RECIPE

Swedish Meatballs

November 9, 2020
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Meatball is a common form of meat dish in many cultures.

It is not unusual to find similarities between two meatball dishes from two different cultures. This is what makes cooking so interesting to me. Often then not, we tend to choose to try dishes from a culture other than our own that looks familiar. Meatballs, sausages, bread, noodles…. Looks similar, but with different flavours and cooking techniques.

If you are not from Scandinavian regions, like me, you probably associate Swedish meatballs with Ikea, the Swedish furniture store. Turns out, these savoury meatballs often served with a root mash, brown gravy and lingonberry preserve are an adaptation of a meatball dish from the Ottoman Empire, known as Turkey in modern day! It was considered a luxury dish for the upper class until meat grinders became widely available to the common people.

No doubt I had my first Swedish meatball at Ikea. After my diagnosis to wheat allergy, I have not had them again until I sought out for gluten-free versions in Stockholm (you can read about it in my Travel Series: Stockholm post here). It never dawned on me that I could actually make them at home until I came across Simply Swedish by Margareta Schildt Landgren, which I purchased as a souvenir for myself! This is the first time I’ve learned about beefing up the meatballs with potatoes instead of breadcrumbs, which is a great hack if you are on a low budget to feed several mouths.

Making these meatballs have also encourage me to explore making gravy more often. Gravy is not something I grew up having at home. When I made gravy the first few times, they all came out like jelly or grainy. Now, I’ve gotten down to this one gravy that I make that comes out really good. The only downside is that it was pure accidental and I am running out the main ingredient which I cannot obtain easily locally – the Korean mushroom powder which I stumbled upon while shopping at a fancy grocery store in Lotte Mall in Seoul, South Korea. After cooking the meatball, in the same pan, I sprinkle a table spoon or two of the mushroom powder, stir and let the grease turn it into a paste. Then I add in some beef broth and a dash of soy sauce, stir until the paste is incorporated into the liquid, and let it reduce to allow the flavours to concentrate. Then I add a a slurry made up of cornstarch and cream or milk to let it thicken into gravy. Adjust the taste with salt and black pepper. When I achieve the desired consistency, I pass the gravy through a sift to filter out any burnt bits from the meatballs. Voila! Great with meat, and fries!

This is an adaption of the original recipe by Margareta Child Landgren’s Meatballs recipe from Simply Swedish cookbook.

Swedish Meatballs

Yield: 4 servings
 
INGREDIENTS
  • 2 medium sized potatoes
  • 450g (about 1 lb) of ground beef (80/20 works great)
  • 50 ml of milk
  • ¼ cup of onion, finely chopped*
  •  ½  tsp of salt
  • ¼ tsp of ground white pepper
  • 1 egg
  • Olive oil or canola oil for cooking

* Original recipe calls for grated onions, but I like to fine chop them for some texture in mine

 
INSTRUCTIONS

Preparation

  1. Peel the potatoes. Place them in a pot and over with cold water. Bring to a boil and let them cook until the potatoes are soft. Drain and mash the potatoes with milk. Set aside and let it cool.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the ground beef, mashed potatoes, onion, egg, salt and white pepper. It might be a bit difficult to bine the beef and potatoes together at first, but keep mixing them with your hands. It will eventually combine into a smooth mixture.
  3. Remove the pan from heat and let cool for a few minutes.
  4. Make the meatballs. I usually make them about 1.25” to 1.5” in diameter. Make sure they are all relatively the same size so that they cook evenly at the same time.
  5. In a large pan over medium-high heat, heat up the olive or canola oil. Place the meatballs o the heat pan. Cook them in batches to avoid over crowding if your pan is not large enough. Let the meatballs cook for about 4 minutes or until the parts touching the pan are starting to brown and caramelize. Flip the meatballs and continue to cook them until they are all cooked through.
  6. Keep the cooked the meatballs in a baking dish a lid or cover with foil in the oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

Notes: I usually have these meatballs with a mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes or Korean sweet potatoes, and green beans. Sometimes, if we have it handy, we’d eat them with a side of lingonberry jam or sour cherry jam.

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