Meatballs in tomato sauce

I am not sure why but the sauce for these always seems to work better than my almost identical attempts for bolognese sauce. Hmm.. I use a medium tray, I suppose of minced beef. Will have to check the packaging but it's about 2lb, I think. This made 23 meatballs last night of which 14 were cooked in the sauce and 9 were frozen for use at a later date.

Ingredients

For the sauce
- splash of olive oil
- teaspoon of fennel seeds
- 1 small to medium onion, chopped
- 1 small carrot, finely chopped or grated
- 3-4 cloves of garlic (the more the merrier, to be honest..but I guess it depends on your taste)
- 1/2 big tin of crushed tomatoes
-1/2 of the tin (or 2 small glasses) of water
- 1tsp sugar
- salt and pepper

For the meatballs
- minced beef, I try to buy medium but it's more often lean (not extra lean)
- salt and pepper for seasoning
- 1 egg
- breadcrumbs - about a cup
- 1 or 2 cloves of crushed garlic

Method
Sauce
1. Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat with the fennel seeds
2. While this is happening, chop your onion finely
3. Add onion to oil and fennel seeds and cook, stirring occasionally for five minutes...or a bit more even
4. Chop or grate the carrot while onions are cooking and then add to the pot and allow to cook for 3 further minutes
5. Stir in the majority of the crushed garlic cloves (so, if using 4, crush 3 of them into the pot now)
6. Add tomatoes, water, sugar, and salt and pepper and stir.
7. Bring to the boil over the medium heat and simmer of five minutes before blending (careful now!) with a hand blender
8. Allow to simmer away while you make the meatballs, lid off is fine. Stir occasionally. Reduce heat once it has boiled.

Meatballs
1. Empty mince into large bowl.
2. Season with salt and pepper and add crushed garlic
3. Add breadcrumbs and crack the egg into the bowl.
4. Mix and squeeze it all in with your hands
5. Once thoroughly mixed, shape into balls. I make them about the size of a ping pong ballish, I think. To make sure they will hold their shape, a squish in the fist and re-roll doesn't go amiss.
6. Add them to the simmering sauce, one at a time until the pot is at capacity and give a gentle stir.
7. Add the final clove of garlic from the sauce mix now.
8. Simmer for 20 minutes on a gentle heat or until it is dinner time

Serve with buttered spaghetti

Butter Chicken

I have combined 2 recipes in this mostly according to what ingredients I had around and the amount of time I was willing to put into it all. I have made it a few times and it generally goes down well.

Chicken for marinade
- chicken - I generally have 2 chicken breasts from the supermarket, about 1lb
- 1tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 tbsp garam masala
- salt

1. Cut up the chicken into cubes
2. Combine the ingredients in a zip top bag and massage it in, leave to stand while you get the sauce ready OR overnight in the fridge

Sauce
- 1tbsp butter
- 1 chopped onion
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tbsp grated ginger
-  1tsp chili powder (I have mostly used a shake of paprika 'cause my chili jar is empty)
- 1/2 tsp of turmeric
- 1/2tsp of ground coriander
- 1/4tsp (or a bit more) of ground cinnamon
- 1/4tsp (or a bit more) of ground cumin
- 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup of chicken stock
- 1/3 tbsp of brown sugar
 - salt
- pepper
- 1/4 cup of sour cream (have often left this out or substituted yoghurt)
- chopped fresh coriander
- 1tbsp of cashew butter (often have left this out)

1. Melt butter in large pot, medium heat
2. Add onions and garlic, cook slowly, stiffing often for about 5 minutes
3. Add ginger, chili, turmeric, ground coriander, cinnamon and cumin and cook for 1 minute.
4. Add tomatoes, stock, sugar, salt and pepper. Top up with some water if there is not enough sauce.
5. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10  minutes.
6. Blend sauce using hand blender to make it smooth
7. Add chicken to cook for 20 minutes or so, ensuring it is simmering and bubbling.
8. When just about ready to serve, stir in sour cream, cashew butter and fresh coriander.

Serve with yummy rice.