It is believed that meatballs originated from a Turkic cuisine dish called kyufta, which is meat balls with dried fruits inside, boiled in broth. Today, traditional meatballs, known in Russia and Ukraine, are made from minced meat, rice, onions, carrots, eggs and tomato paste.
For 10-12 servings, you will need 600 grams of minced pork, beef, chicken or any other meat of your choice. You can buy the finished product in the market or in the store, or you can pass the pre-washed and dried fresh meat through a meat grinder with a medium attachment. The main thing is that the minced meat is not too finely ground, otherwise, due to the liquid consistency, it will not be possible to form balls.
One large carrot and two medium onions must be washed and peeled. You can grate the vegetables on a fine grater or grind them in a blender. If you prefer to cook the minced meat yourself, then you can mince the onion along with the meat. In addition, other vegetables can be added to the meatballs, for example, bell peppers or potatoes, after chopping them.
Rinse 150-200 grams of rice several times so that the water that you drain stops being cloudy. After that, pour the cereal with water, lightly salt and boil until tender. Then discard the rice in a colander and wait for all the liquid to drain.
For American-style meatballs, add cheese to the minced meat. One pack of processed cheese or 100 grams of hard cheese should be grated on a coarse grater and added to the minced meat. The meatballs in this case will become more tender and juicy.
Combine all ingredients in a deep bowl. Beat in one chicken egg, which will bind the ingredients together. Add chopped chives, salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste. All this will add pungency and piquancy to the dish. Mix the contents thoroughly. Minced meat is ready!
The semi-finished meat product for meatballs can be frozen in a plastic tray or in a bag with a string lock. At the same time, do not forget to sign it in order to quickly find the necessary product in the freezer at the right time.
But the best option is to immediately cook meatballs from fresh ingredients. To do this, with your hands soaked in water, you need to form balls of the same size and put them in an oven dish greased with vegetable oil. In an oven preheated to 220 ° C, the meatballs should be left for 20 minutes.
For gravy, cut a medium onion into half rings, fry in vegetable oil, and then add two tablespoons of tomato paste. Pour a glass of water into a frying pan, salt, add spices and mix the contents thoroughly. Bring the gravy to a boil and remove from heat.
Remove the meatballs from the oven, pour over the sauce and place in the oven for another 15 minutes. After that, the dish is ready to eat either alone or with any side dish.
