Chicken Meatballs in Cream Sauce (Tefteli)
These sound great and you could call them the Slavic version of Swedish Meatballs. Paired with mashed potatoes, this sounds perfect. I made these on 5 Sep 2017, and they are excellent! Highly recommended.
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- 500 grams ground chicken, thighs would be perfect
- 1 cup cooked rice, room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 small onion, grated
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and finely minced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup all purpose flour, for dredging
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, for frying
For the Sauce
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 2 cups chicken broth, fresh or make from powder
- ¼ cup Greek yogurt, or sour cream, or heavy cream
- ½-1 teaspoon paprika
- salt and pepper, to taste
- fresh parsley, chopped for garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl, prepare the meatballs. Combine the chicken, egg, rice, onion, garlic, salt and pepper.
- Just mix with a large spoon.
- Roll the meatballs into 1 to 1¼ inch balls, ice cream scoop would work and I will get one to do this to verify the size. Roll each ball in flour and set on a lightly floured plate or surface.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat and add the oil. Use a regular stainless pan if you want a darker sauce or feel free to use a non stick pan which will give a lighter color sauce, this does not change the flavor of the sauce. When the pan is hot, add the meatballs and cook for 4 minutes without turning them, then flip over with tongs and cook 3 more minutes or until nice and golden brown and cooked through. Remove to a plate.
- To make the sauce, using the same pan on medium heat add the butter and when melted whisk in the flour and whisk until golden in color, then add the stock and whisk until it starts to thicken then whisk in the Greek yogurt (or sour cream or heavy cream) and season to taste, a good starting point would be ½ teaspoon paprika, ⅛ teaspoon pepper, and salt to taste.
- Bring the sauce to a simmer and whisk until the sauce thickens, remember the sauce will also thicken as it cools. When the sauce will coat a meatball, add all the meatballs to the pan and turn each one to coat with the sauce.
- Serve with mashed potatoes or pasta once all the meatballs have heated and sprinkle with parsley for garnish.
Notes
Chicken thighs (you would grind or mince yourself, as I have never seen ground chicken here) would cost about 40 Baht/500 grams. For 4 servings, this is about 28 cents per serving. Outstanding value.