 1tbs of each listed. I'm still tweaking these):
Leek, Parsley, Tarragon, Savory, Cilantro and Basil.
1/4 cup barley**
egg white
grated onion (about 2tbs)
spices to taste (I used only pepper)

** I've processed the barley in a grinder to obtain a nice powder. If you opt to use whole barley, cook beforehand

Stew
1 3/4 cups water
1/2 can tomato paste
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup red lentils
1/2 large onion, sliced
1/2 small eggplant, cubed
little bit of green pepper
spices to taste (I used pepper, garlic and aleppo pepper - I've intentionally made the sauce on the bland side to accentuate the garnish)

Garnish
Fresh cilantro, marjoram and mint, crushed

Mix ball ingredients well and set aside for 10 minutes or so

In a large pan, saute onion, tomato, green pepper and eggplant on medium until onions begin to carmelize and tomatoes start to stick.
Add water, tomato paste and lentils and bring to a boil.

Form meat mixture into balls and gently place into boiling sauce.
Reduce heat and simmer about 40 minutes (if you are using a large pan, you may want to turn your balls halfway through if they aren't fully immersed).

Remove from heat, stir and sprinkle garnish.

Eat!

As an extra tasty bit, I added diced green almonds to the garnish. I'll post about those a little later.