Spicy Meatballs on Mushroom Cous Cous

The other night, standing in front of the freezer, I had one of those ‘what to make, what to make’ moments – you know, when you would rather not cook, because everything you have seems boring and your imagination is on strike?  Hmmm, another bash at some mince? Pork chops? Nah, that was last night.  Okay, mince it was.

In the end I made spicy meatballs in a herby tomato sauce, on mushroom couscous, with lightly steamed fresh cabbage.  Hey, people, that doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Gotta love ‘foodie-speak’.  Makes mince sound so much more glamorous.

Right – this is what I cooked:

Spicy Meatballs with Herbed Tomato Sauce

500 grs beef mince (good quality, of course)

2 tsp Ina Paarman’s soup and gravy powder (good stuff, this)

2  tsp mixed crushed ginger and garlic paste

Several good shakes each of dried coriander and cumin

1/2 onion, finely chopped

1 egg

1 small green chilli – this was from my new chilli bush

Olive oil for frying – as little as possible

• Mix all the meatball ingredients together very well, form into balls
• Fry in olive oil until brown, turn down the heat and push them to the outside of the pan

Tomato Sauce

1/2 onion, sliced

1 tin of chopped plain tomatoes

Fresh mixed chopped herbs (I had rosemary, oreganum, tarragon, and thyme)

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

• Add the onions to the centre of the pan with the meatballs (less dishes, right?)
• Stir until softened, add the tomatoes and chopped herbs
• Stir the sauce together, then move the meatballs back into the sauce to finish cooking over a low heat

Mushroom Couscous

About 5 or 6 mushrooms

2 Tbsps olive oil

1 Tbsp butter

1 cup couscous

1 cup of good chicken stock

• Finely chop the mushrooms. 
• Fry in a mixture of olive oil and butter, add the couscous and fry gently for 5 minutes
• Remove from the heat,  add the chicken stock and stir well
• Allow to stand until the stock as been absorbed and the couscous has swollen
• Turn on the heat to low, and stir gently with a fork for 5 minutes to separate and fluff the couscous (SO delicious)

And bobs your uncle!  Okay, so it wasn’t Masterchef, but my family enjoyed it 🙂

I’m going to be tinkering with this site in the next few weeks, setting up a few more pages, adding a gallery (if I can work out how to!) and posting a lot of recipes from my other blog.  Please be patient with me!

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Have a great day, people!