Love meatballs? Try this low-calorie recipe that uses turkey mince, served in a hot pepper sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 green pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
- 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 400g can plum tomato
- 1 chicken stock cube
- dash of Tabasco sauce or hot pepper sauce
- 4 spring onions, finely sliced
- handful coriander, roughly chopped
- rice or mash, to serve
For the meatballs
- 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
- 500g pack turkey mince
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Method
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Put the butter in a pan over a low heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring all the time to make a roux. Cook until the roux is hazelnut brown in colour – make sure that it doesn’t burn. Tip in the vegetables, garlic and bay leaf, stir briefly, then pour in the tomatoes and 1½ cans of water. Crumble in the stock cube, add the hot sauce, then cover and cook for 15 mins, stirring occasionally, while you make the meatballs.
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Work the spice and some seasoning into the turkey mince. Try not to over-handle or it will toughen. Shape into 20 meatballs.
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Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan and quickly brown the meatballs in batches until they are nicely coloured on all sides.
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Stir the sauce, then drop in the meatballs and cook on a low heat for 10 mins until the turkey is cooked through. Scatter over the spring onions and coriander, and serve with some rice or mash.