Teriyaki Meatballs & Rice Bowl

Teriyaki Meatballs and
Rice Bowl

Dinner tonight was truly amazing, even if I say so myself, which was evidenced by how clean GrandBoy#1's dishes were after he was done eating! Use your favourite meatball recipe or buy ready-made ones, either way works because the magic is in the teriyaki and hoisin dipping sauces.

A Kids' Favourite

The meatballs are cooked in and coated with teriyaki sauce and we used the hoisin dipping sauce for the vegetables and rice. An alternative would be to take a portion of a meatball, some vegetables and rice and roll all that in a lettuce leaf and then dip into the hoisin dipping sauce. I'm so thrilled to be able to offer the GrandBoys yet another dinner option!

Meatballs Stroganoff

Meatballs Stroganoff

Grandboy's Day on Thursdays today, so I asked whether he prefers meatballs and spaghetti in a red or white sauce and he picked "white". Here is the stroganoff we had for dinner tonight. It was really easy to assemble depending on whether you like to prepare everything from scratch or go the semi-homemade route.

I like to use Italian meatballs from the freezer section of our supermarket unless I'm making an Indian dish. Italian meatballs served my purpose today. The other semi-homemade ingredient in this dish is Cream of Mushroom soup. If you prefer to make your own, a recipe is provided below.

Kofta Alu Biryani - Meatball & Potato Biryani

Kofta Alu Biryani

Bengali meals almost always include a rice dish as a staple which is why pulaos and biryanis are such a favourite side. Biryani is a layered dish of rice and meat or seafood, cooked in a saucepan with a well-fitting lid. Pulao is more like a fried rice. 

After our grandchildren arrived, I was re-introduced to meatballs and spaghetti, so our freezer is always stocked with Italian meatballs. They go from a frozen state to soft and bouncy balls by simmering in hot, chicken stock for 10 minutes. After draining, the remaining stock is reserved for cooking the rice.

Whole baby potatoes are a must for this biryani, but I've also used chunks of russet/baking potatoes. The other necessary ingredient is Shan's Pulao/Biryani spice mix. This is available in Indian markets and there's no way I could reproduce the combination of spices in my kitchen.

This biryani goes well with a raita (salad dressed with yogurt dressing) or the fresher pico de gallo style of salad comprising cucumber, tomatoes and onions dressed with lime and salt.

Thursdate Meatball Stroganoff

Meatball Stroganoff

Thursdays are Grand-boy's day, nicknamed Thursdate in our home. One of our three grandsons is picked up at 4 pm., has dinner and spends the evening with us and gets dropped home at 8 pm. It's our favourite day of the week and the grand-boys enjoy it even more. The dilemma for me is to come up with a kid-friendly dinner such as spaghetti & meatballs, fajitas, taco salad, et al.

This meatball stroganoff was popular when our own boys were growing up and it was delegated to hubby to make the meatballs from scratch. The aroma of garlicky mushrooms and browning meatballs simmering in mushroom soup and sour cream would cause neighbours to drop by for a taste test. But that was many moons ago and became a distant memory until today. 

I hope Grand-Boy #2 likes it as much as I do.

Meatball Stew

Meatball Stew

It was one of those days when dinner was the last thing on my mind and the fridge was as bare as Mother Hubbard's cupboard. If I'd planned for it, I may have made my own meatballs from scratch, but it's real handy to have Italian-style meatballs in the freezer. The ones I buy are cocktail sized meatballs and there are about 120 in a bag. I separate them in Ziploc bags of 20 since there are usually only the two of us to cook for.

In our home, meals are eaten on time every day. Breakfast is the one exception, but lunch is always at noon and dinner at 6 p.m. It was already 5 in the evening with no time for much so I put on a cup of mung dal to boil, fried some cauliflower along with the tempering for a Mung Dal with Cauliflower dish. Then I raided the pantry for a can of Del Monte diced new potatoes so I wouldn't have to mess with or waste time scrubbing & peeling potatoes. Hard to believe, but I had dinner on the table in under an hour. The basmati rice took 18 minutes to cook in the microwave.

Easy Meatball Rolls

Just Baked Meatball Rolls

Cross-section of a Roll

Meatballs & cheese wrapped in garlic bread. The frozen meatballs need not be thawed before assembling. They were simply delicious and the meatball inside the roll was soft and juicy.


Adapted from a Pillsbury recipe.

Burmese Sour & Spicy Meatball Stew

Burmese Hsan Pyoke With Meatballs (Congee or Rice Porridge)

Yield: Serves 6   

Prep Time: 5 minutes 

Total Time: 30minutes 

Hsan Pyoke (English translation is Rice Boiled) is a recuperative comfort food for wet/cold weather or when someone is recovering from an illness. I used day-old short-grained, steamed white rice which I've used to make fried rice, as well. This is a quick version of the same soup I made a short while ago, except this time I had all the vegetables on hand, the soup was made in under half an hour, the minced chicken was replaced with meatballs and the soup base was made with a teaspoon of Ajinomoto instead of dried shrimp.

Ingredients

2 cups rice

5 cups water

2 Tbsp. dried shrimp (or scallops), diced

   or 1 tsp. Ajinomoto

10-12 meatballs, quartered

1 heaped Tbsp. ginger, julienned or paste

2 cups diced carrots, celery, onions and peas

Salt to taste

Garnish:

Cilantro, chopped

Deep fried onions & garlic
Coarse Salt*

Lime or lemon juice

                                                                                          

Directions:

1. Cook rice and water until rice is very soft.
2. Add dried shrimp or Ajinomoto, salt and vegetables.
3. Stir well and simmer until vegetables are very soft.
4. Add meatballs & ginger; simmer uncovered to gruel consistency.
5. Adjust salt to taste, remove from heat and pour into serving bowls.
6. Garnish with cilantro, fried onions & garlic, coarse salt, sesame oil & a squeeze of lime.

** Coarse Salt, or Muoi Tom in Vietnamese, is a garnish that contains the following ingredients: Salt, Chilli, Dried Shrimp and Garlic. It tastes great sprinkled on soups, noodles, rice & butter/ghee, lentils or on buttered toast.

Vietnamese Coarse Salt and Ingredients

Keema Kofta Curry

By Mala Ray Chatterjee

Mala Ray Chatterjee is an avid cook and is a fellow-member of the  Kitchen Raagas group on Facebook.  She makes her own homemade meatballs for this kofta curry. 

Meatballs & Potatoes in a Red Gravy

Ready made meatballs work just as well as homemade meatballs. All kinds of meatballs are available in the grocery stores these days - chicken, beef & pork, turkey - except lamb or mutton which need to be made from scratch.  Just make sure to use regular meatballs as opposed to flavored, such as Italian or Teriyaki meatballs.  

Ingredients:
25-30 frozen cocktail meatballs
1 russet potato, cubed
2 onions, quartered 
1 tsp. garlic paste
1 tsp. ginger paste
2 tsp. tomato paste
2 green chilies
1/4 tsp. cumin seeds (jeera or Shah jeera)
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
salt to taste
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Blanch onions in one cup boiling water, strain and set water aside.
2. Puree onions, garlic, ginger, tomato paste and green chilies.
3. Heat oil in a saucepan, brown meatballs and set aside.
4. In the same hot oil, brown the potatoes and set aside.
5. In the same hot oil sputter cumin seeds, cinnamon and star anise.
6. Add pureed onions and season with salt to taste.
7. Turn heat down to low and simmer gravy until oil resurfaces.
8. Add reserved hot water, bring to boil and add meatballs & potatoes.
9. Simmer on low heat until potatoes are cooked.

Serve with hot rice, roti or naan.

Swedish Meatballs

Ingredients:
1 lb. (about 20) cooked meatballs
1 Russet potato, peeled and cubed
1 bag baby carrots
1 cup chicken broth
1 can  (14 oz.) Cream of Mushroom soup
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste
2 Tbsp. sour cream

Method:

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook potatoes & carrots in chicken broth until tender.
2. Stir in the meatballs. 
3. Combine soup and water, add to saucepan and stir.
4. Simmer for 10 minutes until meatballs are fork tender.
5. Adjust salt to taste, keeping in mind that both the chicken broth and soup contain salt.
6. Turn stove off and stir in sour cream.
7. Serve over hot, cooked egg noodles or steamed rice.

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