Meatballs like in kindergarten - 8 recipes with gravy

I really love and fondly remember the delicious and cozy food that we were fed in kindergarten; I collect such recipes with love and trepidation and often reproduce them for my family. I love this recipe for meatballs, or they are also called “hedgehogs,” for their ease of preparation and “that same” taste from childhood. You can use any minced meat for this dish according to your taste; for me it is most often minced turkey (50% breasts and 50% fillet) or consisting of three types of meat: beef, pork and poultry. These meatballs are prepared very simply, covered with a thick, tasty sauce, they turn out juicy, tender and aromatic, and will be loved not only by adults, but also by children.

Preparation: 15 m
Cooking: 40 m
Servings: 8 servings

Preparation

1 Combine the minced meat with rice, an egg, grated onion or minced through a meat grinder (blender), salt and pepper.

2 Knead the minced meat thoroughly until it has a homogeneous structure; if the minced meat turns out runny, you can add a little breadcrumbs until it reaches the required consistency. Ideally, it is better to beat the minced meat in a bowl 10 times so that its structure becomes perfectly homogeneous and the final taste of the dish is more airy and delicate. Beating the minced meat is very simple; to do this, you need to take the minced meat in your hand and throw it back into the bowl, repeating this 10 times, or more. Be careful and make sure that the meat does not scatter all over your work surface.

3 Heat a deep frying pan or container in which the meatballs will be cooked, form the minced meat into balls the size of half a chicken egg with wet hands and roll them well in flour. The process of breading the meatballs in flour will prevent them from cracking during frying.

4 Fry the meatballs until they have a nice golden brown color.

5 In 1 glass of hot boiled water, dilute tomato paste and add salt, fill the meatballs with water with tomato paste, add bay leaf. (I first transferred the meatballs from the frying pan to a deeper container.)

7 Dilute sour cream in half a glass of water.

8 Add flour and stir well so that there are no lumps.

10 While the dish is being prepared, you can gently stir it so that the balls do not fall apart, and if the gravy begins to thicken too much, you will need to add water until the sauce reaches the desired consistency.

Serve the finished dish hot with a side dish of your choice; these meatballs go well with rice, mashed potatoes and buckwheat.

Cooking meatballs

To make tasty meatballs, it is important to choose quality ingredients. Meat or fish is used as the basis of a meat dish. In this case, minced meat is prepared using one component or from several varieties. The most common combinations are: pork - beef, pork - chicken, pork - turkey. Various variations of ingredients are possible, taking into account the child’s age, tendency to allergic reactions, and taste preferences.

When adding a cereal component, you should give preference to fast-cooking cereals. The classic option is meatballs with rice. They prefer short-grain rice varieties without steaming. Semolina and breadcrumbs are added to the minced fish.

Minced vegetables will make the dish juicier. However, when adding carrots, cauliflower, pumpkin, zucchini, it is important to observe the measure. In addition to juiciness, the vegetable ingredient also adds sweet notes. Traditionally, meatballs are not complete without onions. Herbs and garlic will make the meat product brighter and more flavorful.

Rice containing starch, chicken or quail eggs contribute to the gluing of all components and the formation of smooth balls of the correct shape.

To prepare classic meatballs you will need:

meat or fish fillet - 500 g;
rice - 1/2 cup;
small onion - 1 pc.;
egg (or yolk) - 1 pc. (or 2 quail pcs.);
flour for breading;
sunflower oil;
salt, spices.

We wash the meat or fish, dry it, cut it, removing the films.
Grind the meat in a meat grinder, chopper, or food processor.
Grind the peeled onion on a grater or in a meat grinder along with the minced meat.
Boil rice for 5 – 7 minutes.
Mix all ingredients, add egg, salt, spices. Mix very thoroughly.
Beat the meat mass several times on the surface of the table or the wall of the bowl. The described actions will make the minced meat more uniform and dense, making it easier to form the products.
Wet your hands in cold water, form small meatballs, and roll in flour.
Cook in a frying pan, frying in hot oil. For children under 3 years old, we replace the frying process with stewing, baking in a mold or foil in the oven. You can also make delicious baby meatballs in a slow cooker using the “Steam” mode.
Pour in the sauce and simmer with the lid tightly closed for about 20 minutes.
Serve with vegetable side dish or porridge.

Tender meatballs

Beef meatballs with rice for children will taste better if you bake them in the oven. Combine 150 g of boiled long-grain rice, 500 g of minced beef, 4-5 chopped green onions, 1 tbsp. l. fresh parsley. Add salt and paprika to taste, knead the minced meat, form meatballs with wet hands and roll in ground breadcrumbs. Separately, fry the onion with 2 chopped cloves of garlic and grated carrots. After 5 minutes, add 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, 200 ml water and a pinch of salt. Pour the gravy over the meatballs into a baking dish and place in the oven for 40 minutes at 180°C. In this version they will turn out especially tender and juicy.

Preparing sauce for meatballs

The gravy for the meatballs is also very important. This addition allows you to make a familiar dish more varied, interesting, and refined. In addition, the sauce makes the meat dish softer and juicier when stewing, filling it with moisture.

Sour cream

flour - 1 tbsp. l.;
water or broth - 1 tbsp;
sour cream - 50 ml;
salt.

Place the flour in a dry, heated frying pan and lightly fry until creamy.
Add half the warm broth.
Add sour cream and salt to the remaining broth and mix.
Place the container on the stove and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Add broth with flour, stir and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Lactic

flour - 1 tbsp. l.;
milk - 1 tbsp;
butter - 1 tbsp. l.;
salt.

Lightly fry the flour in a frying pan, drain, sift, place in a saucepan.
Add half the milk, stir, leave for about half an hour.
Boil for 15 minutes, stirring regularly, adding milk to prevent the sauce from thickening too much.
Add salt.
Add butter to hot sauce before serving.

To make the gravy more varied, you can add chopped dill, raw or boiled egg.

White

butter - 50 g;
wheat flour - 1 tbsp. l.;
milk - 1 tbsp;
salt.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, add flour, let it boil - do not stir!
Dilute with hot milk.
Boil for 20 minutes, stirring, add salt.

Tomato

butter - 30 g;
tomato - 1 pc.;
flour - 1 tbsp;
broth - 4 tbsp. l.;
sugar - 1/2 tsp;
sour cream - 1 tbsp. l.;
salt.

Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Peel and seed the tomato, cut into cubes, sprinkle with flour, and dilute with broth. Add to liquid oil and simmer for 10 minutes.
Rub through a sieve, add salt, sugar, add sour cream and simmer until thickened.

↑ Turkey meatballs with gravy

Pediatricians recommend starting complementary foods with rabbit or turkey. Then add chicken fillet and young veal.

Meatballs for a child can be prepared with rice in a low-fat sour cream sauce. This dish can be given to children one year old and older. We will use turkey to prepare it, but you can easily replace it with chicken, beef or veal.

Preparation time: 40-50 minutes. Cooking time: 30-40 minutes.

Ingredients:

Turkey fillet - 500 g;
Dry rice – 2 tbsp;
Salt - a pinch;
Onion – 0.5 pcs.;
Butter – 1 tbsp;
Sour cream – 1 tsp;
Flour - for deboning;
Chicken egg - 1 pc.

Preparation:

Wash the rice and boil until half cooked. Let it cool slightly.
We clean the onion and rinse it. Rinse the turkey thoroughly and dry it with a paper towel. We pass the meat and onion through a meat grinder twice. If you use a food processor, grinding the turkey once is enough.
Add cooled rice and chicken egg to the resulting minced meat. If necessary, add salt to the mixture to taste. Mix the minced meat thoroughly and place it in the refrigerator for a quarter of an hour.
Melt butter in a frying pan. We dilute the sour cream with warm boiled water until smooth. Pour the mixture into a frying pan with oil and bring to a boil. If desired, add salt to taste.
With wet hands, roll the minced meat into balls, roll each of them in flour. Place all the balls in a frying pan with sour cream sauce.

Cover the pan with a lid and simmer its contents over moderate heat for 30-40 minutes. Serve minced meatballs with rice for children in sour cream sauce, remembering to cool.

Popular recipes

Chicken meatballs with sauce in a slow cooker

chicken fillet – 500 g;
rice - ½ cup;
sour cream – 60 g;
tomato puree or sauce - 30 g;
onion - 1 pc.;
egg (chicken or quail) – 1–2 pcs.;
flour – 2 tbsp. l.;
water or broth – 300 ml.

We thoroughly wash the meat, dry it, and grind it in a meat grinder several times.
Add chopped onion; egg, salt, rice, boiled until half cooked.
Form meatballs of the same size and place them in the multicooker bowl.
Combine tomato puree with sour cream for the sauce, add warm broth or water. Add spices and bay leaf.
We use the “Quenching” mode. Cooking time is about 1 hour.

Fish meatballs in the oven

fillet of pollock, hake or other lean white sea fish - 500 g;
small onion - 1 pc.;
chicken eggs - 1 pc. or quail - 2 pcs.;
wheat bread - 100 g;
semolina - 1 tbsp. l.;
sour cream - 0.5 tbsp;
milk - 1 tbsp;
flour - 1 tbsp. l.;
salt, spices.

Fill the bread with milk.
Grind the fish fillet in a meat grinder. Add the chopped onion.
Add bread, salt, spices, egg.
Add semolina and leave for half an hour to swell.
Grease a baking sheet or frying pan with vegetable oil. We form small meatballs and place them on the bottom. Add about a quarter glass of water.
Place the mold in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 30 minutes.
20 minutes before the end of baking, pour in sour cream sauce and continue cooking for another 10 minutes.
Serve with vegetables or porridge.

Kindergarten beef meatballs

To prepare meatballs with a flavorful, tender gravy like in kindergarten, it is better to use beef or a mixture of ground beef and pork.

minced beef and pork or meat – 0.5 kg;
short-grain rice boiled until half cooked – 100 g;
chicken or quail eggs - 1–2 pcs.;
small onion – 1 pc.;
flour - 1 tbsp. l.;
sour cream - 2 tbsp. l.;
tomato puree or fresh tomato (peeled and diced) – 2 tbsp. l.;
vegetable or meat broth, water – 300 ml.

Grind the meat together with the onion in a meat grinder 2 times.
Add rice, spices, salt, egg. Mix thoroughly.
We form small meatballs of the same shape, roll in flour, and transfer to a multicooker container.
Fried.
Pour a mixture of half boiling water, salt, tomato paste or chopped tomato, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Mix the flour with the remaining water.
The resulting mixture is poured over the meatballs and simmered for another 20 minutes.

Using the proposed recipes and sauces, you can successfully diversify the menu of children and adult meat lovers. In addition, by abandoning the procedure of frying meatballs, you can make not only a tasty, but also healthy dish. It is worth noting that you can add vegetable components not only to minced meat, but also to sauces. Meatballs allow you to disguise broccoli and zucchini that kids don’t like. Therefore, meatballs will allow a young mother to bring her wildest culinary fantasies to life, delighting and surprising large and small household members.

Meat hedgehogs with rice in the oven

Welcome to the pages of the culinary blog. Today we will prepare a dish from childhood - the recipe for dietary meat hedgehogs, like in kindergarten, is quite simple. It is classified as dietary food. We will offer several recipes for hedgehogs, one of which is similar to the cooking technology used in kindergarten. Eat hedgehogs for your health and don’t count calories.

Ingredients:

1. Pork - minced beef - 1 kg;
2. Rice - 2/3 cup;
3. Onion - 1 pc.;
4. Carrots - 1 pc.;
5. Salt, pepper;
6. Vegetable oil

For the sauce:

1. Tomato paste - 1 glass;
2. Flour - 3 tbsp;
3. Mayonnaise - 4 tbsp;
4. Sour cream - 4 tbsp;
5. Water - 2 glasses;
6. Salt, pepper.

Cooking method:

1. First, let's prepare the frying. While the pan is heating, chop the onion.

2. Pour a little oil and add onions to a hot frying pan.

3. While the onion is browning, grate the carrots on a fine grater.

4. Fry the carrots and onions. When the frying is ready, remove it from the stove.

How to cook rice

5. Rice for hedgehogs should be boiled in advance. Coarse-grained, sticky rice is suitable for this, which will give the hedgehogs their shape.

6. In a deep bowl, mix boiled rice, minced meat and frying.

7. Salt and pepper the hedgehog preparation, and then mix thoroughly.

8. Grease a deep, large baking sheet or baking dish with vegetable oil so that the meatballs do not stick to the bottom.

Form the minced meat into balls and place them on a baking sheet.

Shape each hedgehog until it becomes smooth and beautiful in your hands. Place the meatballs on a baking sheet, not too close to each other.

9. Let's prepare sauce for hedgehogs. Mix tomato paste, sour cream, mayonnaise, flour in a deep bowl and mix everything thoroughly.

10. Stir with a whisk until smooth, so that there are no lumps. It's time to add water. Add a little salt and pepper.

11. First, pour the sauce over each meatball separately, and then pour the remaining sauce completely onto the baking sheet.

12. Cover the baking sheet with the hedgehogs with foil.

13. Place the prepared meatballs in an oven preheated to 180 degrees.

Baking time is 50 minutes. The meatballs turn out aromatic, tasty, juicy.

Remember the main tricks of delicious hedgehogs:

To prevent the meatballs from falling apart, the minced meat must be lightly beaten and placed in a plastic bag.
To make the hedgehogs juicy, they must be completely immersed in the sauce.
If you want to get a golden brown crust when baking, you should remove the foil 10 minutes before the end of cooking.

Juicy meatballs in white creamy sauce

If you need to quickly prepare dinner for everyone on the weekend, we suggest trying the version of meatballs with potatoes under a cheese coat. In this case, the amount of minced meat and rice must be reduced by 2 times.

In addition to the ingredients described above, you will also need 10 pcs. peeled potatoes, 150 grams of cheese, egg. In this case, we do not fry it, but immediately add the chopped onion to the minced meat.

Next, mix the minced meat with rice and egg.

Season with salt and pepper. Make balls from the minced meat and place in a pan generously greased with oil. Cut the peeled potatoes into 1 cm thick slices and fill the gaps between the hedgehogs.

Potatoes must be salted before baking. In this case, it is not necessary to make a sauce; it is quite enough to make a grid of mayonnaise on the potatoes. Place the mold in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 30 minutes.

At this time, prepare the cheese - grate it on a coarse grater. Remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle with cheese and return to the oven for another 15 minutes. The cheese should melt and brown. So a quick, tasty and satisfying dish is ready - hedgehogs with cheese!

Bon appetit! If you liked the recipe, leave comments, share with friends, subscribe to blog updates! See you again!

Classic meatballs, just like in kindergarten, with gravy

The meatballs turn out tender and juicy. Remains delicious the next day.

Ingredients:

boiled rice – 200 g;
pork pulp – 420 g;
beef – 200 g;
carrot;
egg – 1 pc.;
bay leaf – 1-2 pcs.;
onion – 2 heads;
tomato paste – 1 tbsp. spoon;
salt;
pepper;
sunflower oil;
sour cream – 2 tbsp. spoons (for milk sauce);
milk – 250 ml (for milk sauce);
flour – 1 tbsp. spoon (for milk sauce).

Preparation:

Prepare minced meat. Wash the meat, remove tendons, cut into pieces, and pass through a meat grinder.
Add finely chopped onion, previously peeled and washed. Mix everything well.
Pour in the egg. Salt and pepper.
Add pre-cooked rice to the minced meat.
Make meatballs weighing 20-30 grams. To make it convenient to form balls and prevent the minced meat from sticking to your hands, you need to regularly wet your hands with water.
Roll the products in flour on all sides and fry in oil in a heated frying pan until golden brown.
Chop the second peeled onion and fry separately.
Grind the carrots using a coarse grater.
Add to the onion and fry.
Pour in tomato paste, pepper and salt to taste.
Heat milk, add flour, beat. Pour in sour cream.
Mix milk sauce with frying.
Place the fried meatballs in a heatproof container. Pour in gravy.
Put in the laurel.
Place in the oven for half an hour at 180 degrees.

Recipe for meatballs with gravy in the oven. Delicious meatballs in the oven with gravy

Milk-based gravy is a great solution when you don't have cream at home. It will replace them, no one will even suspect a substitution. The sauce is very aromatic and rich. It goes perfectly with minced chicken meatballs.

Semolina in the meat balls will make them even more tender and soft. But if for some reason you don’t want to add this grain, then don’t worry, the meatballs won’t fall apart without it, but will be just as round and neat.

We will need:

minced meat – 500 g (I used chicken);
onions – 1 pc.;
egg – 1 pc.;
greenery;
semolina – 2 tablespoons;
garlic – 3 cloves;
milk – 250 ml;
any frozen or fresh vegetables;
cheese;
salt, pepper to taste;
Bay leaf.

Preparation:

Peel and chop the onions.

I grate it so that the dish becomes juicier, but at the same time the onion itself is not noticeable in it.

Mix it with minced meat, adding salt and black pepper.
Add chopped greens here and break one egg. Mix everything well.
Read also: Potato pancakes: a simple classic recipe
Then add semolina to the minced meat and mix again. Everything is ready for future meatballs.
Let's start making meat balls. To do this, wet your hands with cold water and form meatballs. Place them on a baking sheet and place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees for 15 minutes.
At this time we are preparing the gravy for our wonderful dish. To do this, peel the garlic and chop it finely. Fry the garlic in oil in a saucepan.
If you have frozen or fresh vegetables, you can also add them to the sauce after chopping them.
Then pour milk into it, adding salt and spices to taste.
Bring to a boil, sprinkle with a little dill and remove the pan from the heat.
We take out our baking sheet with meatballs and fill them with the resulting milk sauce. Add the bay leaf and return to the oven to bake for another 30-35 minutes.
Sprinkle the finished dish with grated cheese if desired and enjoy the incredible aroma that will fill your home and gather the whole family around the table!

From minced chicken

Dietary balls made from minced chicken will please the whole family.

Ingredients:

chicken fillet – 800 g;
loaf – 85 g;
carrots – 1 pc.;
boiled rice – 200 g;
breadcrumbs – 50 g;
sunflower oil – 30 ml;
milk – 100 ml;
onion – 2 heads;
Bay leaf;
salt.

Gravy for meatballs:

flour – 2 tbsp. spoons;
water – 250 ml warm;
sour cream – 2 tbsp. spoons;
tomato paste – 2 tbsp. spoons.

Preparation:

Prepare the meat, rinse, cut into pieces.
Coarsely chop the peeled onion.
Pass the ingredients through a meat grinder.
Pour milk over the loaf and soak.
Add to the minced meat and mince again. Bread gives finished products fluffiness and juiciness.
Add some salt.
Add rice, stir thoroughly.
Form into balls and roll in breadcrumbs.
Spray a baking sheet with oil.
Finely grate the carrots and place on a baking sheet. Place the meatballs here.
Place in the oven.
Cook for a quarter of an hour at 200 degrees.
Prepare the gravy: add flour to warm water and whisk.
Pour in sour cream and tomato paste, mix everything. Add the torn bay leaf.
Pour the gravy over the product. Cook for another hour.

In a slow cooker

Thanks to the correctly set mode, the meatballs are slowly stewed, soaked in juice and retain their beneficial properties.

Ingredients:

minced meat – 550 g;
water – 500 ml;
rice - half a multi-cup;
onion - 1 turnip;
Bay leaf;
egg;
basil;
pepper;
salt;
flour – 2 tbsp. spoons (for sauce);
ketchup – 2 tbsp. spoons (for sauce);
sour cream – 4 tbsp. spoons (for sauce).

Preparation:

Chop the onion. Place in a convenient container.
Add the selected minced meat, pour in the egg.
Add pre-cooked rice.
Sprinkle with salt. Spice up. Stir thoroughly.
Form the meatballs and place them in the multicooker bowl.
Combine flour, ketchup, sour cream. Add salt, pepper, bay leaf and dry basil.
Pour in water. Stir.
Pour the mixture over the semi-finished product.
Select the “Extinguishing” mode.
Set the timer for an hour.

How to cook in a frying pan?

This recipe will help you immerse yourself in childhood memories and feel the very taste and aroma of your favorite dish.

Ingredients:

pork – 520 g;
boiled round rice – 210 g;
turnip onion – 120 g;
water – 420 ml;
egg;
bay leaf – 3 pcs.;
ground black pepper;
Sunflower oil – 2 tbsp. spoons;
tomato paste – 1 tbsp. spoon;
sour cream – 3 tbsp. spoons;
salt;
flour – 4 tbsp. spoons.

Preparation:

Cut the pork and onion into pieces.
Twist using a meat grinder several times.
Mix the ingredients with boiled rice.
Pour in the egg.
Add salt and pepper.
Cut the minced meat into balls, roll each in flour.
Pour oil into a deep frying pan and heat.
Fry the meatballs until golden brown.
Mix a glass of water with the pasta and pour into the pan.
Simmer, covering with a lid, for 10 minutes.
Pour flour into sour cream, pour in half a glass of water. Stir.
Pour over the balls and simmer for another quarter of an hour.
Pour in half a glass of water again, add bay leaves.
Add salt to taste.
Simmer for 10 minutes.

Dive swim

And finally - fish balls for children in tomato sauce. Pass 800 g of cod fillet with onion through a meat grinder. Combine the minced meat with grated carrots, 100 g of boiled rice and 2 raw eggs. Season the mixture with salt and black pepper, knead thoroughly, form meatballs and, roll in flour, fry in a deep frying pan until golden brown. We fill them with 150 g of carrots in strips. We dilute 2-3 tbsp in a glass of boiling water. l. tomato paste, add 1 tsp. dried oregano and pour the meatballs into the pan. Simmer them under the lid for 10 minutes, then remove it and bring the dish to readiness. These meatballs are good with absolutely any side dish.

As you can see, there are enough recipes for meatballs and meatballs for a separate menu. And that’s not all! You will find more delicious and healthy dishes for every day on the culinary portal “Eat at Home”. What meat variations do your children like? Tell us about it in the comments.

In sour cream sauce

The gravy helps make the meatballs juicy and nutritious. When prepared according to this recipe, the dish will have a pleasant creamy taste and aroma.

Ingredients:

minced pork – 230 g;
minced veal – 230 g;
carrots – 1 pc.;
onion – 1 head;
vegetable oil;
spices;
sour cream 10% fat – 350 g (for sauce);
cream 10% – 260 ml (for sauce);
salt.

Preparation:

Chop the onion.
Grate the carrots on a coarse grater.
Place the vegetables in a frying pan, add oil and fry lightly.
Mix two types of minced meat, add frying, stir.
Add some salt. Add spices.
Make balls.
Place the meatballs in a frying pan with oil. Fry.
Mix cream with sour cream. Add some salt. Add spices. Mix.
Pour the sauce into the saucepan.
Transfer the meatballs.
Cover with a lid and simmer for half an hour.

Fish meatballs in the oven

The dish turns out healthy and appetizing. The delicious sauce will ideally complement not only meatballs, but any side dish.

Ingredients:

dried greens – 1 teaspoon;
fish fillet – 550 g;
sour cream – 220 ml;
garlic – 3 cloves;
flour - 3 tbsp. spoons;
cheese – 75 g;
breadcrumbs – 120 g;
pepper;
water – 50 ml;
egg – 2 pcs.;
salt.

Preparation:

Grind the fish, you can use a meat grinder or blender.
Add greens and grated garlic. Add some salt and pepper. Mix.
Grate the cheese. Combine with minced meat.
Pour in the eggs.
Add breadcrumbs. Mix.
Form meatballs, roll in flour.
Place in the form.
Mix sour cream with water, add salt. Mix.
Pour in the semi-finished product.
Bake for half an hour, choosing a mode of 200 degrees.

Like in kindergarten, made from beef

Even the most picky children eat these meatballs with great pleasure.

Ingredients:

minced beef – 750 g;
boiled rice – 170 g;
loaf – 200 g;
egg;
water – 70 ml;
sunflower oil;
carrots – 150 g;
onion – 120 g;
flour;
salt;
tomato paste – 1 tbsp. gravy spoon;
sour cream – 2 tbsp. spoons for gravy;
flour - 1 teaspoon for gravy.

Preparation:

Finely grate the carrots.
Chop the onion and make the pieces as small as possible.
Place in container.
Add the minced meat, minced twice through a meat grinder, along with a loaf without crusts, soaked in cold water.
Pour in the egg. Add some salt.
Place rice. Mix.
Wet your hands in water and roll into balls.
Place in a form suitable for baking.
Mix sour cream with tomato paste and flour, add salt.
Pour in water. Mix. Add to the bowl with the semi-finished product.
Cover and simmer for half an hour.

Meatballs with gravy like in kindergarten, an excellent recipe with step-by-step photos

Author: bebi-blog · Published 01/05/2017 · Updated 12/30/2016

Meatballs with gravy like in kindergarten

Have you ever noticed that your child really loves the food that is prepared in kindergarten? And how many times have there been situations when you cook for half a day, hoping to please your child with a dish prepared according to an unusual recipe, but in the end, your child categorically refuses to eat it! But in kindergarten he eats everything on both cheeks. So what is the secret to kindergarten food? In this article, we will tell you how to cook meatballs with gravy like in kindergarten, we will provide a step-by-step recipe with photos for your convenience. And you will understand that the main secret of food prepared in kindergarten is ease of preparation. We will also introduce you to simple recipes for other wonderful dishes from childhood.

What about the fish?

A recipe for meatballs (like in kindergarten) from fish also has its place. If desired, instead of meat, you can use fish fillet (or ready-made minced fish) as the main product for the dish. The choice of the type of fish is left to the will of the mother. Fish meatballs like in kindergarten (recipe in the article) are no different from meat ones. Apart from some nuances:

for juiciness, be sure to add a little fatty pork (but not lard) to the fish;
if you take a whole fish, when cutting it, try to avoid bones, especially small ones;
carefully remove the fish flesh from the bones before grinding it in a meat grinder; if you cannot remove very small bones, try using kitchen tweezers for this purpose;
grind the minced fish in a meat grinder two or even three times;
since this minced meat turns out to be a little liquid, instead of a whole egg, add one yolk or one white (or just squeeze the excess juice out of the minced meat with your hands before mixing it with other components of the recipe).

Meatballs in sour cream sauce

This recipe for meatballs with gravy, just like in kindergarten, which are also called hedgehogs, is beloved by children for the juiciness and wonderful taste of the meatballs and gravy. This is exactly the same taste from childhood. You can use any minced meat for making our meatballs according to this wonderful recipe. Moreover, it can even be combined by mixing different types of meat. These meatballs are quite easy to prepare.

So, for minced meat we need to prepare the following ingredients:

Half a kilo of minced meat.
Half a glass of uncooked rice.
One onion.
One egg.

As for the gravy, you should take:

Two tablespoons of sour cream.
One tablespoon of flour.
One tablespoon of tomato paste.
A couple of glasses of water.
Bay leaf.
Salt.
Black pepper.

Cooking process.

Boil the rice until half cooked and combine with the minced meat.

Many kids don't like onions. So, in order for the onion not to be visible in our meatballs, we advise you to grate it on a regular coarse grater. This will only make the minced meat juicier. If after adding the grated onion the minced meat turns out to be liquid, you can add a little breadcrumbs to it. After that, add the egg, salt, pepper and mix everything well until the structure is homogeneous.

All that remains is to form our meatballs. To prevent the minced meat from sticking to your hands, you should wet them. So, we form meatballs - round in shape, small in size. Roll them in flour to prevent them from falling apart during frying.

Tip: adding a spoonful of mayonnaise will give the meatballs softness and juiciness.

Meatballs should be fried in a deep frying pan. Preheat it and lay out the meatballs. Fry until a thin golden brown crust forms.

So we set about creating a gravy that brings back the taste of childhood. To do this, take a glass of boiled water, add tomato paste there and pour it into a frying pan over the finished meatballs. Salt, pepper, throw in a bay leaf and simmer.

Separately, take a glass with our portion of flour, stirring, gradually add water and sour cream. Pour into the gravy, cover with a lid and wait 20 minutes. After this time, meatballs with gravy like in kindergarten, our hedgehogs will be ready.

This gravy can also be used to prepare gravy for cutlets like in kindergarten.

And here’s another recipe that you can appreciate when you prepare and serve the dish. The recipe is not complicated, it will take a maximum of an hour and a half to prepare.

Meatballs, like in the USSR. Meatballs from the USSR

Meatballs from the USSR I once found a book of my grandmother’s recipes from 1985. I liked an interesting recipe, meatballs with red sauce, so I tried to make it. For this we will need the following products: For minced meat: 1. Pork meat: 400 g 2. Onion: 1 pc. 3. Rice: 1 tbsp. 4. Salt, pepper 5. Egg: 1 pc. For the sauce: 1. Sour cream: 2 tbsp 2. Tomatoes: 2 pcs. 8. Flour: 4 tbsp. 9. Salt, pepper, sugar Cooking time: 40 minutes Prepare the minced meat. We beat the meat in a blender or twist it through a meat grinder. Finely chop the onion and add to the minced meat. Next, cook the rice, add the egg, salt and pepper one by one. Mix everything - the minced meat is ready. Now let's make the sauce: Grind the tomatoes on a fine grater or blend them in a blender. Add 2 tablespoons of sour cream, mix, salt, pepper, a little sugar - everything to taste. Three carrots on a coarse grater and sauté in a frying pan. Add the prepared sauce and a little water. Bring to a boil. Time to get to the meatballs. Make balls and bread them in flour. Place in a saucepan and add sauce. Cooking time for meatballs is 20 minutes. The meatballs turned out very tasty, they reminded me of the taste of childhood, those meatballs from kindergarten. Be sure to try it, very fast and tasty! And the child really liked it.