meatballs | GF-Zing!

These gluten free “meatballs” from Gf-Zing! have the texture of gnocchi. The cream-based curry sauce is delicious with sweet potato fries.

Mix the following with your hands:

1 block (1 pound) firm tofu

1 egg

1 cup minced scallion (both the white and green)

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons potato starch (katakuriko)

6-8 tablespoons sweet brown rice flour – this is like mochiko or sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour even though it does not contain gluten) – it is made from sweet brown rice

1 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon curry powder (make your own using Rebecca Reilly’s recipe from Gluten Free Baking)

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all these ingredients and as you mix you will notice that the liquid is taken up by the flours. Add sweet brown rice flour as needed to reach a consistency where “meatballs” can be formed. Make walnut sized balls.

Fry the balls in 1 tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat until they are golden. Remove the balls to a plate. To the oil remaining in the pan, add

2 tablespoons curry powder and fry briefly. Add

1 1/2 cups of New England hard cider (this is like white wine – it is not sweet).

Reduce the wine to 1/3 cup. Add the tofu balls back to the pan and add

1 cup heavy cream or coconut milk

2 cups gluten free chicken stock

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. The sauce will thicken as the balls absorb the stock. Check from time to time and stir.

When cooked, serve with sweet potato fries.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!.

Meatball mixture:

1 cup of GF bread crumbs (make your old GF bread into crumbs and store it in ziplock bags in the freezer)
1 1/2 or 2 pounds ground beef (we grind steak to make ground beef), or ground turkey
2 eggs
1 medium onion finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped Italian parsley (about half a bunch)
1-2 teaspoons salt (depending on your taste)
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried summer savory (or oregano if you prefer that flavor)
a few drops of gluten free hot sauce
sugar, if needed
red currant jelly as needed

Frying oil:
1 Tablespoons butter or ghee
1-2 Tablespoons olive oil
a dried cayenne pepper

Sauce mixture:
Stir these three ingredients together in a glass measuring cup:

2 cups Chianti (red wine)
1/4 cup gluten free tomato paste (or more)
3 cups gluten free chicken broth or beef broth (home made)
More broth if needed

Make sure to use a red wine that is really drinkable – don’t use a red wine that you think is too sour or the sauce will be sour.

Put all the meatball ingredients in a food processor and mix well, or chop everything finely and mix by hand. Most meatball recipes call for soaking bread crumbs in milk and then squeezing out the milk – that is not required. Just mix the gluten-free bread crumbs with the meat and onions etc. and then form the mixture in to large meatballs – larger than a whole walnut.

Heat the oil and butter or ghee with the cayenne pepper in a non-stick pan that can accomodate all the meatballs, and brown the meatballs in this oil. To the same pan that contains the meatballs, add the wine mixture and stir gently. Cook the meatballs in the wine sauce for about 15-20 minutes, stirring as necessary and adding more broth if the sauce becomes too thick. It is not necessary to cover the pan while cooking these meatballs. Taste the sauce for salt and pepper, and add more if you like. If the sauce requires a half teaspoon of sugar to improve the flavor, add the sugar at this point. You might also add, and this is a super addition, a couple of tablespoons of red currant jelly, whcih will melt into the sauce and give it something special. Remove the cayenne pepper before serving.

(If you have only a small frying pan, you will need to brown the meatballs in batches and then put them in a larger pan to make the sauce.)

The original recipe that this is based upon came from Bon Appetit magazine, February 2001. The original included flour, and required the meatballs to be baked and so on. This revision is gluten free.

Make sure all your ingredients are gluten free!

Curried Tofu meatballs

Meatballs in Red Wine Sauce