Gingery Meatballs in Tomato Sauce

Made it as the recipe was written. Used soy sauce option. Absolutely delicious! Easy to make. Was able to use a surplus of garden tomatoes in this dish. Will be putting it into regular rotation.

Flat leaf parsley. It looks almost identical and will give an herby flavor without the soapy taste cilantro gives off to certain individuals. I would just double the quantity as parsley has a much milder flavor\herby-ness than cilantro.

I like making meatballs ahead to allow flavors to meld, and I’d make it through step 3 and then fridge it. I’d finish it up by reheating and doing step 4 when I actually wanted to eat them.

It's June and I'm in NJ so I don't have summer tomatoes just yet. I do have an impulse buy of way too many Costco roasted tomato packets that were loudly shaming me with their best by date. Happened to have started to make meatballs when seeing this and also happened to have all the other ingredients on hand. Took that as a sign. Voila, dinner we both enjoyed. Thanks, Melissa.

Or, try putting the meat mixture into the fridge for a little while, then roll the balls with wet hands and cook before they get all soft again. haven’t made this recipe but that’s what I do when my meatballs crumble.

I would think an egg mixed in the meatballs would make them more tender and hold together better.

Made this tonight and it was delicious. Used ground turkey and threw the balls in the freezer for a few minutes to firm up. They browned up beautifully and didn’t fall apart. Used the full amount of freshly grated ginger and thought it was perfect. Served with basmati rice - very good!

The best way to "gently mix everything together, making sure not to overwork the mixture. (Otherwise, the meatballs get tough.)" is to use a Danish dough whisk. I made 6 little "burgers" from this mixture and 2 greedy people enjoyed 4 for dinner and 2 for lunch the next day.

Can this recipe be made ahead and reheated?

I made this exactly as written—with pork and fish sauce. It was great. I refrigerated the meatballs for a couple of hours before cooking them, although I am not sure this is necessary. I don't think it would work well with anything but pork. Really good tomatoes, lots of fresh ginger, and a bunch of fresh cilantro seem to be key.

This turned out great with turkey. Followed as written, but went wild and used 1 t fish sauce plus 1 t soy sauce. Wonderful recipe and will definitely repeat.

Using panko bread crumbs in a ground meat recipe is like using castor sugar in a sauce: It's a showy way to accomplish nothing. Once they absorb liquids and cook in the dish, they break down completely. They cost a lot more, so why not use them where they count? Kind of like using Malton salt flakes in a soup. Do the experiments yourself, and if you can tell the difference in a meatball, then hats off to you.

I am going to try it with mint.

Delicious!!!! I made them with ground chicken and less oil in the pan and added a very small egg but otherwise stuck to the recipe - no very ripe tomatoes so used a 14 ounce can of chopped tomatoes and it came out great. So tasty and light. A keeper for sure

Delicious - I finished through step three and then reheated about 2 hours later. The tomatoes had really cooked down and were delicious, but I would not hesitate to add more tomatoes for more sauce.