Meatballs in Stew

A community recipe by tithi

Not tested or verified by Nigella.com

Introduction

This is my ultimate rainy day comfort...real soft balls in light fragrant stew.it's just an inviting warm bowl of happiness..trust me.

Ingredients

Serves: 4-5

For the Meatballs

300 grams minced beef
1 tablespoon oil
4 tablespoons red onions (finely chopped)
4 cloves garlic (peeled)
1 centimetre fresh ginger (peeled)
fresh coriander (chopped)
2 green chillies
1 tablespoon lime juice
black peppercorns (crushed)
1 pinch of salt
flour (optional)

For the for the Stew

350 millilitres mutton stock
2 tablespoons butter / ghee
2 grams bay leaves
4 grams cardamom pods (bruised)
4 grams cloves
1 stick cinnamon stick (snapped in 2)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 pinch of salt
black peppercorns

Method

Meatballs in Stew is a community recipe submitted by tithi and has not been tested by Nigella.com so we are not able to answer questions regarding this recipe.

put all the the ingredients into a food processor except onions and flour and blend into a nice paste.

now add the chopped onions to the paste and mix together to form a firm moist and soft paste.

at this point if you find the paste is a bit too soft,watery and cannot be held together add a teaspoon of flour,just enough to make a firm mix.you really have to be cautious as excess addition of flour would make the balls chewy and rubbery.

Now rub some water on your palms and take a spoon of the mix and make smooth small balls by rolling them softly .

now take a heavy bottomed pan and add the clarified butter.put on gentle heat and wait till it melts add the bay leaves ,cardamom,cinnamon,cloves into the clarified butter and stir constantly to avoid them from catching. add sugar and stir till it melts .

now add the mutton stock to the spices and stir so the sugar and flavour of the spices goes into the stock and bring it to boil. add pinch of salt and crushed peppercorns to the boiling stock now gently drop the meat balls in the bubbling stock. leave it to simmer for 2-3 minuets till the meat balls are cooked.

pour into a serving dish or individual bowls and add freshly crushed pepper.

Additional Information

you can do away with the coriander and lemon and instead add garam masala powder in the minced meat to have a real sweet and warm flavour. although it requires no additional accompaniment it goes quite well with steaming white rice.