Stewed meatballs recipe in sauce

The article introduces the reader to a variety of recipes for stewed meatballs. This dish can be very versatile in taste. A few practical tips will help to cope with the preparation for the first time, and for experienced cooks there is a special recipe that they will definitely like.

How are meatballs different from meatballs, meatballs and meatballs?

In the whole host of chopped meat dishes, a novice chef can easily get confused if you do not know how to distinguish kebab from meatballs, zrazy from cue balls, and stewed meatballs from steam cutlets. So, how to distinguish meatballs from other products? Here are a few highlights:

1. The shape of the meatball is perfectly round, and not flattened like a cue ball or cutlet.
2. The usual diameter is 5-6 cm. Meatballs are also round, but they are smaller - no more than three centimeters.
3. Classic stewed meatballs with rice are being prepared, this cereal is not added to other types of minced meat products. This is the main identification mark that it is a meatball in front of you (although there are exceptions).
4. Most often, meatballs are stewed in gravy, unlike cues and zraz (they are simply watered with sauce on top).

Stewed meatballs in tomato sauce: a classic recipe

This dish is known to many even in kindergarten, because it was there that meat balls were the most delicious (judging by the recollections of adult gourmets). Small meat balls, abundantly flavored with gravy, are recalled more often by children than pancakes and casseroles. In combination with mashed potatoes and fresh cabbage salad, stewed meatballs can become a real teleport to childhood, returning the almost forgotten taste of the dish.

To prepare meatballs, it is necessary to prepare such products:

• 1 kg of meat fillet. It is better that this be a combination of beef and pork meat in a free proportion;
• 2-3 onions;
• 1 cup boiled rice until half cooked;
• two raw eggs;
• generous pinch of salt.

For gravy:

• 70 grams of flour;
• 1/2 liter of water;
• 60 grams of tomato paste;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of sour cream;
• 1/3 tsp. black pepper and nutmeg;
• salt to taste.

It is also worth adding that spices in gravy can be used any, to your taste, if only they are well combined with meat and tomato gravy.

The subtleties of cooking minced meat

The process of making meatballs stewed in tomato sauce begins with the preparation of minced meat. To do this, pass the meat through a meat grinder along with peeled onions. Some skilled chefs prefer to finely chop the onion, but for this you need to have the necessary skills so that the slices of this vegetable are the smallest and do not spoil the taste of the prepared meat balls. Rice for meatballs should only be boiled in half, as during the process of stewing it will absorb liquid, giving the gravy the necessary density, and the meat is friable.

Some ignorant people put raw rice in minced meat, and then lament that the meatballs turned out to be too dense, tough and tasteless. The reason is the lack of knowledge of the correct cooking technology: raw rice in the process of stewing absorbs all the liquid from the minced meat first of all, making it dry, and the gravity in the center of the meat ball cannot be absorbed due to the fact that the rice absorbs it before. As a result, the dish disappoints with its taste and is gradually removed from the list of desired dishes.

How to cook meatballs in gravy?

In the minced meat with onions, add salt to taste, eggs and knead it well with your hands, vigorously whisking. This is necessary so that during the frying process, the meat balls keep their shape perfectly, without falling apart. Then add the rice and mix again so that it is evenly distributed over the minced meat. Next, slightly wetting your hands with warm water, form meatballs in the form of round balls with a diameter of five centimeters. It is better to roll them in flour, then when frying a nice crust forms, which additionally preserves the integrity of the products during the quenching process. Fry the meatballs in a frying pan in vegetable oil (1 cup) until golden, put them in a saucepan or a wide pan with a thick bottom.

In the same pan where the meatballs were fried, dilute the tomato paste with one and a half glasses of water, add spices and salt, let boil and pour the sauce on the meatballs. Put them on low heat and put out under the lid for twenty minutes. Then, in a separate bowl, mix the remaining water and sour cream to a uniform consistency, pour over the gravy in meatballs and mix lightly with a spatula. Let them stand for another ten minutes and then turn off the stove. You can serve such meatballs with stewed vegetables, and not with classic mashed potatoes or pasta, as it was in kindergarten. Buckwheat porridge as well as pickled cucumbers are ideal as a side dish.

Fish balls in creamy sauce

If you move away from tradition and cook meatballs not from minced meat, but from fish, then you can discover a new dish of a more dietary quality. Its energy value is only 153 calories per gram serving, unlike meat (230-250 kcal). You can cook stewed meatballs in sour cream according to this step-by-step recipe:

1. Pre-boil 130 grams of rice until half cooked, then recline in a colander, rinse slightly with water, removing excess mucus, and cool.
2. Skip 800 grams of fish fillet through a meat grinder along with one onion. Stir the minced meat thoroughly with your hands, adding two eggs, 1/2 tsp. allspice, salt to taste and a little oregano for flavor. At the end, add rice and mix well again.
3. Form small meatballs, fry them in vegetable oil until a slight blush and fold into a small wide saucepan.
4. Prepare the sauce: chop one onion very finely and fry until transparent in two tablespoons of oil, add two glasses of sour cream and 150 grams of water to it, salt according to taste preferences and a small pinch of nutmeg. Boil and pour meatballs with the resulting sauce.

Stew them over low heat for twenty minutes and serve stewed meatballs with delicate mashed potatoes, sprinkled lightly with grated cheese.

Aromatic meatballs in Greek

Mediterranean cuisine has always been famous for the special aroma of dishes, so meatballs are no exception. A skillful combination of spices will turn ordinary meat into delicious gourmet bliss, and thick gravy will add juiciness and bright colors. For cooking, you need the following ingredients:

• 400 grams of pork and beef meat;
• 160 grams of stale bread;
• 1-2 eggs;
• 20 grams of fresh mint leaves;
• 10 grams of ground oregano and the same amount of basil;
• 80 grams of olive oil;
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt;
• 1 tbsp. a spoon without a hill of granulated sugar;
• 2-3 bay leaves;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of high quality tomato paste;
• three large tomatoes;
• incomplete glass of purified water.

Cooking

The first step is to prepare a fragrant sauce: dip the tomatoes in boiling water for half a minute, make an incision crosswise in the center and remove the skin with a knife, cut the tomatoes into small cubes. In a stewpan or deep frying pan, warm two tablespoons of oil, put chopped tomatoes there, add sugar and tomato paste. Stir and boil. Make the fire minimal and add basil and oregano to the gravy. Stir for ten minutes (during this time you can form meatballs).

Pass the meat through a meat grinder or use another chopper, add bread and eggs soaked in water, mix thoroughly with your hands. Chop the mint leaves very finely and send them into the minced meat together with a good pinch of salt. Vigorously knead with your hands to evenly mix the ingredients and form balls about 4 cm in size. Usually, from this amount of minced meat, fifteen pieces are obtained. Fry the resulting meatballs in the remaining oil in a pan, giving them a delicious rosy color, and ready to transfer to gravy. Stewed meatballs will languish in it for ten minutes, after which they can be served to the table with a side dish of vegetables.

If no rice

Sometimes it happens that, having planned the preparation of a dish on the eve, at the beginning of the process you realize that one ingredient is missing, such as rice. Of course, you can cook without it, but if the meat is not enough to cook meatballs for the whole large family? In such cases, universal vegetables come to the rescue, which can be chopped and added to the stuffing. The same method is good for those whose children are reluctant to eat boiled vegetables - in delicate meatballs they simply will not notice them. For example, you can cook stewed meatballs with potatoes, carrots and a small amount of cabbage of any kind.

List of necessary products for meatballs without rice

Here's what to cook:

• 500 grams of pork minced meat;
• two medium-sized potatoes;
• two eggs;
• onion, carrot and bell pepper - one at a time;
• 150 grams of cabbage;
• a small bunch of parsley;
• two tbsp. l tomato paste + 2 cups of water;
• 1 teaspoon of salt;
• 4-5 Art. tablespoons of vegetable oil;
• 1 tbsp. spoon without top sugar;
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and as much black pepper;
• a bit of dried oregano or basil (one choice).

How to cook?

Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots, and cut the sweet pepper into small cubes. Warm the oil in a wide frying pan, pour onion into it and sauté until transparent. Then send carrots and peppers there. While the vegetables are stewed, cut the cabbage into small cubes, add to the general pan and cook for five to eight minutes, stirring occasionally. Then grind the cooled vegetables with a blender, mix with minced meat, add the grated potatoes and finely chopped parsley.

There, send eggs and salt with herbs and nutmeg, actively mix the minced meat with your hands to evenly mix the ingredients, and then form the meatballs and fry, baking in flour or breadcrumbs. In the remains of the oil in which the meatballs were fried, dilute the tomato paste with water, add sugar and black pepper. Let the gravy boil for three minutes, then immerse the meatballs into it and simmer for twenty minutes over low heat under a lid. You can serve stewed meatballs with cabbage (colored or broccoli), as well as with ordinary fried potatoes.

Unusual meatball sauce

Stewed meatballs in sauce can be prepared not only in standard tomato sauce, but in more interesting variations:

1. Finely chop one onion, fry until transparent in two tablespoons of oil and pour a glass of cream. There to send 1 tbsp. spoon of white wine and good quality soy sauce, as well as 1 teaspoon of mustard. Let the gravy boil over low heat and pour the fried meatballs cooked according to the classic recipe.
2. Boil 300 grams of water in a pan, add four tbsp to it. tablespoons tomato paste, six tbsp. spoons of sour cream and three teaspoons without a hill of ground ginger. Also send a pinch of sugar in the sauce, a little salt to your taste and nutmeg on the tip of the knife. Let the gravy boil and then use to cook the stewed meatballs.

Vegan Meatballs with Spicy Sauce

If a person does not eat meat for ethical reasons, this is no reason not to cook such a tasty dish as meatballs. How can it be without meat? Vegans do well without this product, replacing it with other protein ingredients. So what is required:

• 300 grams of potatoes, boiled until semi-finished "in uniform";
• 200 grams of walnuts;
• a small bunch of parsley;
• one large onion;
• 2 tbsp. spoons of oatmeal;
• two cloves of garlic.

For gravy:

• 60 grams of soy sauce + 150 grams of water;
• 1 teaspoon with a hill of corn starch and the same amount of grated ginger (fresh root);
• 1 teaspoon light sesame;
• 2 tbsp. tablespoons of cane sugar.

Peel the potatoes and mince them with onions and nuts, add chopped herbs and garlic, as well as oat flakes. Knead the masses well with your hands, turning it into minced meat, and then mold round balls from it. Roll in flour and place in the oven for 15 minutes to form a crust. The temperature regime of the oven is 230 degrees. Next, prepare the gravy by mixing all the ingredients and let them boil over medium heat. Move the meatballs into the sauce and simmer under the lid for five minutes, then carefully turn over and continue the heat treatment for the same amount of time. Let them brew for a few more minutes and then serve still warm with fresh vegetables.