I’ve decided that, for me, meatballls and spaghetti are the ultimate form of comfort food! It reminds me of my childhood days when my Mom would spend more time & effort on this than making “meat-sauce” (essentially Bolognese).
This particular post is slightly low on pics because I began making these at 10 pm and AK was TOO hungry and tired to take more than a few. So I decided to focus on what’s important…
For about 10-11 (slightly larger than) golf-ball sized meat-balls, this is what I used:
400 gms mince meat (I used mutton but you can use any meat you like – chicken/mutton/pork/beef)
2 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp dried herb (I used oregano, but it depends on what you’re feeling like!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (approx)
Here’s how I made it:
I mixed the meat with all the seasoning. Then cracked in the eggs and gave it another good mix. And last came the breadcrumbs. Now here, you need to use a little bit of your judgement. Although I’ve written 1/2 cup, please add slowly while mixing. The mixture should be just dry enough that when you roll it into a ball, it doesn’t fall apart (think of aloo tikkis and cutlets – moist but holding shape).
Shape these into whatever sized balls you like, depending on how much you want to make and place on a plate.
Then here’s the trick – pop them into the fridge for about an hour. They’ll hold their shape when you fry them!! Alternatively, if you’re in a hurry (which I wasn’t because I went birthday shopping for my Mom between marinating & frying), then you can pop them in the freezer for about 15 mins, while you get sauce ingredients ready. This is what mine looked like after refrigeration…
You can make these even more interesting by adding a splash of red wine or bourbon. I didn’t do either as I didn’t have an open bottle of the former and AK favours scotch over bourbon so we usually don’t have it in stock. I think it’s time to rectify that. I promise you that a splash of bourbon in meatballs or burgers will take this to another level altogether!
Anyway, back to the subject. I then heated some oil (regular vegetable oil will do) for shallow frying in a pan. Ensure the heat is on medium else the outside will brown/burn faster than the inside will cook. Also, using a pan that has a lid will result in more evenly cooked meatballs.
I usually cook them for about 6 minutes on each side. Common sense says that if the meatballs are chicken or smaller in size, then they will cook faster. You need to find the optimal cooking time on your stove…
Here’s a pic of them after about 2-3 mins on one side.
The meat will also let out some of it’s own grease and some little bits might fall off and cook faster/burn. Don’t worry about that. Just try and remove all the leftover bits between batches. I had to make mine in 2 batches – 5-6 at a time.
So after 5-6 mins, you want to flip the meatballs. The done side will look something like this…
Oh & don’t forget to sprinkle some cheese on top. Parmesan works best but use anything you like. Regular Amul/Britannia cheddar will also do. I forgot to get a pic of the cheese on top 🙁
For the finishing touch, AK got 2 glasses of this yummy gin and tonic ready! It’s not the most ideal drink for dinner, but I love it! And since I cooked dinner, I get to place my drinks order the way I like it!
(Real reason: I wanted to get rid of the 2 leftover bottles of Catch tonic water so I could make way for the carton of the obviously superior Shweppes tonic we bought that day!)
All in all, a weekend very well spent!
PS – the meatball mix can be used to make burger patties too. Just shape them like cutlets instead of balls and grill/ bar-b-que/ shallow fry/ bake them.