Meatball Spaghetti

During the Srilankan Civil war, thousands of Srilankans, especially from the northern province moved or rather fled the country to save their lives and this continued until the end of the war in 2009. The Srilankan Tamil diaspora is a huge spread-out and people have settled across several parts of the world. In most families, three generations have lived outside of motherland and have adapted not only their languages and culture but a great deal of food habits. Wherever you go, whichever country you travel to, you’ll surely be able to bump into a Srilankan community. Likewise, a great portion of my family lives in the west and I have fond memories of them visiting us back in India. When I was a kid, what excited me more was the chocolates, toys and accessories that my aunts brought us. Now, it’s the different kinds of culinary articles and ingredients I always look forward to. This is one such recipe that I cooked using the spaghetti and tomato concentrate that came all the way from Paris, France. If you are curious what else Thiru chithi brought me during this trip, here you go – soup packets, Thai broth flavourings, Fruit tea, orange marmalade (I used it in this year’s fruit cake for Christmas), berry wine, and lots of chocolates J This is my version of meatball spaghetti made using local ingredients that you’ll easily find in India.

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Ingredients

Spaghetti – a pack (around 400 to 500 gms)

Tomatoes – 2 large

Minced meat (chicken, mutton, or beef) – ½ kg

Egg - 1

White Bread – 3 slices

Garlic – 1 full pod, peeled and crushed

Paprika – 1 tsp

Pepper powder – ½ tsp

Basil – a few leaves

Onions – 2 large

Tomato concentrate – 1 can (100 gms)

Butter – 3 tsp

Salt – to taste

Oil – enough to fry

Parmesan cheese – as desired

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Method

Meatball preparation

1. Soak 2 pieces of white bread in enough water to soak for 5 mins. Remove from water and squeeze to remove excess water. Mash well using hands or fork.

2. To a bowl add minced meat, egg, half cup finely chopped onions, salt, pepper, half of the crushed garlic, and mashed bread.

3. Form lemon sized balls and set aside.

4. Heat a frying pan, add oil to up to 1 cm. Add the meatballs and cook on all sides till they turn golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on a kitchen towel.

5. Place a big pan of water and let it come to boil. Add one tsp of salt. Add the spaghetti and let it cook till it is soft. This will take appro. 5 mins. Make sure it doesn’t overcook or turn stoggy.

6. Drain off excess water. Add 1 tsp of butter and toss well, coating all the strands of spaghetti. This is to make sure that they do not stick to each other after cooling.

7. Red sauce/Marinara Sauce:

8. You can either use the same oil that was used to fry meatballs or use butter to prepare the red sauce for spaghetti.

9. In a pan, add butter/oil. When hot, add finely chopped onions and fry till they turn translucent. Add crushed garlic and fry for 1 min. Then add chopped tomatoes until soft. Add tomato paste/concentrate and fry well for another 2 mins. Add salt to taste, chilli powder/paprika, basil leaves and water. Add the fried meatballs and let it simmer for 15 mins on medium heat.

10. The sause should be a thick gravy consistency. Add sphagetti and mix well.

11. Top it off with grated parmesan and serve hot.