CREATIVE COOKING IN THE TIME OF CORONA
a blog about food
Sweet & Sour Meatballs
Memories!
I guess we've all been dining out on those (sorry) since March 2020 since the onset of this pandemic, which has been no picnic. (I can't help it 🙄 sorry!) This particular dish takes me back to when I was a little girl in Montreal, spending happy weekends with my much-loved aunt, who would prepare all my favourite things in anticipation of my visits. Aunty Anna was of Russian heritage and her extensive cooking and baking repertoire included borscht (a hot or cold beetroot soup); jellied carp; peppery fish cakes; chopped liver with egg; roast chicken; potato pasties; noodles and buckwheat; roly poly cookies (shared on this site already) and these absolutely delicious sweet & sour meatballs. Over the years, I've managed to replicate the taste without a recipe. I think I finally got it right. If you're watching, Aunty Anna, I hope you approve. ❤️
INGREDIENTS FOR ABOUT 25 SMALL MEATBALLS (OR 6 LARGE ONES:
2 tbsp light oil
500g good quality minced beef
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 large garlic cloves, pressed through garlic sieve
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
3 small onions, sliced
2 cups tomato juice (or enough to just cover meatballs)
juice of 1 lemon
2 heaped tbsp light brown sugar
1 heaped tbsp sweet chilli sauce (optional)
METHOD:
Preheat oven to a very low 140C.
1. In a large bowl, mix minced beef, breadcrumbs, smooshed garlic, egg and salt and pepper. (I do this with my hands, squishing everything together until it's workable.) With your thumb and forefingers, or a teaspoon, put a small amount into the palm of one hand and with the other hand roll it about until you have a ball. Repeat until you've used up all the beef mixture. Set aside.
2. In a non-stick frypan, heat the oil and add onion slices. They should sizzle when they hit the hot fat. Fry the onion slices until they are soft and golden.
3. Add the meatballs to the onions in the fry pan and cook until they are lovely and brown, rolling them about gently in the hot oil. The onions might burn a little but that only adds to the gorgeous flavour.
4. Gently, so as not to break any of the meatballs, take a slotted spoon and and scoop out the meatballs along with the onions, and then scrape out all the juices, into an ovenproof casserole dish. I use a very old earthenware one. Add the tomato juice, lemon juice, brown sugar (and chilli sauce if you want a little bit of spiciness to the dish), and gently toss the meatballs in the liquid until they are completely coated.The liquid should just reach the tops of the meatballs.
5. Place the dish in the middle of the oven and roast for about 45 minutes, or until it looks browned and the sauce has thickened.
6. Serve... I served mine with barley grains, healthier than rice I think, which I soaked and washed thoroughly. To cook, I put 1 cup washed and drained barley into a saucepan, added 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup of water and cooked over a low heat on the cooktop until all the liquid had been absorbed. Coincidentally, that also took about 45 minutes. Perfect timing.