Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
diced or grated
2 cloves garlic
minced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup hot water
400g can whole tomatoes
diced
500g beef mince
½ cup long grain rice
1 salt
0.5 tsp cumin
ground
½ cup basil leaves
optional
Equipment
- 1 slow cooker
- 1 frying pan
- 1 bowl
Instructions
- Spray slow cooker with oil spray and turn on to MEDIUM.
- In a frying pan, sauté one onion and garlic in olive oil on medium heat until onion is transparent.
- Add tomato paste and stir to combine (it will start to stick to the bottom but that is OK).
- After 2-3 minutes add water to deglaze frying pan. Tip into slow cooker and add diced tomatoes and juice with half a teaspoon of salt.
- In a separate bowl add mince beef, rice, cumin and remaining salt. Use clean hands (or gloves) to combine ingredients.
- Split beef mixture in half and then half again. With each of the four portions, split into quarters again, leaving you with 16 portions.
- Roll each portion into a ball and place in slow cooker.
- Pop the lid on and cook for 5 hours on MEDIUM.
- After five hours, remove lid, give a bit of a stir and throw in freshly torn basil leaves.
- Put the lid back on and cook for a further 30 minutes.
Notes
Tip
It's okay to stir the meatballs around the 3-hour mark to ensure they cook evenly.
Tip
Serve with a big vegetable salad and warmed Turkish bread, as the rice is already in the meatballs.
Tip
Leftover meatballs are great in a sub sandwich with grated cheese on top.
Variation
To get the 'hedgehog' effect with rice poking out, you might try using short-grain rice instead of long-grain.
