Porcupine Meatballs I
Porcupine Meatballs I
I remember having these when I was a wee boy. Always tasted great. Meatballs with rice simmered in tomato soup or tomato sauce. Perfect. Can be made with beef or pork, or even chicken. I made this on 11 Sep 2016, excellent and on my Go-to list as a regular meal. Recipe modified to reflect my findings. The recipe is broke into cooking on the Stove Top and for Baking. Photos I took were for the baking method. Links to the shortcuts are listed in the Recipe Notes section.
Ingredients
- 500 grams ground beef, OR minced pork, OR bulk Italian sausage (sausage has a shortcut)
- 1/4 cup rice, uncooked
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon dried parsley
- 1 small onion, or one large shallot
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- dash black pepper
- 1 can tomato soup, divided, OR make from a shortcut on this site (1 1/4 cup), or tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 teaspoons Worcherstershire sauce
Instructions
For Stove Top
- Combine ground beef, rice, eggs, parsley, onion, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup of the tomato soup or tomato sauce. Mix well. Shape mixture into about 20 small meatballs.
- In a large non stick skillet, mix rest of soup, water, and Worcestershire together and bring to a boil. Carefully add the meatballs (this will or should prevent the meatballs from falling apart). Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 40 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through and rice is soft, stirring often. Serve with pasta or potatoes and a vegetable for a complete meal.
For Baking
- Preheat your oven to 180 C (350 F). Get out a 9x13 baking dish.
- First thing I did was made the tomato sauce from the shortcut using tomato paste, very easy. You will use the full amount that the shortcut states. Use a ladle and put 2 scoops of sauce in the bottom of the baking dish to cover it evenly.
- Combine ground beef, rice, eggs, parsley, onion, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/4 cup of the tomato soup or tomato sauce. Mix well. Shape mixture into about 12 medium sized meatballs and place in the baking dish. If you have more meatballs than what will fit in the dish, use another smaller dish for those. Sprinkle with cracked black pepper.
- Pour the rest of the soup or tomato sauce over the meatballs.
- Bake for 1 hour. Then if using a counter top oven, switch to the top coil to brown up the tops a bit.
- Not the greatest photo, as I topped 3 meatballs on my plate with shredded Mozzarella cheese.
Notes
The meat is the only costly item in this dish. Ground beef would be about 125 Baht/500 grams, pork about 60 Baht/500 grams, and chicken would be about 42 Baht/500 grams (think thighs). This comes out to about 62 cents per serving for 6 servings using beef, less for pork or chicken.
Shortcuts: Italian Sausage, Tomato Soup, Tomato Sauce.
The Real Person!
The Real Person!
I made this on 11 Sep 2016, and it is a keeper! I even got a great rating from my Thai wife, she liked these. I baked mine and topped with some shredded Mozzarella when I served, outstanding, on my Go-to list and will be a regular meal. I did not get the “porcupine” effect with the rice, but the flavor is spot on.