yemenite- meatballs-red-sauce
Asia, Middle East

Ketzitzot – Meatballs in Red Sauce

yemenite- meatballs-red-sauce

Submitted by Leah. 

Thinking back to my childhood through my newlywed years, meatballs were always served at special family meals. Both my mother and mother-in-law never strayed from the traditional recipe. Why would they? Everyone loved them so much, including me. If I had to guess they were probably prepared this way for several generations back. Then one lucky year, it was my turn to host the Passover Seder. It was also my opportunity to shake things up and give the recipe a small twist. Typically around 40 people attend our family seders. Yes, this is a large crowd. Even more notably they are not shy and would surely let me know how they liked the recipe update. The first change is that in place of lamb I used a combination of beef and chicken. The second update is that I added a red sauce. Best of all the results were great. Everyone loved the new taste. And, we’ve been preparing them the same way ever since.

Regions: Asia and Middle East
Recipe Origin: Yemen

Ingredients

Meatballs

  • 1 pound of ground beef 
  • 1 pound of ground turkey 
  • 1 big zucchini
  • 1 big onion
  • a hefty handful of fresh parsley
  • a hefty handful of fresh coriander (also known as cilantro) 
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 4 tablespoons of bread crumbs 
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon chicken broth (powder)
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
  • pinch of black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Red Sauce

  • 1 red pepper
  • 3 big tomatoes
  • 1/2 tablespoon smoked  paprika 
  • 1 big onion
  • 1 small can tomato paste
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • optional: hot peppers

Preparation

For the meatballs: 

Cut the zucchini, garlic,onion, parsley and coriander into a small pieces. Add the ground beef, ground turkey, bread crumbs, eggs, chicken broth, salt, pepper, cumin and turmeric. Mix it all together. Make a small balls and out in the the oven for 25 minutes on 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 
For the sauce: 
Cut the red pepper into strips. Cut the tomatoes into cubes. Chop the onion and garlic. Fry the onion on a medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes till its turns gold. Add the garlic, red pepper, tomato, tomato paste and smoked paprika and cook it on a low heat till it get very soft.  Add  3/4 of a cup of water and let it boil. Add the meatballs and cook it till the meatballs get soft.

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