I’m always looking for different ways to cook with mince and I must admit to really loving meatballs. And it’s always fun to experiment with different ingredients, if only to see what the result is. So here’s what I came up with today. It’s a great one-pot dish which saves on washing up, too.
I had the idea of adding a bit of curry powder into the mince as well as some raisins for sweetness. Luckily, it worked really well. You can add a load of different vegetables to the mix, once you’ve got the basic tomato sauce, like butter beans, carrots, celery, aubergines or chickpeas. Just use whatever you’ve got in the house.
This dish also freezes really well, so it’s a good one to make extra of so there’s something tasty waiting for you to reheat. To make a more substantial meal, you could leave the potatoes out of the main mixture and serve it with couscous, rice or mash.
Serves 2
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp raisins
375g beef mince
1 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsps medium curry powder
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 400g can chopped tomatoes
Juice of half a lemon
4 new potatoes, quartered
100ml water
1 medium courgette, chopped
100g frozen peas
Mix together half the chopped onions, the raisins, beef mince, tomato puree and curry powder in a bowl. Using your hands, mix everything together thoroughly. Wet your hands and make 12 meatballs.
Heat the oil in a pan and when it’s hot, add enough meatballs to cover the bottom. Cook until browned all over, remove, and then do the same for the rest of the batches until they are all cooked. Tip out any excess fat.
Fry the cinnamon and the rest of the onions in the remaining oil for 10 mins until the onions have softened. Add the tomatoes, potatoes and lemon juice to the pan and stir through well. Put the meatballs back into the mixture and add the water. Cover and simmer on low for about 25 minutes.
Add the courgettes and cook for a further five minutes until they start to soften.
Add the peas, stir everything together and cook for a further 5-1o minutes until everything is warmed through and cooked.
Serve in bowls.
