sweet and sour meatball stew (tsief-tel-yeah)

I have received a few offline inquiries as to this recipe. It is a classic Russian dish especially at my house called (tsief-tel-yeah), no direct translation, so I decided it was time. This dish is a little more complicated but the payoff is well worth it. You will need a few hours of free time to work on this dish, and there are multiple stages. Let me just tell you, that you already have a head start... the meatball recipe that I posted earlier will be slightly modified and used as one of the main building blocks to the recipe. So, if you have not tried to make the meatballs yet, I would suggest practicing that dish before attempting this one.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs ground chicken
½ lbs chopped veal
2 eggs
1 carrot pealed & grated
3 garlic cloves minced
3 onions
3oz tomato paste
2 bay leaves
handful of fresh dill
mayonnaise
vegeta seasoning mix
blk ground pepper
matzo meal
baking soda
sugar

Step one is to get out either a cast iron pot or dutch oven like Le Creuset. In the dutch oven drop in 2 onions chopped coarsely, add 2-3 tablespoons corn oil, 1 teaspoon sugar - cover and cook over medium heat till onions brown.

After onions are glassy and begin getting golden, add 1 lbs chopped veal (cubed) with bone is acceptable as well - will even give better flavor, add 1 carrot peeled and grated and 2 bay leaves, season with black ground pepper. Add small amounts of water as needed so not to burn onions or meat on the bottom of the pot. After ½ hour of browning and stewing add enough water to cover meat and stew while preparing meatballs. After 5 minute of stewing add 3 big squirts ketchup to pot.














Now back to the meatball recipe except this time you are only using ground chicken and you will not be frying the meatballs all the way to the end because they will finish their cooking process in the stew. So just to recap...

Take the foloowing ingredients for the meatballs and combine in a mixing bowl:
1 1/2 ground chicken
2 eggs
2 teaspoon mayo
1 ½ teaspoon vegeta
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1 onion grated
¼ cup spring water
4 tablepoons matzo meal
½ tablepoon baking soda

Create small sized balls and lightly brown evenly in large frying pan with corn oil.













After all the meatballs have been browned, add them to the dutch oven which has been stewing for the last 45-50 minutes and cover with broth. Be very careful when placing the meatballs int he stew and when mixing not to break any. Season with ½ tablespoon vegeta and ½ small can of tomato paste about 3oz, ½ teaspoon black ground pepper. This part is a personal taste area - some people like the taste a little sweeter than others, you can always adjust salt and pepper proportions to balance out sweetness.














Total time of about an hour has elapsed. Set heat to low and simmer with the lid on for 20 minutes. 15 minute into simmer add handful of chopped dill. Let stand an cool.













This is a hearty main coarse that everyone will enjoy - sometimes even better the second day when reheated. This dish will serve at least six for dinner with no problem. Hope everyone enjoys.

Until next time... keep cooking!

grannie's russian meatballs

It took a little while but I am here like I promised with one of my all time favorite recipes.

Russian meatballs (kut-ley-ti) come in a variety of shapes and sizes and can be made from a variety of ingredients. I have never tasted the same meatball twice. I prefer to make them medium sized - larger than a swedish meatball but smaller than a hamburger. I have even seen them made with fillings. I am going to give you the foundation and you are welcome to experiment to your hearts delight. This recipe is fairly easy to make and doesn't take that much time as long as you have all your ingredients handy.

Ingredients
¾ ground chicken
¾ ground veal
2 eggs
2 teaspoons mayonaise
1 ½ teaspoon vegeta (seasoning mix)
¼ teaspoon pepper
3 garlic cloves minced
1 onion grated
¼ cup spring water
4 tlbsppon matzah meal
½ tablespoon baking soda














Combine all your ingredients in a mixing bowl. If your mixture is too liquidy ad more matzah meal to thicken it up. The mixture will be soft unlike a beef meatball that might be a little drier.
Heat up a large non-stick skillet with some corn oil (enough to coat the bottom of the pan but not so they are swimming in oil). Scoop out a small handfull of mixture. Create medium sized balls and brown evenly on both sides - takes about 5 minutes per side - if you like them darker you can cook longer. After removing from pan let cool for a few minutes. They should be soft, moist and juicy.














Can be served with any side dish (potatoes, rice, couscous) or can be eaten on their own (hot or cold). I hope you will enjoy as much as I do.

Check back soon for a great recipe for oven roasted chicken.

Until next time... keep on cooking.