porcupine meatballs

Okay, so i heard about these things, that they were delicious and easy to make and when you have two hungry boys to feed daily, what better than an easy and delicious beef dish!

First you make the meatballs, rice mixed into the meat! Roll them around in the sauce, now i baked mine instead of cooking in the pan, i seem to have a much better outcome that way, pans are notm y best friend at all! Look at what happens half an hour into the baking process, this made me LAUGH!!! These were fun and easy and delicious!!!


Porcupine Meatballs

Makes 36 x 1 inch meatballs

For the meatballs:-

500g beef mince

3/4 cup long grain rice, uncooked ( i used basmati as hubby is allergic to other types!)

1/4 cup tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 medium sized onion, finely diced

1/2 tsp salt & a dash of pepper to taste

herbs of your choice to season, i used a little oregano and basil =)

For the sauce:-

2 cups beef stock

1 cup pasta sauce (your choice again for flavour)

1 x 400ml tin condensed tomato soup

1/2 cup tomato puree

1. Make the meatballs! (and preheat your oven to 200C!)
Mix all your meatball ingredients together and form into 36 lovely little balls.

2. Make the sauce!
Mix all of your sauce ingredients together and pour half into a 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish.

3. Place the meatballs into the dish and top with remaining sauce.

4. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 200C for approximately one hour.

5. At 30 minutes, take the dish out and LOVE THE SURPRISE! Ladel the sauce (baste) the meatballs OR if you aren't worried about breaking the rice spikes, just flip the balls over to cook them evenly.

6. Serve and enjoy =)

This dish was great! I really enjoyed making it for the first time, most of the recipes i found out there were even more simple but i like flavour and can't make just plain meatballs or just a tin of tomato soup for sauce...can't do it!

Here are the links to two of the inspiring recipes and bloggers that also made these delicious meatballs!

Circle B Kitchen and dlyn