I had already mentioned it numerous times that I believe Fridays are meant to be celebrated, every week. It doesn’t matter to me whether the next Saturday is a working day or not. After all Fridays are ‘ Fry-days’ to me. Fridays are dearest to me not only because it’s fry-day but also this is the day of the week when I lay my hands on new preparations for the first time. And mostly I prefer Mexican, Italian, Thai or some other cuisine which has a large range of recipes with pasta and noodles. There is no hard and fast rules for it but I have no idea from when and (top of all) why I prefer it this way.
Few weeks back on a Friday I was having a fight for Italian cuisine over Mexican cuisine which was Bhatti’s pick of that day. Finally my Italian cuisine won and when at the end of the day Spaghetti with Italian Meatball in Tomato Sauce was served on the dinner table I couldn’t hear anything but the clatter of spoons and forks.
It has a elaborate procedure but surprisingly it neither needs any culinary skills nor large amount of time. It is tasty, healthy and easy to make. What else once can demand on a fine Friday evening. Oooh yes I complemented it with a glass of wine.
Here is the step by step recipe of Spaghetti with Italian Meatball in Tomato Sauce.
Ingredients for Meatballs:
Skinless, boneless chicken breast or minced chicken: 300 gms.
Red onion: 1, Large
Egg: 1
Garlic: 4-5 cloves
Chilli flakes: 1 tsp
Pepper powder: 1 tsp
Dried oregano: 1 tsp
Dried parsley: 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
Preparation:
If you are unable to get minced chicken from the market use homemade one with chicken breasts like me. (See Tips)
Finely chop onions and garlics.
Take a large bowl. Combine minced chicken, chopped onion, garlic and egg well.
Add chilli flakes, pepper, salt and dried herbs and mix well. Keep aside for 30 mins. (See Tips)
After marination take small portions of the mixture with a spoon and keep them in a smooth flat surface(like plate, baking tray.or even you can use the kitchen counter) in a line. (See Tips)
Take a small wok to deep fry the meatballs. Fill it with enough oil to deep fry and let it heat. The oil should not be too hot. (See Tips)
Take one ball at a time in a spoon and using another spoon try to give it a perfect round shape.
Drop the meatballs in the hot oil directly from the spoon.
Simmer the flame and allow them to fry.
Fry them till golden brown in color. (See Tips)
Remove them from oil with a slotted spoon and keep them on paper towels.
Ingredients for Tomato Sauce:
Garlic: 5-6 cloves, crushed/ grated/ finely chopped
Red onion: 1, large, finely chopped
Green chilli: 3-4, chopped
Tomato: 4, large,
Dried oregano: 1 tsp
Dried parsley: 1 tsp
Pepper powder: 1 tsp
Mozzarella cheese: 1/3 cup, grated/sliced
Salt to taste
Sugar: 1 tsp
Oil: 1 tsp
Preparation for Tomato Sauce:
Finely chop 2 of the tomatoes and make a puree of rest two of the tomatoes.
Heat oil in a pan. Saute garlic until fragrant or golden in color.
Add chopped onion and chilli and fry on medium flame until onion becomes translucent.
Pour freshly made tomato puree and allow to cook with the lid on medium flame.
Add rest of the dry ingredients and continue cooking on medium flame.
Add cheese and stir continuously to mix well. Avoid lumps. Bring it to boil on high flame. Add water if necessary.
Do the taste test now. Adjust seasoning accordingly.
Dunk in the meatballs in the tomato sauce on simmer.
Allow the meatballs to cook in the gravy on simmer with lid. This will help meatballs to absorb the gravy and flavors.
Once gravy starts thickening switch off the flame and keep aside.
Ingredients for Spaghetti:
Spaghetti: 1 pckt. (150 gms.)
Zucchini: 1, small
Red bell pepper: 1 small
Green chilli: 2, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Water
Oil: 1 tsp + 1 tsp
Preparation for Spaghetti:
Boil water in a large vessel.
Add few drops of oil and salt. Allow it to boil.
Switch off the flame and dunk in the spaghetti.
Wait till spaghetti is done.
Drain water and soak spaghetti is a bowl of ice water to avoid over cooking for 5-10 minutes. If you are not consuming immediately keep spaghetti under ice cold water until needed.
Heat rest of the oil in a pan. Saute veggies with pinch of salt.
Toss the veggies with spaghetti well so that spaghetti gets coated with oil.
Assembling:
Arrange the serving plates.
Place some spaghetti at first on the plate.
Place some meatballs and tomatto sauce on top of the spaghetti.
Pour some gravy on it.
Sprinkle some parmesean on the top. I avoided this step with a super strong will force 🙁
Serve warm.
Tips:
1. To prepare minced chicken place chicken breasts on the chopping board and run a sharp knife on them mercilessly but in a single direction. Rotate the board in 90° angle and do the same. Continue the same until you reach the desire thickness of minced chicken.
2. If you don’t get enough time for the marination, keep the marinated minced chicken aside for 10 mins atleast. It is important to marinade the minced chicken to let it absorb the flavors. Otherwise meatballs will be dull in taste.
3. It is not necessary to keep the balls of minced chicken in a line. But I found this line up process much easier to handle and this eases out the rest of the procedures. The surface of the plate should be smooth otherwise balls will break apart.
4. The temperature of the oil used for deep frying chicken balls plays a very important role here like any other deep fry. If the oil is too hot, meatballs will be burnt on the surface and raw in the center. So be very careful about the oil.
5. Before removing meatballs from the oil use a fork to prick a meatball and check whether the chicken is cooked or not.
wow this looks superb and love the second click super inviting
@Priya,
thank you so much 🙂 that is my personal favorite too 😀
Awesome recipe! Good directions too, they look nice on the photo.
I love this recipeeeee so much that every time I make it, there's no leftovers