Meatballs with Carrot-Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 
  Meatballs
  2lbs of lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup of rice
• 5-6 bay leaves
• Several black peppercorns
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
• 
  Carrot and Tomato Sauce
  2 big carrots
• 3 big tomatoes (about 1lb)
• 2 onions
• Fresh dill
• Sunflower oil
• Salt to taste

How to prepare, step-by-step:

1. Prepare ingredients:

   

2. Bring a cooking pot of salted water to boil, add rice and boil it until half-ready over slow simmering, then drain it in colander and set aside to cool down a bit (find here more tips if needed):

   

3. Take another cooking pot with water and bring to boil. Cut each tomato skin crosswise and put them to the boiling water for 5 mins. Then drain water and set tomatoes aside to cool down:

   

4. Then start cooking carrot and tomato vegetable sause. For that warm up big skillet with 2-3 table spoons of oil over moderate heat. Peel onions, slice them in half circles, move them to skillet and fry until light brown in color and soft; stir from time to time:

   

5. Skin carrots and grate them on big slots of grater; add crated carrots to onions on the skillet, mix and braise vegetables together for 8-10 mins:

   

6. Meanwhile, remove skin from boiled tomatoes, cut them in quarters, remove hard stem parts and put to the blander bowl:

   

7. And puree them:

   

8. Pour tomato puree to the skillet:

   

9. Rinse and chop fresh dill, add it to the skillet:

   

10. Salt sauce to taste, mix and bring to boil; reduce heat and let sauce simmer for 10 mins; then turn the heat off:

    

11. Now it is time for meatballs. Put ground beef to the bowl, season with salt and ground pepper:

    

12. Add half-boiled rice:

    

13. Mix everything good with your hands:

    

14. Scoop a bit of meat and rice mixture with a tablespoon and form meatball using your hands (if meat keeps sticking to your hands wet them with cold water). Repeat for the rest of the meat:

    

15. Warm up a skillet with 2-3 tablespoons of oil. Pour flour to small bowl and deep meatball into it:

    

16. Repeat for several meatballs and put the to the warmed up skillet:

    

17. Fry each meatball from each side just until they gain nice looking skin:

    

18. Take a cast iron pot (or any other pot which is big enough to fit all meatballs in one layer); drop several pepper corns and bay leaves on the bottom of it:

    

19. Move fried meatballs to the pot:

    

20. Then pour sauce over meatballs, cover cooking pot with a lid, turn moderate low heat on and cook for about 45 mins:

    

21. Serve meatballs warm with your choice of side dish and sauce poured over it – I did cook boiled potatoes for these meatballs: