Rissoles in Tomato Sauce
This dish is one of the favorites in my family. The principle is simple: prepare rissoles by mixing minced meet, bread, eggs and some spices, fry them and then cook slowly in tomato sauce. Unlike the original recipe, I use to add a little ras el hanout to the meat, which is a mixture of several spices originated from Morocco.
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Ingredients
10 cloves garlic
3-4 ripe tomatoes
400 gr (14 oz) tomato paste
1 large white onion
1 kg (2 lbs 3 oz) minced beef
2-3 slices of bread
2 eggs
white flour
olive oil
salt
pepper
oregano
5-7 fresh basil leaves or ½ tsp. dry sweet basil
1 tbsp. ras el hanout (optional)
Preparation time: 2 hrs
Difficulty level: Easy
Servings: 6
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Preparation
Start with the tomato sauce. Grate the tomatoes using a coarse grater, leaving their skin out. On a medium-up fire, heat a wide pot big enough to contain everything.
Poor some olive oil, add 5 cloves of garlic crushed. After 10 seconds add the grated tomatoes, salt and pepper. Let it boil for a minute and add the tomato paste and equal amount of water. Let it boil, add 1 tsp. oregano and basil, cover the pot with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Let the sauce cook for at least 1/2 an hour.
In the meantime put the meat in a large bowl, grate the onion and crush the remaining garlic (alternatively use the food processor on both) and add them to the meat.
Soak the bread in water, remove the crust and squeeze to remove the liquids and add to the meat along with the eggs, 1 tsp salt, black pepper and optionally ras el hanout. Mix well using your hands.
Prepare small balls of 5 cm (2") diameter. Flatten them a little and roll them in white flour so they are covered evenly.
Heat a wide pan to medium-up temperature, poor some olive oil and fry the rissoles on both sides until they turn brown and then add them to the pot with the tomato sauce. Cook covered for another half an hour on low heat.
Serve hot over rice.