Indian Spiced Bison Meatballs

It's been a while since I posted, mostly because a fair amount of the recipes I've tried have been less than stellar. However, over the weekend my brother brought over a couple of pounds of ground buffalo (on sale, yay!) and I searched for a long time for what to do with it. Buffalo or bison tends to be drier than beef, apparently. I think that this recipe, tweaked from the original at Bison Basics, turned out really well, and those who are fonder of cilantro (e.g. my brother and my husband) raved about it. For cilantro haters, you could likely use parsley or mint.

Indian Spiced Bison Meatballs (feeds 3 hungry people)
1 cup shallots, finely chopped
2 lbs ground bison or 'buffalo'
1/2 cup cilantro
4 cloves minced or smashed garlic
Several shakes cinnamon
One shake cloves
Several shakes ground ginger
Several shakes cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 cup crushed pork rinds (or substitute breadcrumbs, etc.)
1 teaspoon salt
Olive oil for frying

Sauce
2/3 cup almond flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1 small can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can whole peeled tomatoes (I used Muir Glen)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (or make your own by draining yogurt in cheesecloth for an hour or so, or use cream)

Drizzle olive oil into a large skillet. Saute shallots over medium heat in olive oil until they have softened. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Grab a plate to put the raw meatballs on. Add the other non-sauce ingredients; blend well with your hands until everything is evenly distributed throughout the meat. Form into balls and pile on the plate. Pour more oil into the pan, and brown your meatballs over medium heat, turning occasionally. Keep them there until cooked through, 10-15 minutes. Remove them to a clean plate and drain your pan.

Dump all sauce ingredients except for the yogurt into the pan. Simmer for a few minutes, breaking up the whole tomatoes with your spoon or spatula. Heat the meatballs in the sauce until they're warm again, then add yogurt and simmer for another two minutes. Serve your delicious meatballs! They don't need a thing to go with them, but you could serve them with cooked riced cauliflower if you like.