Pasta and Meatballs

The movie Cloudy with a chance of meatballs had inspired me to come up with the name "Raining food", so its time I make some meatballs.

If you have gone through this post on Scotch eggs you are half way through. Actually I had planned for scotch eggs alone but while I was preparing them it occurred to me that the meat mix would be just idle for meatballs and that is how I made them too.

I have always pictured the taste and texture of meatballs in a certain way in my mind and this recipe is totally coming from my imagination. I did not have Spaghetti so settled with Fusilli instead. Often wonder why Spaghetti and meatballs is such a famous combination, when it should work well with other types of pasta too. Anyway.. lets start with the recipe

Ingredients 

250 gms Fusilli (Serves two)

For meatballs (Makes 20 of 1.5 inch diameter)

2 eggs beaten
2 onions finely chopped
200 gms minced meat of your choice
1 cup of refined wheat flour
Lot of good quality white breadcrumbs (I used 6 slices of bread for this)
Dried herbs of your choice (I used oregano, thyme, sea salt)
1/2 tsp mustard sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder or 1 tsp crushed garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (You may increase the amount of cheese)
1 tsp black pepper
Oil for deep frying
Salt to taste

For marinara sauce (You can totally skip this by ready made marinara or pasta sauce with tomato base)

2 large onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes pureed
6 garlic cloves finely chopped or crushed
2 cups chicken stock (Use Maggi chicken cubes)
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Optional)
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp butter


To prepare the meat, 
add 1/4th of the breadcrumbs, onions,herbs, cheese, pepper, mustard sauce, garlic powder and salt to it. Mix well.

Keep breadcrumbs, beaten eggs and flour ready.

Apply some oil on your hands and make meatballs 1 inch in diameter.

Now roll it in the flour and then dip it in the beaten eggs and finally roll it in breadcrumbs. Again dip in egg and roll in breadcrumbs. This will ensure a thick crispy layer on top in case you want to have them just like that with ketchup.

Heat oil for deep frying and set the burner on medium heat when oil is hot.

Gently dip each meatball in oil and fry till it turns golden brown. The heat should be low enough to be able to cook the meat for about 4 mins each.

If you want to avoid deep frying which you totally can, you can bake them in the oven and lightly roast them on a pan later (again, roasting is optional). Preheat microwave at 200 degrees and then bake for 20 minutes or the latest trend is that of Paniyaram or appe pan easily available online and offline too. Healthier and more convenient way of cooking, you may invest in one as it is definitely worth it. 

Okay now that your meatballs are ready, lets make some sauce for pasta.

Because we are adding lot of cheese to the meatballs, I prefer going for tomato based sauce and not a white sauce which is also cheesy. 

We are going to make some marinara sauce for pasta.

Heat butter in a frying pan, add onions and cook till they turn transparent. Add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes. Add tomato puree and simmer the flame, cover the lid and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add stock, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt to taste and mix well. Check salt and add if required. If you find the sauce too tangy, you may add some fresh cream or milk as per need. Bring to boil

Add meatballs, cover and cook for 5 minutes. The sauce is ready. At this point, you may add some dried herbs of your choice.

Cook fussili,as per instructions on the pack.

One last step, Serve hot!

Vegetable cutlet

There are lot of ways of making cutlets..there are several combinations that you can try out for different taste each time.
Sharing one such combination below..

Ingredients (10 cutlets)
1 cup boiled corn kernels
1 boiled and peeled potato
1 cup boiled green peas
1/2 cup boiled and minced soya chunks
2 cheese cubes
3 green chillies
1 cup crumbled breadcrumbs
1 cup boiled noodles (optional)
5 garlic cloves crushed
1/2 inch ginger crushed
Salt to taste
Oil for shallow frying

Coarsely grind all the ingredients(except minced soya chunks and bread crumbs). Best is to use your hands as all ingredients are boiled.
[Just coarsely, don't make a paste out of it!!]
Add soya chunks to the mixture.
Heat a frying pan. Once it is hot, add oil. Simmer the flame when oil is hot.
Evenly spread bread crumbs on a plate to coat the cutlets.
Make small balls (1 inch in diameter) and press it lightly on your palm to make small patties.
Carefully roll the patties in breadcrumbs and place it on pan.
Shallow fry using some oil.Turn side when it becomes brown.

When the cutlet becomes brown on both sides, its done.

Remove from pan and serve hot!

Little variation for even more crunchy cutlet :
Roll the patties in boiled noodles by gently pressing so they can nicely wrap the patty. Then roll it in breadcrumbs and fry.

Gobhi cheese paratha

This I call, stuffed paratha with a twist! A simple and yummy breakfast or lunch.

Ingredients 
2 cups grated cauliflower
1/2 inch ginger - fine paste
6 large garlic cloves - fine paste
3 green chillies (or more.. suit yourself!)
1/2 cup mozarella cheese grated
1/2 cup chopped coriander
1 tsp roasted jeera powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp amchur powder
 salt to taste


Before you knead atta, add 1 or 2 tbsp of warm milk (based on the quantity) to it, to make soft dough.
Cover dough with muslin cloth and leave it for 20 mins.

For the stuffing, mix all the ingredients mentioned above.

Make the stuffing balls 2 times bigger than the atta ball. Softer the dough, more the amount of stuffing that you can use in each paratha without spilling it out.
Shallow fry with ghee on a hot pan. 
[Add ghee only after paratha has got browned properly]

Yummy cheesy parathas are ready!