Any woman always strives for something deliciousfeed your household and please them with a variety of dishes. Special efforts are made to fill the festive table. And if there are small children in the family, it is important that the food is not only varied and healthy, but also prepared in record time, so a caring mother is always in search of new recipes. First courses are very popular in our country. Rich borscht, soups, cabbage soup and broths not only saturate well and restore the body's water balance, they also warm up perfectly in cold weather, which is important for the harsh winter period typical for Russia. In addition, this is a good means of preventing many diseases that occur when eating dry food and eating fast food. The modern pace of life leaves such a meager reserve of time for the implementation of creative culinary plans that housewives do not have the opportunity to stand at the stove for hours. But it is still possible to provide your loved ones with healthy and nutritious food, you just need to take note of a few quick recipes. One of the quick-cooking first hot dishes is meatball soup.
The subtleties of cooking meatballs
The taste of the first course depends on the meatballs,the more tender they will be, the more delicious the soup will be. The main ingredient of meatballs is minced meat. It can be meat, fish or vegetable. Traditionally, various spices, salt and onions are added to it, but depending on taste preferences, its composition can be supplemented with white bread soaked in milk, walnuts and herbs. Do not add rice to the minced meat, this will radically change the nature of the dish, and the meatballs will become similar to meatballs both in appearance and taste. For the preparation of minced meat, it is better to buy lean meat, fish mince will turn out ideal from cod and tilapia, and lovers of poultry should use fillet or liver. There are no special rules only for vegetable mince - the main thing is that the vegetables are well boiled and chopped on a fine grater or in a blender. To get juicy meatballs of a perfectly uniform consistency, the ingredients that make up the mince need to be passed through the smallest grate of the meat grinder a couple of times, but the mince will acquire a special tenderness if several nuances are observed. Firstly, you can add white bread croutons or breadcrumbs soaked in warm milk. Their volume should be approximately equal to 1/3 of the mince volume. Semolina can also be used as an analogue. It should be used in a proportion of 1 tbsp. per 500 g of mince. Immediately after adding the semolina, the mince should be placed in the cold for 15 minutes, this will be enough for the semolina to swell. Secondly, the mince mass must be beaten well, that is, lifted several times and thrown with force into a bowl or onto a board until its consistency becomes uniform. After this procedure, minced meat products do not fall apart during cooking, which is an undoubted plus. And thirdly, it is better to use the minced meat cold. The thoroughly mixed mass should be wrapped in film and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. It is not recommended to add a chicken egg to the minced meat, it will cause the broth to become cloudy and make the meatballs rough. When forming the meatballs, you need to periodically wet your hands with cold water so that the minced meat does not stick to them. The balls should be approximately the same size so that their degree of readiness is the same during cooking. Meatballs of 1.5-2 cm in size are considered ideal.
Basic rules of cooking soup
You can cook meatball soup in different waysbroths, you just need to observe the nuances of taste compatibility (for example, fish broth is better combined with fish meatballs). The soup is often supplemented with pasta or vermicelli, as well as various cereals, the most popular of which are buckwheat and rice. Vegetable dressings are used depending on taste preferences. Potatoes, carrots and onions are most popular, sweet peppers, spinach and celery are used less often. Ingredients are put into the finished broth depending on the time required for their preparation. Traditionally, potatoes are put first. At the stage of its semi-cooking, sautéed carrots and onions are added, and if desired - sweet peppers or other vegetables, and last of all - meatballs. Cereals can be added to soup with meatballs in a raw, semi-cooked and cooked state, this also depends on the order in which they are added to the broth. But if raw rice and buckwheat definitely require first place even in comparison with potatoes, then noodles should be added to the pot only after meatballs. It is very important to reduce the heat immediately before adding meatballs. If you neglect this rule, the broth will become cloudy. To avoid this situation, some boil them in a separate bowl and put them in the soup already cooked or half-cooked. But it should be taken into account that this will lose the natural concentration of the broth and the dish will not be rich. You can first brown the meatballs in a frying pan, the soup will only benefit from this in aroma and taste, but this option is not recommended for small children and people on a diet. After adding the meatballs, you need to stir the soup periodically to prevent them from sticking together and monitor the formation of foam, promptly removing it. Standard-sized meatballs reach an edible state in a maximum of 10 minutes, and their readiness is indicated by floating to the surface of the soup. The finishing touch is adding finely chopped greens, after which you can turn off the heat. Meatball soup is a recipe that is familiar to everyone from childhood. There are a lot of them, but the most popular is using meat meatballs. This soup is prepared quickly and is very filling, both adults and children love it. It is recommended for use even by people with special dietary needs.
Recipes of beef and pork soup
Most often, meatball soup is prepared according toclassic recipe. For it you will need: 300 g of pork or "homemade" mince and 1 clove of garlic, 4 medium potatoes, onion, carrot, a little vegetable oil for frying, salt and herbs to taste. First, put the diced potatoes in a saucepan. While it is boiling, grate the carrots and onions on a medium grater and fry them in vegetable oil. Bring the potatoes to a state of semi-cooking, add the meatballs to them, after 10 minutes - fry the mixture, and add salt. Cook the soup with meatballs for another 5 minutes. Before serving, add herbs. This recipe can be supplemented with noodles, tomato paste and bay leaf. Buckwheat soup with meatballs, for which mixed minced pork and beef is used, is no less easy to prepare. Parsley, a piece of white bread soaked in milk, and onion are added to the minced meat mixture. And in the soup itself, in addition to the standard mixture of fried carrots and onions, 0.5 cups of buckwheat and half a finely chopped bell pepper are added. This soup can be safely cooked in a multicooker; it will be incredibly rich and aromatic. Gourmets will also appreciate the mushroom soup with meatballs. For the meatballs, you will need: 300 g of minced pork, a few sprigs of cilantro, 2 cloves of garlic, and 30 g of peeled salted pistachios. The remaining ingredients are 500 g of champignons, 3-4 medium-sized potatoes, an onion and a carrot, 5 tbsp. sour cream, 5 tbsp. vegetable oil, green onions, and salt to taste. Chop the garlic and pistachios and finely chop the cilantro. Add all of this to the minced meat, knead until smooth, season with salt and pepper, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. During this time, dice the vegetables and mushrooms and chop the onion. Fry the finished meatballs and place them on a plate to drain off excess liquid. Pour the oil left over from frying them into the pan where the soup will be cooked and sauté the onion and carrot in it over low heat for 5 minutes. Then add the mushrooms, fry for another 5 minutes, and only then pour 1.5 liters of hot boiled water over the resulting mixture and add the potatoes. After everything boils, place the meatballs in the pan with the soup, add salt, pepper, and cook for another 10 minutes. Season with sour cream and green onions before serving.
Recipes with meatballs from poultry meat
Liquid food is well absorbed by the body, butIn order for it to bring not only benefits but also pleasure, it must be made from the right products. Turkey meatball soup is a simple recipe for a delicious soup. It turns out very appetizing, and the dietary properties of the meat used in it make the dish truly universal. To prepare it, you need to take: 500 g of ground turkey, 300 g of turkey wings for broth, 2 potatoes, 1 carrot, 1 sweet pepper, 2 onions, 200 g of celery, salt and pepper. First, you need to cook the broth from the turkey wings with 2 liters of water, adding bay leaf and black peppercorns. Bring it to a boil and cook for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, form small balls from the minced meat with finely chopped onion and cut the vegetables: sweet pepper and potatoes into cubes, and carrots and celery into strips. Place the potatoes in the prepared broth, after removing the wings, and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the carrots and celery, and after 10 minutes - sweet pepper, onion and salt to taste. Lastly, place the meatballs in the container with the broth and after 15 minutes the soup is ready. If desired, you can use vermicelli or rice in the recipe. It turns out to be a very satisfying dish. No less tasty and light is the soup with chicken meatballs in Italian. The composition of the products is standard: 300 g of minced chicken, 2 potatoes, 1 onion, 2 tbsp. butter, green onions and parsley, salt and black pepper to taste. The only unusual ingredient will be turnips. The onion is cut into half rings, carrots and turnips into strips, and the greens are finely chopped. To make meatballs, combine the minced meat with half of the chopped greens, salt and pepper, knead thoroughly and mold into balls no larger than a walnut. Bring 2 liters of water to a boil, lower the meatballs into it and cook over medium heat for 7 minutes, then put them on a plate. Put the vegetables in a frying pan and stew for 5 minutes in butter with the addition of 0.5 cups of meatball broth. Transfer the finished vegetable mixture to a container with broth, add spices and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, then return the meatballs there, bring the soup to a boil and turn off the heat. Soup with meatballs must be infused under a closed lid for 5 minutes.
Useful properties of soups with meat balls
Every housewife must know how to cookMeatball soup. Its preparation takes very little time and is not difficult at all, by varying the recipes you can achieve many piquant flavors, and in the end you get a very nutritious and healthy first course for the whole family. In winter, it is especially advisable to eat soup with meat components, since meat is rich in proteins, and the body during the cold season requires increased heating and much more energy than in summer. Nutritionists do not advise neglecting thick and hot meatball soup. You can not be afraid of spoiling your figure if you eat it in the middle of the day, and not before bed, especially since the vegetables contained in it spend extra calories on this process due to slow digestion. And the soup liquid also improves metabolism and balances blood pressure. Meatball soup is easily digestible, so those who want to lose weight can safely eat it every day or even try a soup diet. You can also cook it in a multicooker, the soup will be more rich and simmered. A delicious aromatic soup will add strength and energy, warm you up in cold weather and refresh you in the sweltering heat.