East European Meatballs Recipes

EASY MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Mix eggs, Italian seasoning, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder together in a large bowl. Add beef and panko bread crumbs and mix thoroughly.
• Shape mixture into about forty 1 1/2-inch balls, a little smaller than golf balls, using a teaspoon. Place on ungreased, rimmed baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until no longer pink in the centers, turning halfway through cooking time, 10 to 15 minutes total.

EAST EUROPEAN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Chop the onions finely. Put a little canola oil in a pan, turn the heat to medium. When the oil is hot, add the onions and a pinch of salt, turn down the heat to low-medium and saute, covered, for about 10 mins, until yellow and soft. Simmer from time to time.
• Remove the onions from the pan, and put on a bowl to cool down.
• Grate the carrot using the coarse side of the grater. Squeeze well between your palms afterwards, to get rid of all the water.
• Grate the potatoes using the fine side of the grater. Squeeze well between your palms afterwards.
• Dunk the slices of bread (crust removed) in a little milk for 3 seconds and then squeeze well between palms to get rid of all the liquid.
• Mince the garlic cloves (you can remove the germs if you wish - in this way, the garlic smell won't stay with you 2 days afterwards).
• Remove the leaves from the parsley and dill, and finely chop them.
• Put the minced meat, potatoes, carrot, eggs, garlic, onion, bread slices, dill, parsley, bread crumbs, pepper in a large bowl. Mix everything together (with your hands or mixer). Add 1/2 Tbs salt, mix, and taste the composition. Add another 1/2 Tbs salt if you think it's needed. I normally put 1 Tbsp salt in total. Also, of course, you can add more pepper if you like it more spicy.
• Press the mixture against the pan and 'pat' it slightly with you hands to look uniform. Then cover the bowl and let the mixture rest in the fridge for 1 hour. This will firm up the mixture.
• Remove the mixture from the fridge 20 minutes before cooking.
• Take 1 heaped Tblsp of mixture at a time, and with your hands wet, form the meatballs. Place the meatballs on a plate.
• In a deep medium sized frying pan, put canola oil until it's about 1.5 inches in height. Let the oil heat up on a medium-high heat. It's important that the pan is not too wide, so that the oil inside is quite deep in order to cover the meatballs well from all sides when cooking.
• When the oil is hot, turn down the heat to medium, and put the meatballs in the pan. Fry on one side for 4 mins, then turn on the other side, fry for 4 mins, then 1 min again on each side.
• Remove the meatballs from the pan and place on a paper towel to absorb the oil.
• That's it! I hope you'll like :).

EAST-EUROPEAN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• (you will need more than those 75ml oil. Those 75ml are about the quantity that gets absorbed in the process and therefore will be part of the nutrition info).
• Soak the bread in water (or milk) and the crush it into small crumbs.
• Mix together in a big bowl, by hand: the meat, the onion, the potato, the garlic, the bread and the egg (raw).
• Add salt and pepper to taste then add 2 teaspoons of paprika.
• Mix until homogenous.
• Oil hands and make small balls out of the meat mix (about 2. 5-3cm (1") in diameter).
• In a big cast-iron pan, pour sunflower oil to cover the pan bottom about 1cm (1/2") and heat it on medium high heat (level 6).
• When hot, roll the meatballs one by one through the flour and place them in the pan.
• Do not overcrowd the pan, as you will need space to turn the meatballs around.
• Turn the heat lower (to level 4-5) and keep an eye on the meatballs at all times as they can burn quickly.
• When they get a bit golden, turn them around.
• You will have to turn them at least 2 times until they are done (it will take about 15-20 minutes for one round).
• When done, they will have a light brown colour and they will be done on the inside too (you have to try them).
• Delish!

MIDDLE EASTERN CUMIN MEATBALLS

Steps:

• Combine the ground beef, egg, garlic, bread crumbs, cumin, salt, and pepper in a large bowl until well mixed. Roll the mixture into egg-sized balls, and set aside.
• Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs; cook until firm, and browned on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove meatballs from the skillet and pour out the fat.
• Bring the water to a boil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in the tomato paste, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Add the cooked meatballs, and simmer in the tomato sauce for 5 to 10 minutes until completely cooked.

MIDDLE EAST MEATBALLS WITH CHEESE

Steps:

• Bring enough water to the boil to cover the rice by at least half an inch above the top level of the rice. Add the rice and cook 15 minutes. Drain.
• Put the lamb in a mixing bowl and add the rice.
• Heat the butter in a small saucepan or skillet. Add the onion and garlic and cook until wilted. Add this to the lamb mixture.
• Add the parsley, cheese, dill, salt and pepper to taste. Blend well with the hands.
• Shape the meat mixture into about 24 balls of equal shape. Roll each into an egg-shape patty about two inches long.
• Beat the eggs lightly and add the water. Coat the patties with the egg mixture, then roll in flour.
• Heat the oil in a skillet and add half the patties. Cook about five minutes, shaking the pan and turning the patties so that they cook evenly. Remove and drain on paper towels. Cook the second batch and drain. Put the meatballs into the tomato sauce and bring to the boil. Serve.