Meatballs (Germanic style)

This is an easy recipe for making delicious meatballs which can be eaten hot or cold. They can also be used in salads and are very convenient for filling wraps and tortillas, or used as the meatballs for pasta dishes. The following recipe will make around 12-20 meatballs (depending on your preferred size), which should be enough for 2 persons.

Ingredients

1. 500-600 gms of minced mixed pork and beef
2. Bunch of parsley (about a fistful)
3. 200 gms of clarified butter (or Indian ghee). If not available, use lard
4. Large egg
5. Half a chicken stock cube (Knorr or Maggi)

From your pantry

• Salt
• Pepper
• Garlic
• Onion (medium)
• Flour (about 1-2 teaspoons)

The secret to these meatballs is the simple preparatory work, which infuses cooked tasty ingredients into the raw meatballs before frying, and this preparation work is done as follows:

1. Finely chop the parsley
2. Finely chop the onion and garlic
3. Spread around 20 gms (or teaspoon) of clarified butter in the frying pan and fry the above chopped herbs until they are softened but not crispy
4. Remove from heat

We are now almost ready to stuff the meatballs but we just need to prepare one tiny extra binding ingredient as follows.

1. Boil around a quarter of a cup of water
2. Dissolve the half stock cube in the hot water
3. Wait a minute for the stock to cool a bit, then add 1 teaspoon of flour and stir until the stock is thickened, like a very very thick glue. If it is not very thick, then add more flour and stir again.

The meatballs can now be prepared very simply as follows.

1. Put the meat in a mound on a chopping board
2. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the meat to taste
3. Make a crater in the middle of the meat and crack the egg into this hole
4. Scrape in the fried parsley, onion and garlic done earlier
5. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients into the meat
6. The meat won't bind very well just yet so pour in some of the floury stock and mixed this into the meat until the meat starts to become smoother
7. Form the meat into meatballs (you can select the size of meatballs you like, but not more than 3-4 cms in diameter). If forming the meatballs is tricky, then add more of the thick stock, mix in well and try again
8. Put the rest of the clarified butter in the frying pan and heat over medium-high heat
9. Using the tongs, place as many meatballs as would fit into the frying pan
10. Fry the meatballs, rolling them every 2-3 mins by shaking the frying pan, or turning them with the tongs, until they are evenly brown
11. Remove from heat onto some kitchen paper
12. Repeat steps 9 to 11 until all the meatballs are cooked.

I like to serve these meatballs with dressed salad wrapped in tortillas or chapatis. Or you can use them as meatballs for spaghetti covered with tomato sauce. Or cut the meatballs in half and use them as sandwich fillers, garnished with salad and mayonnaise.