Tastes like home.
This recipe, a slightly punchier variation on the rissoles I grew up eating, is not reflective of my ethnic background. I grew up eating kielbasa, liverwurst, petit-suisse and pickled everything, but true-blue rissoles will always signal to me the comfort of my Mum’s care, from cradle to middle age. These rissoles are a winner year-round, but in summer I omit the gravy and peas, and serve them with a big salad. And, just like my mum, I always use the leftovers to make rissole sandwiches.
Bunny Banyai says…
In early 2019, I was felled by a vicious respiratory virus that quickly turned into pneumonia. For weeks, I burned with a 40-degree fever, struggled to breathe, and ate almost nothing, joylessly consuming dollhouse-sized servings of crackers and fruit in the brief minutes I was well enough to do so. Too sick to take care of my kids, I took up residence in the spare room of my parents’ house.
After almost a month, the fever began to break. The first stirrings of an appetite returned. Hoisting my wasted frame out of bed, I made a beeline for my mum. “I’m hungry,” I said, in the tone of a child who is not so much telling you something, but demanding something.
“What do you want me to make you?” she asked. Without any thought, I answered, “Meatballs, like you used to make when I was little.” This surprised both Mum and me, as I’d been vegetarian for most of my adult life.
As I ate those hastily prepared meatballs – rissoles, to be precise – I could feel my battered cells begin to reanimate. In that moment, I decided I would be a meat‑eater again. Or, more accurately, a meatball eater again. Well-meaning family members suggested lamb shanks and brothy soups might be more fortifying, but I wanted only meatballs: rissoles, kofte, köttbullar, frikadellen, koteleti, albondigas. Meatballs. Comfort and sustenance of the highest yet most basic order.
This recipe, a slightly punchier variation on the rissoles I grew up eating, is not reflective of my ethnic background. My dad was born to a Hungarian mother in Romania; my maternal grandfather was ethnically Russian and Ukrainian, but born and raised in France. I grew up eating kielbasa, liverwurst, petit-suisse and pickled everything, but true-blue rissoles will always signal to me the comfort of my Mum’s care, from cradle to middle age. These rissoles are a winner year-round, but in summer I omit the gravy and peas, and serve them with a big salad. And, just like my mum, I always use the leftovers to make rissole sandwiches.
Ingredients
Rissoles
900g beef mince
2 eggs
1 onion, finely chopped
80–120g dry breadcrumbs
80ml tomato sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon finely grated garlic
1 tablespoon dried herbs of your choice (sage, parsley, thyme)
1 teaspoon mustard
2 tablespoons plain flour, for dusting
2 tablespoons oil
Sides
1 packet brown meat gravy
260g frozen baby peas
Salted butter, to taste
Chopped fresh mint, to taste
Salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Mashed potato, to serve
Method
In a large bowl, combine the beef, eggs, onion, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, dried herbs and mustard. Season with salt and pepper, and mix until well combined, using your hands. Shape the mixture into four to six round balls, then dust them with flour.
Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan over high heat until very hot. Place the rissoles in the pan, making sure not to overcrowd them. Cook until browned and slightly crispy on one side, then flip them over and cook on the other side. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until the rissoles are cooked through, about 3–4 minutes per side, being careful not to overcook.
While the rissoles are cooking, prepare the gravy according to the packet instructions.
For the minted peas, bring a small saucepan of water to the boil and simmer the peas for four minutes. Drain and return the peas to the pan. Stir in some butter, chopped mint, and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the rissoles with mashed potato, gravy and minted peas.
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 MEATBALLS BY BUNNY BANYAI IS OUT NOW.
Published in ed#754
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