Beef meatballs with rice. Beef meatballs with rice PP beef meatballs

24.11.2023

Description

Ground beef meatballs in tomato sauce can be prepared in different ways: in a slow cooker, in the oven or even in a frying pan. Today we will use the latter option and stew the meatballs after frying them. Not only is the cooking method itself unusual, but the minced meat is also distinguished by its zest. We will use beef pulp, milk cream and spices as the basis for the meatballs. And instead of adding soaked bread to the minced meat, we will add dry crumbs of white wheat bread to it. You will learn more about these and other subtleties if you read our step-by-step recipe for making meatballs in tomato sauce with photos.

At home, these beef meatballs turn out incredibly tender and tasty, and also very juicy. They should only be served hot, always with the sauce in which they were cooked and with a side dish. Boiled pasta or fresh vegetables are perfect as a side dish. You are free to choose the optimal ingredients for such a delicious dish, as well as choose or add tomato sauce with your favorite spices. Let's start cooking.

Ingredients

(pulp, 350 g)
(100 ml)
(1 slice)
(1 clove)
(3-4 tbsp.)
(taste)
(2 tbsp.)
(300 ml)
(taste)
(taste)
(taste)
(taste)
(taste)

Cooking steps

In order to prepare tasty and healthy meatballs, we will need to purchase a fresh piece of not too fatty beef from the shoulder or back.

We thoroughly wash the selected piece of meat, then dry it with a paper towel and pass it through a meat grinder. You can grind meat in any other way known and convenient to you.

We will use standard salt and ground black pepper as spices. However, in order for the taste to be more expressive and interesting, we will also add a pinch of coriander and a very small amount of ground nutmeg to the minced meat.

Mix the meat thoroughly with spices, and then pour in prepared milk at room temperature or milk cream: add to your taste, but a quarter of a glass is enough.

This recipe for ground beef meatballs is unusual in that we will not soak said slice of bread in milk or water. Instead, we will chop up a fairly stale piece of white bread and add it to the meat in dry form. It may resemble regular breadcrumbs, but the taste of the finished dish will pleasantly surprise you. Add the bread in portions to the bowl with the meat, constantly stirring the contents so that there are no lumps. Bring the ingredients to a homogeneous mass.

Prepare a flat plate, wet it with water and also wet your hands. After this, form neat identical meat balls from the resulting minced meat and place them on a dish as shown in the photo.

Heat a heavy frying pan with the specified amount of vegetable oil. Roll the resulting meatballs in a small amount of flour, then place them in a hot frying pan.

Fry the meatballs on all sides until lightly browned. The easiest way to do this is to stir the balls in a frying pan with a simple wooden spatula.

Peel and chop the garlic clove and add it to the meatballs. We dilute a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste in the required amount of water, and then pour the resulting sauce over the meatballs in the frying pan. Add salt and pepper to taste, a teaspoon of sugar and a little coriander. Another tablespoon of milk cream won't hurt here either.

To make the sauce thinner and completely cover the meatballs, add half a glass of cold water. After the sauce has warmed up and boiled, reduce the heat to low and cook the dish in this mode for 20 minutes until done.

Serve the finished dish hot with a side dish of cereals or vegetables. Now you know how to cook minced beef meatballs in tomato sauce.

Bon appetit!

Meatballs are a dish of minced meat in the form of balls. Almost every cuisine in the world has a similar dish, so the preparation of meatballs is varied. At the same time, it is believed that the recipe for meatballs first appeared among the Turkic peoples; it is not for nothing that the Turkic dish “kyufta” still exists in the East.

Over time, the name changed to “meatballs”; the cooking recipe changed over the centuries, from people to people. Today, the recipe for meatballs differs from the recipe for cutlets, first of all, by the addition of various cereals and vegetables to the minced meat. For example, meatballs with rice are widely known.

The most common are meatballs, such as meatballs made from ground beef. In addition, they make fish and chicken meatballs. As a rule, meatballs are prepared with gravy or in sauce: meatballs in sour cream sauce, meatballs in tomato sauce. Sauce for meatballs or gravy for meatballs can be spicy, sour, even sweet - it’s a matter of taste.

There are a very large number of recipes for making meatballs. But we offer you six of the most common recipes for making meatballs:

1. Meatballs with gravy

A delicious combination of dense beef meatballs with a spicy garlic and mushroom gravy.

Ingredients:

lean ground beef - 0.5 kg
onion – 1 pc.
egg – 1 pc.
water - 100 ml
sour cream - 2 tbsp. l.
breadcrumbs - 2 tbsp. l.
dry dill

Gravy:

mushrooms - 200 g
garlic - 3 cloves
flour - 2 tbsp.
water - 1.5 tbsp.
salt
frying oil

Cooking method:

Mix sour cream with breadcrumbs, water and mix with other products for meatballs. Knead the mixture thoroughly and then beat it. Form small balls and fry them over high heat. The purpose of frying is not to bring it to readiness, but to get a crust, even if they remain raw inside. Place them in a mold and bake. This will take about 15 minutes at 200 C.

Prepare the gravy. Crush the garlic, but make sure it holds its shape. You can flatten it with the side of a knife. Fry it for a few minutes, then remove it, add it to the oil and fry the mushrooms, cut into slices, and a little later add the chopped onion. Add the oil left over from frying the meatballs, add flour and brown it. Then add water, add salt and simmer for a few minutes until the gravy thickens. You can garnish the meatballs with boiled rice and potatoes.

2. Meatballs with rice

More often, such meatballs are called “hedgehogs” because of the boiled rice sticking out of the ball. Children love them very much. In order for the “needles” to stick out, you need to use raw rice. It’s better to take not a round one, but a long one, like basmati. You can also put it boiled, it will be just as tasty, it’s just that the meatball will turn out smoother, without “thorns.”

Ingredients:

minced meat - 0.5 kg
rice - 0.5 tbsp.
salt
onion – 1 pc.
ground black pepper

salt
sour cream - 200 g
water
tomato paste - 1 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

Chop the onion. Either boil the rice until half cooked or soak for an hour. Mix rice, minced meat, onion, salt, pepper. Make balls (about 4-5 cm in diameter) and place in a frying pan greased with sour cream.

Mix the ingredients for pouring, add water, maybe a glass, maybe a little more. You want the sauce to cover the meatballs almost completely. And simmer over medium heat for about thirty minutes.

3. Meatballs in tomato sauce

You can make regular meatballs and simmer them in regular tomato sauce with tomatoes and tomato paste. It will be tasty, but a little boring. What if you create an explosion of emotions and prepare a dish that is quite simple, but tasty and extraordinary? Easily. The minced meat itself, where cottage cheese is added, and the sauce, which has a simply indescribable taste, will turn out to be unusual.

Minced meat - 0.4 kg
Cottage cheese - 100 g
Egg – 1 pc.
Onion – 1 pc. large
Garlic - 2 cloves
Bread - 2-3 slices (100-150 g)
milk or cream - 2 tbsp. l.
greenery
ready mustard - 1 tsp.
salt, spices

Tomato - 2 pcs. large
onions – 2 pcs.
sweet pepper – 2 pcs.
carrots – 1 pc.
ketchup - 3 tbsp. l
tomato paste - 2 tbsp. l
starch and sugar - 1 tbsp. l
salt
greenery
ground black pepper
garlic - 2 cloves
water or broth - 300 ml

Preparation:

Grind the onion and garlic (on a grater, using a blender). Add minced meat and bread soaked in water (or milk) and squeezed out. Knead. The next step is to add the egg, cottage cheese and mustard. Chop the greens, pour in the milk and knead again. At the final stage, add salt and pepper. You can limit yourself to this, or you can add other spices - nutmeg or Provençal herbs, for example. Roll into meatballs of your favorite size. Can be like cutlets or smaller. The main thing is to get round little bells. Dip them in flour, fry and set aside for a while.

Prepare the sauce. It is important for him to chop or grate the ingredients as finely as possible. So, heat the oil. Lightly fry the onion in it, add grated carrots, fry for a couple more minutes, add bell peppers and tomatoes and fry a little more. Next add sugar, salt, ketchup and tomato. Simmer the vegetable mixture for three minutes.

Dilute the starch in 50 ml of water and pour into the sauce. Stir, add water or broth (you can use a cube), chop the herbs and add chopped garlic. Cover the sauce with a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. The crucial moment comes: the meatballs are immersed in the sauce. They need to be completely covered with it. Cover this almost finished dish with a lid and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve with any side dish - rice, vegetables, potatoes.

4. Meatballs in sour cream sauce

The meatballs turn out very soft, with a delicate taste. Any meat is suitable for them. You can take ready-made minced meat or grind whole pieces through a meat grinder. If desired, the onion can be pre-fried, this will give the meat balls an original taste.

Ingredients:

Minced meat - 0.5 kg
stale white bread - 150 g
onions – 2 pcs.
eggs - 2-3 pcs.
salt pepper

Sour cream – 200 g
Flour - 2 tsp.
Salt
water or meat broth - 100 ml

Preparation:

Soak the bread in water (milk), squeeze lightly. It will taste better in milk, but it can also be tasted in water. If you are going to grind the meat through a meat grinder, also pass soaked bread and onions – fried or raw – along with it. Beat the eggs and add them to the minced meat. It is the beaten eggs that make the meatballs tender and juicy. Add salt and pepper. Knead the minced meat thoroughly and beat it a little for airiness. Roll into balls, roll in flour and fry. They are small in size, so they are fried until fully cooked. Transfer the meatballs to a cauldron.
For the sauce, mix sour cream, broth (or water), salt, and flour. Pour this mixture over the meatballs and simmer for five minutes.

5. Meatballs in the oven

Delicious meatballs with added cheese. It makes the meatballs more tasty, and the tomato mixture in which they are stewed – more juicy.

Ingredients:

minced meat - 0.5 kg
cheese - 150 g
egg – 1 pc.
onion – 1 pc.
salt pepper

Tomatoes - 4-5 pcs. large,
Sugar - 1 tsp.
salt pepper

Preparation:

Chop the onion very finely and grate the cheese. Mix everything with minced meat, salt and pepper.
Remove the peel from the tomatoes and finely chop the pulp. You can do it faster - cut the tomato in half and grate it. The pulp gradually wears off, but the skin remains in the hands. Add a little salt to the tomato mass and add sugar. Here you need to try. If the tomatoes are sweeter, add a little less sugar, and vice versa. You need to rely on your taste. You can add herbs or allspice. Pour the seasoned tomato mixture into a mold and place in the oven, or simmer on the stove for 10 minutes to release the juice. Yes, this is an interesting turn of events.

While the tomatoes are releasing their juice, form meatballs with wet hands and plunge into the stewed tomato mixture. Bake for 30 minutes until done (200 C).

6. Meatballs in a slow cooker

Cooking in a slow cooker is pure pleasure. All you need to do is load the groceries; she does the rest herself. There is no need to monitor the process; nothing will burn or run away. And after a certain time, all that remains is to pick up the delicious finished dish. Like, for example, meatballs.

Ingredients:

Minced meat - 0.5 kg
salt
egg-1
ground pepper
rice - 0.5 tbsp.
onion – 1 pc.

bay leaf, salt, spices.
water or broth - 400 ml
flour, mayonnaise, sour cream, ketchup (tomato paste) - 2 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

Boil the rice. Chop the onion and mix with other ingredients for the meatballs. Form balls and place in a bowl.
In a bowl, thoroughly mix all the ingredients for the sauce and pour it over the meatballs. Turn on the “Extinguishing” mode for 1 hour.

Meatballs - useful tips from experienced chefs:

The meatballs will turn out tastier if you don’t use purchased minced meat, but cook it yourself from meat. It turns out more juicy, because... it retains the meat juices.

To make the meatballs juicy and fluffy, soaked bread is added to the minced meat - it absorbs the meat juice, preventing it from escaping. It is better to use stale bread, because... fresh gives the meatballs a not very pleasant stickiness.
When writing this article, materials from the site http://zhenskoe-mnenie.ru/ were used

Gulkhayo Rakhimova

Minced meatballs are the simplest dish. The same minced meat can be used to prepare different types of meatballs, and the products themselves can be served with various side dishes and sauces. This is a universal dish, because they are prepared from any type of meat. And now more about how minced meatballs are prepared.

We all come from childhood, so the catering that fed us in kindergartens, schools, and student canteens is firmly ingrained in our heads and taste preferences. Many still remember the distant taste of meatballs baked on a baking sheet, which were sticky, aromatic, in a light, but not at all tomato sauce, as usual. They seemed very tasty. We tried to find this classic recipe to remember that time.

Meatballs are made from minced meat, but they differ from cutlets in that they always contain a filler in the form of rice, vegetables or bread, are shaped like balls and before frying or baking they are necessarily rolled in flour, but not breadcrumbs, as is done with cutlets. Additionally, the meatballs are usually cooked in a sauce.

So, to cook classic minced meatballs with rice, you need an oven.

And also the following products (given per serving):

cutlet meat (you can use beef, pork, mixed minced meat, as well as veal and lamb) - 105 g;
water - 12 g;
rice - 11 g;
onions - 29 g;
animal fat (can be replaced with vegetable oil) - 4 g;
flour - 8 g.

It is clear that if you are preparing for a family, then accordingly multiply the number of grams to the required proportions.

Progress:

Chop the onion and sauté in fat.
Boil the rice until half cooked. It is important to know that in this recipe and in all others, the rice is not washed after boiling in order to maintain its stickiness.
Mix onion with rice, add minced cutlet meat, salt, pepper, mix and form medium-sized balls, cutting at the rate of three meatballs per serving.
Bread the balls with flour and place them in a single row on a greased baking sheet or shallow frying pan.
Bake until half cooked, transfer to a saucepan and pour in milk so that the minced hedgehogs are almost covered. Place on the fire and simmer over low heat. You can leave them on a baking sheet, if it is small, pour milk and put them in the oven over low heat. After extinguishing, turn off and leave so that the milk is absorbed. This way the hedgehogs will absorb the delicious creamy taste.

Many people called such meatballs that way - hedgehogs.

With rice - like in kindergarten

There is another recipe floating around the Internet, which is also called kindergarten meatballs. This version is actually called meatballs with red sauce and can be found in a 1985 cookbook. The taste is really delicate and pleasant. You can make meatballs according to this recipe either from pork alone or from mixed minced pork and beef.

Here's what you'll need:

0.4 kg of finished minced meat;
one egg, one onion;
a glass of rice;
salt and pepper.

For the gravy:

a couple of spoons of sour cream;
a couple of tomatoes;
four tablespoons of flour;
spices and sugar.

Add finely chopped onion to the minced meat. Boil the rice until it is half-raw, cool and add it to the minced meat. Then put onion, salt, pepper and other spices, break the egg. Mix and form meatballs.

For the sauce, grate the tomatoes, put sour cream, spices, sugar in them, fry the coarsely grated carrots a little in vegetable oil and pour the prepared sauce into it. Add a little water, bring to a boil and drop the floured meatballs into the sauce. Simmer over low heat until done.

In tomato sauce

Probably the most popular method is with tomato. Any minced meat is suitable for it. You can take a ready-made semi-finished product. Make meatballs, sprinkle with flour, fry in a frying pan. When one side is browned, turn over and fry the other. Remove the products, and fry the onion and grated carrots in the remaining fat from frying. Pour the fried vegetables with tomato paste dissolved in water (one or two tablespoons of paste). Season with salt and pepper again, throw in the bay leaves and immerse the fried meatballs in this sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Minced pork meatballs

The best solution is to make pork meatballs. Always soft, juicy products go well with mashed potatoes and other vegetable side dishes.

For 700 g of meat take:

a glass of rice boiled until half cooked (some add raw cereal). In this case, the meatballs need to be cooked longer so that the rice is cooked;
two onions;
carrot;
a couple of glasses of tomato juice;
oil for frying;
0.5 cups sour cream;
spices.

Let's prepare it like this:

Turn the meat through a fine grill of a meat grinder, and add the onion there too.
Add salt and pepper and other spices you like.
Add rice.
Stir, make meatballs.
Fry for a couple of minutes on both sides over high heat until they get a nice crust but remain raw inside.
In a frying pan with the remaining oil, fry the grated carrots and the second onion.
Place in a refractory dish and sprinkle with fried onions and carrots.
Pour in a mixture of tomato juice and spices, simmer until tender. Serve with sour cream.

How to cook with ground beef?

Meatballs made from ground beef with rice are prepared in the same way as regular meatballs made from fattier pork. Lean beef needs gravy, so you can prepare it with sour cream and tomato paste. But there is another interesting recipe that uses white bread instead of rice. This dish is worth trying!

For 400 g of beef pulp, passed through a meat grinder, take:

a couple of pieces of stale wheat bread;
one or two cloves of garlic;
100 g cream;
2 tbsp. spoons of tomato paste or a little more homemade tomato;
flour, milk, salt and pepper to taste.

It is better to make minced meat by passing the meat through a meat grinder twice. Next, salt it, add half the cream, spices, crushed garlic and bread soaked in milk.

Knead and form meatballs. Roll each one in flour and fry in oil or fat. Pour tomato paste diluted in a glass of water into the frying pan with meatballs, pour in the remaining cream and simmer over low heat for twenty minutes. Sprinkle the finished meatballs with dill or parsley.

Minced chicken meatballs with gravy

Minced chicken meatballs with gravy are perfect for children's and dietary meals. They are prepared from a ready-made semi-finished product or from self-twisted chicken breast.

Product composition:

half a kilo of minced meat;
a glass of rice;
a couple of garlic cloves and a couple of onions;
1 egg;
spices;
flour for dredging.

First fry the onion, cut into half rings, in oil, and then the garlic (low heat so that the garlic does not burn). Add the overcooked mixture to the minced meat, grate the garlic there, add spices and mix well.

Form meatballs with wet hands and roll in flour. While you prepare the sauce, place them in the refrigerator. For the sauce, you can use tomato paste and flour fried in oil - this is a traditional red tomato sauce. Or you can mix a little tomato paste with sour cream. Next, fry the meatballs a little and pour in the sauce. Simmer for another ten minutes and the dish is ready!

With sour cream sauce

Meatballs are good just with sour cream. Using any method given here, prepare the minced meat, make meatballs and fry. By the way, in sour cream they will be equally tasty without frying, but you will get fewer calories.

Pour sour cream over the balls and sprinkle with a mixture of Italian herbs or dried parsley. Simmer until tender and serve with a side dish of potatoes.

Diet option for steam

The dietary option excludes frying the meatballs; there is also no need to fry the onions; they are placed in the minced meat raw. And garlic is completely excluded. These meatballs can be given even to small children.

And they do it like this:

Pass 300 g of chicken or turkey fillet through a meat grinder, adding half an onion and half a carrot;
knead the minced meat, adding salt;
Boil a quarter cup of rice until tender and cool;
mix with minced meat and add a little chopped parsley;
make meatballs and place in a double boiler, after adding a bay leaf to the water;
steam for a quarter of an hour.

If you don't have a double boiler, you can use a colander placed over boiling water in a saucepan, which you need to cover with a lid.

In the meantime, let's prepare the sauce - blanch the tomato, remove the skin, and chop finely. Place tomato pieces in a saucepan and add a little water. Add salt. The sauce is ready. Pour it over the steamed meatballs and serve.

With added mushrooms

An original and incredibly tasty version of meatballs with mushrooms will also decorate the festive table. They are prepared from ordinary minced meat with rice, but their dressing will be unusual.

For it you will need mushrooms - the most aromatic and tasty ones, of course, wild ones, but you can take oyster mushrooms and champignons.

If the mushrooms are fresh, they are pre-fried over high heat to enhance the taste and aroma.

If they are frozen, then they should also be fried. But the dried mushrooms are pre-boiled, the broth is saved for the sauce, and the mushrooms themselves, squeezed and cut into strips, are fried. Mushrooms are placed on top of the fried meatballs, poured with mushroom broth and simmered, adding a little sour cream at the end.

Meatballs according to Italian recipe

You will also like this very unexpected and original recipe from Italian chefs.

Need to:

0.6 kg minced beef;
250 g low-fat cottage cheese;
some parmesan cheese;
one lemon;
one egg;
medium sized onion;
pine nuts - 6 tbsp. spoon;
two thirds of a glass of breading in the form of crackers;
a little olive oil;
pureed tomatoes - as many as you want, according to your taste;
three cloves of garlic;
seasonings such as dried basil, parsley and black pepper.

Sauce:

half a kilo of pureed canned tomatoes;
300 g chopped tomatoes;
125 ml dry red wine;
balsamic vinegar and salt.

Cooking:

Chop parsley, garlic and onion.
Wipe the cottage cheese.
Remove the lemon zest.
A couple of st. Heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the peeled nuts in it. Add onion and garlic, basil.
Mix cottage cheese with minced meat, add parsley, breadcrumbs, egg, grated Parmesan and lemon zest.
After stirring, add more fried onions and nuts.
Add salt so that the minced meat is a little saltier than necessary.
Place it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes, then take it out and make meatballs.
For the sauce, take a wide-bottomed pan, place the tomatoes and heat them, add wine and vinegar, and then heat again, but do not boil.
In a separate frying pan, fry the meatballs in a small amount of oil until browned on both sides. Using a slotted spoon, place them into the tomato sauce. The meatballs immersed in the sauce should simmer over low heat for another quarter of an hour.

Delicious fish balls

Fish meatballs are very tasty. Both river and sea fish will do, you just need to take either fillets or fish with a small number of bones. As usual, add salt, pepper, and rice to the minced meat. Do not add too much rice to the fish balls to avoid making them too dry and tough. They do not contain onions, they are too fragrant and can overwhelm the natural flavor of the fish. But a clove of garlic won’t hurt, it will enhance the fishy aroma.

Instead of onions, you can chop a few green onions, and also add a handful of chopped dill or parsley.

The fried balls are placed in a frying pan and poured with either sour cream or tomato sauce - both options are good.

With cabbage

Cabbage meatballs are more juicy, tender and light due to the vegetables. Be sure to try cooking them.

Products:

750 minced meat;
400 g shredded cabbage;
a glass of rice;
egg;
one carrot;
one onion;
pepper, salt;
oil for frying.

For the gravy:

sour cream;
nutmeg;
salt;
tomato paste;
pepper and thyme.

Chop the cabbage, mince with minced meat and mix.
Add spices and salt to the minced meat.
Chop the onion and carrots and simmer in oil, then add peppercorns, bay leaves, a little water and tomato paste. Boil.
Add flour to sour cream and mix. Then add this mixture to the pan with carrots and onions. Boil.
Roll the minced meat into small meatballs and dip them into the sauce.
Simmer everything together until the meatballs are ready, covered.

Homemade meatballs in a slow cooker

It’s very quick and easy to cook meatballs in a slow cooker. To do this, you need to boil a glass of rice and discard it. In frying mode, fry the onion and grated carrots. In 700 g of minced meat (500 g of beef and 200 g of pork), add fried vegetables and add rice, spices, and salt. Mix, roll into balls and place in a bowl. Next, pour in hot, lightly salted water and add a little tomato paste. Simmer for 40 minutes.

It so happened that homemade beef meatballs have become a familiar dish in our home.

Firstly, the meatballs cook very quickly. Even after work, when you are very tired, preparing meatballs practically does not take much time, the main thing is that the meat is defrosted in advance. Secondly, meatballs in tomato sauce go perfectly with almost any usual side dish: rice, mashed potatoes, couscous. And thirdly, what is important, meatballs are always very tasty. It would seem like balls of minced meat stewed in sauce. Nothing special.

But in many world cuisines, meatballs are one of the main dishes. However, it is often difficult to distinguish meatballs from very similar products: Sicilian meatballs with rice, klops, korokke... the difference is in the method of preparation and the composition of the minced meat. But almost always, meatballs contain an additive - a filler. Often this is rice, cereals or onions, but most often it is soaked bread.

Unlike meatballs, which are fried (Italian: frittatella - fried) or boiled in broth, they are stewed in sauce. However, they are usually fried a little, this way they retain their shape better.

When preparing meatballs, like any other dish of this type, it is extremely important to prepare good minced meat. The word minced meat comes from Lat. farcio - “I’m starting.” Those. what they stuff with. In this case, we do not stuff anything, but use chopped products to prepare an independent dish.

An amazing invention - a meat grinder. Meat or fish are perfectly chopped with knives into homogeneous minced meat. We even, but three on a grater. I still remember manual meat grinders from my childhood, which were screwed to the table. If desired, if the meat was sufficiently tough and stringy, one could easily tear off the meat grinder along with the table cover. The only thing is modern food processors. Multifunctional electrical devices for mechanical processing of products. With a huge number of attachments and accessories. Of which only the attachment for chopping meat is used. I know it from myself.

It so happened that some time ago we began to very rarely buy pork for cooking. The doctors insisted. We began to prepare most of the usual meat dishes from beef or veal. I had to change my home recipes a bit, but it turned out to be worth it. And in general, beef dishes turn out even tastier.

I'll tell you how we prepare beef meatballs - almost a standard home dish.

Beef meatballs. Step by step recipe

Ingredients for beef meatballs (2 servings)

Beef (lean) 350 gr
Cream (milk) 100 ml
Stale white bread 1 piece
Garlic 1 clove
Salt, black pepper, coriander, sugar, flour, vegetable oil, tomato paste taste

The main feature of meatballs that distinguishes them from other similar dishes is the sauce. Beef meatballs are served with sauce. Or rather, the meatballs are served in sauce, which is usually quite a lot. Once I thought, beef meatballs in sauce are more like a thick soup with meatballs.
For meatballs, any meaty part of the carcass is suitable, preferably the shoulder, the back.
So. If the meat has already defrosted, you need to prepare the minced meat. Conventional meat grinder - manual, electric. Free the beef from bones and, if possible, from tendons and membranes. It is also better to cut off excess fat. For meatballs, any meaty part of the carcass is suitable, preferably the shoulder, the back. The so-called “goulash kits” - small pieces of pulp, apparently trimmings - performed very well. They make good minced meat.
Grind the meat. You can do it twice.
Spices for meatballs - just salt and pepper. But, to suit your taste, I advise you to add 1-2 pinches of ground coriander and ground nutmeg on the tip of a knife. Using a fork, stir the minced meat until the spices are evenly distributed.
Spices for meatballs - just salt and pepper
Next, you need to add milk or cream to the minced meat. A little - a quarter glass is enough. Actually, white stale bread soaked in milk is usually added to the minced meat. But, as a rule, it is extremely difficult to guess exactly the amount of milk and stale bread. Once, while studying the experience of chefs, I noticed that they often say “add a loaf of bread soaked in milk,” but do it a little differently.
In many recipes for meat products you can find the word “galette”. These are not cookies that I really love. From Italian galetta is dry (stale) bread ground into fine crumbs. It is usually used for breading. But, at its core, it is still bread that is perfect for minced meat. Unlike store-bought breadcrumbs, which are unclear what they consist of, crumbs (biscuits) prepared at home will have a well-known origin.
At home we always buy a “French baguette” - a long, fresh loaf that is great for sandwiches or toast. She does a great job. And if you dry the baguette and grate it on a fine grater, you will get an excellent biscuit, without impurities - fresh and aromatic.
Add crumbs to the minced meat in small portions and mix
Add crumbs to the minced meat in small portions and mix. As soon as the minced meat stops sticking to the fork, the biscuits are enough. The consistency of the minced meat should be similar to soft pizza dough. Very quickly the crumbs in the minced meat will get wet from the cream. However, if for some reason you don’t like this method, just add a loaf soaked in milk to the minced meat.
Wet a large plate with cold water. Wetting your hands with water, roll the prepared minced meat into balls slightly larger than a walnut. And place them on a damp plate.
Wetting your hands with water, roll the prepared minced meat into balls slightly larger than a walnut.
Heat 3-4 tbsp in a frying pan. l. vegetable oil. Roll the meatballs in flour. Please note - in flour, not breading. Place the beef meatballs in the heated oil and fry on all sides. It is very convenient to simply stir the beef meatballs with a spatula.
Frying time - 3-4 minutes. Enough for the beef meatballs to begin to brown slightly, just slightly.
It’s enough for the meatballs to start to brown slightly, just slightly.
Next comes the stage of preparing the sauce. If desired, add one chopped garlic clove. If you don't like garlic, just skip this step. But, this is important, the garlic should not be fried too much. The tomato must be added immediately.
We usually make tomato sauce. You can make a good tomato sauce from fresh tomatoes, like this. But this is quite a seasonal sauce. And out of season there are two options. The first is to dilute 2 tablespoons of tomato paste in 300 ml of water. The second, simpler one is to take 1.5 glasses of good tomato juice. Pour the tomato into the saucepan with the meatballs. Immediately add the remaining cream. However, as experience has shown, you can add 2-3 tbsp instead of milk or cream. l. sour cream.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. I recommend adding a pinch of coriander, as well as 1-2 tsp. Sahara. The sauce will be sweet and sour and very aromatic. How .

Ingredients

minced beef – 500 g;
onion – 50 g;
salt – 20 g;
black pepper – 5 g;
garlic – 1 g;
dried spices (parsley, leeks, red pepper) - to taste;
fat - for frying;
lavash, tomato ketchup, greens - for serving.

How to cook beef meatballs

You don’t always have time to prepare a complex dish, so in such a situation a simple recipe for minced beef meatballs will help out. You can buy cured meat ready-made or make it yourself. Appetizing meat balls, without using any gravy, only seasoned with spicy spices, can be prepared in half an hour. They are perfect for both a main course and a snack.

Beef is a very tasty lean meat, without a specific smell. If you season your ground beef properly, it will stay juicy and your meatballs will be delicious. As additives, it is enough to use salt, crushed black pepper and dry seasonings to taste. This recipe will contain very little dried herbs, red hot pepper and garlic. Before cooking, minced meat with spices must be kneaded well with your hands and left at room temperature for 15-20 minutes. These tips will help keep the meat juicy without overpowering its flavor.

Finely chop the onion head and fry it in a small amount of vegetable fat. The onion should cook well, changing its bitter smell to a sweetish aroma - then it is ready, even if it turns slightly brownish.

After frying, add the onion to the prepared minced meat along with the remaining oil. If the onion pieces are large, you can chop them again with a knife or blender.

From the seasoned minced meat you need to roll small balls with a diameter of no more than 4 cm. Leave the meat pieces to “rest” for 10 minutes.

Melted lard is well suited for frying - generously grease the bottom of the pan with this fat. Instead of lard, butter is also suitable, but it is worth remembering that when frying it creates a strong crust. Place the meat balls on the frying pan, with a small distance from each other.

The meatballs are fried over medium heat, first without a lid, for 2-3 minutes on each side. When the meat is well cooked on both sides and remains raw on the sides, then cover the pan with a lid so that the resulting water vapor does not escape. Periodically, you need to shake the pan, or open the lid and turn the meatballs over with a spatula, pouring over the rendered fat.

Ready-made minced beef meatballs can be served with pita bread and ketchup. Also, simply serve the dish with fresh tomatoes, lettuce and green onions. As you can see, the meat remained juicy and not overdried.

Adviсe:

Instead of ground beef, you can use ground veal, the meatballs will be even more tender.
Meatballs can be stewed with sour cream or tomato juice, so they will become even softer, and the gravy for beef meatballs can be poured over a side dish of porridge or potatoes.
It is better to simmer in a saucepan, but you can also simmer in a frying pan or even in the oven.