Meatballs - a very popular dish that is made from minced meat. There are a large variety of recipes, and all of them are significantly different from each other. Here you can learn how to cook meatballs so that they turn out tender and with delicious gravy to the side dish.
Classic recipe
To make a tasty dish, first of all you should buy high-quality minced meat. It is recommended to use two types of meat - pork and beef. In this case, it turns out to be moderately bold and very juicy. If possible, it is better to make stuffing yourself, in which case you can be completely confident in its quality. However, most people can not do it on their own, so you need to try to get from trusted sellers.
List of Essential Ingredients
To cook meatballs with gravy, as thousands of experienced housewives do according to the classic recipe, you should get a very small number of products:
- minced meat - 500 g;
- 1-2 onions (meaning a small or medium sized vegetable);
- 150 g of sour cream and ketchup;
- some flour for breading;
- favorite spices.
The classic recipe for this dish has a very small number of ingredients, which is why it is considered one of the simplest and fastest options for preparing a hearty lunch or dinner.
How to cook
The selected type of meat should be put in a deep bowl. Peel the onions and cut into small cubes.
Now you need to decide how much you like onions and what you want to give meatballs a taste. If the vegetable is not pre-fried, then in the finished dish its taste and aroma will be well felt. Otherwise, the meatballs will acquire more juiciness, and the taste will become more tender. Throw raw or prepared onions to the minced meat.
Salt the meat mass, add pepper to it, it is also recommended to use various spices and herbs. For example, in this case, dried basil and Provence herbs, curry or paprika are well suited. Stuffing is well mixed and tasted, if all is well, you can proceed to further cooking.
Form small balls from the meat mass. Each must be thoroughly rolled in flour and sautéed in a pan until a golden crust appears. Put the meat balls in a deep cauldron or in a large pan (with a thick bottom so that the dish does not burn). By and large, in this case it does not matter where the dish will be stewed.
Take any deep container, mix 300 ml of water and the required amount of ketchup and sour cream in it. Mix everything well, the resulting mass must be poured where the meatballs are, and put them on a small fire. Simmer for about 20 minutes. After the meatballs are cooked in a frying pan or in a cauldron, they need to be laid out on portioned plates, a side dish added, and the dish is ready to eat. At will, meat balls can be sprinkled with a lot of chopped greens. In this case, cilantro fits very well.
How to cook meatballs with rice and gravy
This kind of meat balls is more nutritious and economically beneficial. The cooking process itself is considered a little more complicated than in the previous case, but the end result is very impressive. This dish can be prepared from any kind of minced meat, including chicken, so each culinary expert decides on his own which meat to cook the dish from.
Cooking Products
To make 5 servings of meatballs with rice, you need to take:
- 600 g of any kind of minced meat;
- 120 g of rice (meaning raw, in boiled form this product needs about 300 g);
- 150 g carrots;
- 150 g of onion;
- tomato paste and sour cream;
- parsley - 30 g.
Prunes are not used in this recipe, but you can add this product if desired, and then the meatballs will get a much better taste.
Cooking method
Cooking meat balls is not much different from the past recipe. First you need to put a pot of salted water on the fire, where to pour the required amount of rice. Boil it until half cooked and put in a bowl, let it cool to room temperature.
In the same bowl you need to put the required amount of minced meat. Grind the parsley and put to the rest of the ingredients. Peel all vegetables. Cut half the onion into a small cube and fry it until tender. Let the product cool slightly, then put in the minced meat.
The second half of the onions and carrots, grated on a coarse grater, must also be fried in a pan with vegetable oil and set aside. Bring the meat mass to taste, it is best to add curry, turmeric and thyme. Shuffle and taste, form large enough balls about 3 centimeters in diameter.
Put the meatballs in a deep pan. In a separate deep container, mix sour cream, ketchup, a little water and fried onions and carrots, add a little salt and pour it on meatballs. Cover the baking sheet with foil and put it in the oven for 40 minutes, the temperature should be about 190 degrees. After the allotted time, you should take one meatball and cut it in half, if the meat is still raw, then continue cooking, in another case, get a baking sheet. Now you know how to cook meatballs in the oven so that they turn out nutritious and very tasty.
Fast Chicken Meatballs
Cooking meat balls according to this recipe is suitable for everyone who wants a very quick and tight snack. For cooking, you need to take 400 g of minced chicken, 3 cloves of garlic, a little parsley or cilantro, 50 g of onions, a little tomato paste.
The cooking is quite simple, the mince should be mixed with grated garlic, lightly fried onions and chopped herbs. Fill the dish with your favorite seasonings, you can use the universal “For chicken dishes”, mix everything and form small balls. Note! The smaller the balls, the faster they cook.
Each meatball should roll in a small amount of flour and fry them in a pan, pour about one glass of water directly into the pan, put half of the broth cube there. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, you can make a side dish, in which case spaghetti or regular pasta is best. The resulting gravy can be poured over the side dish, thereby making it more tasty and juicy. This completes the process of making quick meatballs from chicken, and you can also add a little salad of fresh vegetables to this dish.
Here were presented the simplest options for how to cook meatballs with gravy. Optionally, you can add more additional ingredients to minced meat: prunes, bell peppers, bacon, ham and much more. Therefore, do not be afraid to experiment and, perhaps, it is you who will bring to light a new dish that is still unknown to anyone.