Braised Onion Stew with Meatballs

Ingredients (Serves 6–8)

• 500 g ground beef

• 1 kg pearl onions (or 1 kg medium onions)

• 2 tablespoons red pepper powder

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• 3 medium tomatoes

• 3 tablespoons tomato paste

• 2 teaspoons salt

• 2 teaspoons black pepper

• 2 tablespoons vinegar

Preparation

1. Pre-Preparation

• Peel and wash the pearl onions.

• If using medium onions, peel, wash, and cut into large chunks.

2. Meatball Preparation

• Mix the ground beef with 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper.

• Form small meatballs slightly smaller than a sparrow’s finger.

• Reserve 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil to sauté the onions; fry the meatballs in the remaining oil. Do not over-fry.

3. Cooking

• Sauté the pearl onions in the reserved 2 tablespoons of oil.

• Add grated tomatoes and cook for a few more minutes.

• Stir in tomato paste, black pepper, salt, and red pepper powder; continue sautéing.

  

• Add enough water to just cover the onions.

• Once the water starts boiling, add the fried meatballs with their oil and cook until done.

• About 10 minutes before removing from heat, add vinegar.

Tips

• Preventing Onions from Splitting: To avoid the pearl onions from bursting while cooking, make a small “+” cut at the root end of each peeled onion.