Meatballs in Tomato and Chilli Sauce

July 31, 2007

My lads are partial to a curry, particularly on a cold night. While their tastebuds can tolerate more chillies than mine, I am gradually becoming less of a wuss when it comes to putting the hot stuff in a dish. I keep a bag of chillies in the freezer as they don’t need much thawing to make them easy to deseed and chop. And I always have a jar of sambal oelek in the fridge for anyone seeking some additional heat.

I was pondering the fate of some beef mince as I thawed it last night. Cottage pie? Not enough potatoes. Hamburgers? No buns. Mexican? No lettuce. Indian? Well, no basmati rice, but I did have some ordinary rice that would do at a pinch so I pulled Manju Malhi’s Brit Spice down from the shelf, one of the books I’ve been cooking from lately. It’s Indian food with a Brit twist and full of great dishes. There was my answer – Meatballs in Tomato and Chilli Sauce. The original calls for sausage meat but Malhi suggests minced lamb as a substitute. I know beef is not often eaten in India as practising Hindus regard the cow as a sacred animal, but beef was all I had. I used 750g of mince and there were certainly no leftovers. I also used two cans of chopped tomatoes as I was using a fairly large pan.

Once the meatballs are made, this is an easy dish to prepare. It has plenty of flavour. We accompanied our with some thick yoghurt and some persimmon chutney I made last year.

Meatballs in Tomato and Chilli Sauce
Serves 3-4

Meatballs
2 green chillies, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tsp peeled and grated root ginger
1 tbsp cornflour
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
500g sausagemeat

For the Tomato and Chilli Sauce
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1 green chilli, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
200g can chopped tomatoes
1/4 tsp garam masala

First make the meatballs. Put into the blender the chillies, garlic, ginger, cornflour, lemon juice, black pepper and 2 tablespoons of water, then whiz to a paste. Mix it with the sausagemeat, then roll it into golf balls.

Now make the sauce. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or deep frying pan and fry the onion for 7-8 minutes, until golden brown. Then add the garlic, green chilli, paprika, cumin, coriander, turmeric, salt, lemon juice and tomatoes, and stir for 4 minutes. It should turn into a thick, dark red sauce. Now put the meatballs into the sauce and stir in 125mls water. Leave it to cook for 6 minutes. Then stir in another 125mls water, and cook for another 6-7 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, sprinkle with garam masala and serve.

Note: To speed up the cooking, shallow-fry the meatballs in 4 tablespoons of oil for 5 minutes then put them in the sauce for 6-7 minutes.

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