Cajun meatballs

Love meatballs? Try this low-calorie recipe that uses turkey mince, served in a hot pepper sauce.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 green pepper, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 400g can plum tomatoes
• 1 chicken stock cube
• dash of Tabasco sauce or hot pepper sauce
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced
• handful coriander, roughly chopped
• rice or mash, to serve

For the meatballs

• 1 tbsp Cajun seasoning
• 500g pack turkey mince
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Method

1. Put the butter in a pan over a low heat. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring all the time to make a roux. Cook until the roux is hazelnut brown in colour – make sure that it doesn’t burn. Tip in the vegetables, garlic and bay leaf, stir briefly, then pour in the tomatoes and 1½ cans of water. Crumble in the stock cube, add the hot sauce, then cover and cook for 15 mins, stirring occasionally, while you make the meatballs.
2. Work the spice and some seasoning into the turkey mince. Try not to over-handle or it will toughen. Shape into 20 meatballs.
3. Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan and quickly brown the meatballs in batches until they are nicely coloured on all sides.
4. Stir the sauce, then drop in the meatballs and cook on a low heat for 10 mins until the turkey is cooked through. Scatter over the spring onions and coriander, and serve with some rice or mash.

source bbcgoodfood