Meatball and Pea Stew

Elena Butuc

Lately we've been enjoying pea from our garden. Children have been nibbling continuously with great appetite. Finally, I challenged them to pick as much pea as possible, enough for me to cook a pea strew with meatballs. I wanted them to understand the value of the food made from their own vegetables, grown patiently and naturally.

The whole process and especially the result was very successful. The pea dish turned out delicious, although it was improvised by me without any specific recipe. You can make the meatballs bigger or smaller, depending on your patience and skill. You can use any of your favorite meat. I combined minced beef and pork, but the ones made from turkey or chicken will also be very good.

If you don't have minced meat or patience with meatballs, you can cook the classic pea stew with meat.

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Ingredients

Metric US

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Green peas

1 kg

frozen or fresh

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Minced meat

500 g

I used even more, we like to have a lot of meatballs in the food

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Onions

2 pieces

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Carrots

1 piece

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Vegetable oil

50 ml

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Egg

1 piece

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Salt

3 tsp

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Ground black pepper

0.25 tsp

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Chopped parsley

1 tbsp

fresh or dried

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Chopped dill

2 tbsp

plus other spices of your choice

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Laurel leaves

2 pieces

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Tomato paste

1 tbsp

Step by step

Step 1

Place the minced meat in a bowl and add 1 onion finely chopped with a knife or in the food processor.

Step 2

Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, chopped parsley and a little ground black pepper.

Mix well with your hands, until uniform and smooth.

Step 3

Shape small meatballs with your hands and fry them (in a little oil) in a large pan. I fried them straight in the pot in which I continued to cook the pea dish.

Step 4

With a fork, turn them carefully, so that they brown well on all sides.

Step 5

Then transfer with a spatula to a plate and set aside for a little.

If you have more meatballs (or a smaller pan), fry them in 2-3 rounds.

Step 6

In the same pot/pan with the oil in which you fried the meatballs, place 1 onion and 1 diced carrot. Stir and cook for 5-8 minutes, until lightly browned.

Step 7

Then add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, mix and cook for another 2 minutes.

Step 8

Toss in the green peas. Now I had fresh, but I usually use frozen green peas.

Step 9

Add cold water to cover well, mix.

Step 10

Add 2 bay leaves and cook over high heat until it comes to the boil.

Then turn the heat down and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Step 11

After this time, add the fried meatballs, stir and cook for another 15 minutes. If the water has dropped in the meantime and you like the food with more juice, add a little more hot water to the food.