Background

This was my entry into Meatball Off 2015.  Although I lost by a landslide, I am still pretty proud of these meatballs.  I was strongly influenced by this Chicken Kofta Curry (this is where I got the meatball spice mix),  this Chicken Tikka Masala recipe (which is where I based my sauce from) and this Serious Eats recipe (where I learned about not cooking them in the slow cooker too long and to put a little bit of meat on the sauce from the beginning for flavor complexity).

Ingredients – Meatballs

• 1 pound of meatloaf mix (usually pork, veal & beef)
• 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp red chili powder
• 2 tsp breadcrumbs

Ingredients – Masala 

• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cayenne (only for people who like spicy)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ginger (roughly equivalent to garlic)
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of tomato puree
• 3/4 cups of water
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1 1/4 salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper

Instructions – Masala

1. Dice onions, ginger & garlic.
2. Melt butter on moderately high heat. Then sautee onions & then add garlic & ginger
3. Add a little bit of meat (for flavor complexity later)
4. Reduce heat and stir in spices.
5. Add tomato puree, water, heavy cream and salt to mixture.
6. Simmer stirring occasionally until it thickens.
7. At this point, I refrigerated the masala (as the flavor becomes more complex if its sits overnight).

Instructions – Meatballs

1. Mix spices & breadcrumbs into the ground meat.
2. Pat into meatball size.  Ideal size is large enough for there to be a slightly rare portion in the middle by the end (like a burger).
3. At this point I refrigerated the meatballs overnight to let the spices sink in.

Instructions – Next Day Assembly

1. Heat Masala sauce in slow cooker in low for 3 hours
2. Fry meatballs so that they are browned on the outside and nearly totally cooked (we only want to put them in the slow cooker for 30 minutes, otherwise they will harden).
3. Put meatballs in slow cooker for 30 minutes (sanity check they are ready with meat thermometer – 165).
4. Final step: Lose at Meatball off!  🙂

Posted by: jack