Step-by-step recipe for meatballs in tomato sauce in a saucepan, cooking technology. Video recipes.
Meatballs are an excellent homemade dish. They are a good alternative to cutlets, because are also prepared from minced meat, but at the same time they are more useful. The recipe for meatballs in tomato gravy involves slow braising in a saucepan, while the meatballs are fried in a pan in a large amount of oil.
So, stewed rice and meat balls are considered less high-calorie and less fatty, therefore they are even suitable as a diet menu. And to make them more juicy, you can use tomato gravy.
To make meatballs with tomato gravy, you can use tomato juice, pasta, or ketchup. In this case, the juice will have the freshest taste. Pasta is considered more acidic, and sugar and vinegar are often added to ketchup as a flavoring enhancer and preservative. So, when choosing these two products, you should think about which spices you need to use additionally to make the taste of the finished dish more organic.
The recipe for meatballs in tomato gravy with a photo illustrates well the entire cooking process.
See also Cooking Pork Goulash in Tomato Gravy.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 177 kcal.
- Servings - 6
- Cooking time - 1 hour
Ingredients:
- Meat - 1 kg
- Rice - 2 tbsp.
- Onions - 2-3 pcs.
- Tomato juice - 1 l
- Spices to taste
- Cabbage leaves
Step by step cooking meatballs in tomato sauce in a saucepan
1. First of all, to cook meatballs with tomato gravy, you should make homemade minced meat. It is best to prepare such a product yourself to make sure that it contains only fresh meat and no cartilage or skin. Using a meat grinder, twist the fresh pulp into minced meat. You can also cook such a semi-finished product using a blender, but before that, the pieces of meat should be slightly frozen in the freezer. Some cooks add a little lard here for greater juiciness of meatballs in tomato sauce.
2. Thoroughly rinse the rice groats, pour boiling water over and stir, then cover and leave for 20 minutes. This manipulation will prepare the rice for further heat treatment. The groats can also be boiled until half cooked. The choice of one method or another depends on the characteristics of the product. For example, chopped rice cooks faster and whole rice takes a little longer.
3. Next, prepare the base of meatballs in tomato sauce: drain the water from the rice and combine it in one container with the minced meat, add to taste and add black pepper.
4. Chop the peeled onion in the form of small cubes and lightly fry in a pan until golden brown. Pour it into rice and meat, season with spices and mix thoroughly. The mixture is viscous enough that it can be easily molded into balls. Next, fill a deep plate with clean water, moisten your palms in it, take a little meat mixture and start rolling out small balls. The approximate weight of each ball should be 60-70 g.
5. This step-by-step recipe for meatballs in tomato gravy involves stewing on the stove, so it is recommended to take a pan of a suitable size with a thick bottom. Be sure to spread a couple of cabbage leaves on the bottom of the container. They will not only protect the bottom meatballs from burning, but also slightly diversify the taste of the finished dish. Put meatballs on top.
6. Continue placing the meatballs until the pan is full. Each layer can be shifted with a cabbage leaf if desired. After that, pour tomato juice on top, so that the liquid covers each meatball. If there is not enough juice, then water should be added.
7. Put meatballs with tomato sauce in a saucepan on the stove, set the fire to the minimum value and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Add your favorite spices 5 minutes before the end of the process. Dried basil is great for this dish.
8. Meatballs in tomato sauce are ready! They can be served on their own or paired with your favorite side dish, such as mashed potatoes. You can serve the dish with sour cream, dill sprigs or homemade pickles.
See also video recipes:
1. Meatballs with rice in tomato sauce
2. Very tender meatballs in tomato sauce
