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Meatball soup with rice

Meatball Soup with Rice

A hearty meatball soup — quick, tasty, and easy! The first question cooks tend to have before making this soup is how tefteli differ from frikadelki, since both are meatballs. Here's the thing: frikadelki are mostly just meat and seasonings (salt, pepper, fresh or dried herbs) plus a binder (egg or flour). Tefteli, on the other hand, also have a grain mixed in — rice or buckwheat — which makes them resemble "porcupine meatballs" when cooked the right way. But soup is the order of the day, so let's get back to it.

Maria

Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Water

Potatoes

Carrots

Onion

Tomatoes

Vegetable oil

Ground black pepper

Salt

Ground black pepper

Salt

Ground meat

300

Rice

Eggs

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 20 % 2 g

Fats 40 % 4 g

Carbohydrates 40 % 4 g

60 kcal

GI: 67 / 33 / 0

Cooking method

Step 1:

Gather the ingredients. For meatball-and-rice soup you'll need: water (2 liters), potatoes, carrot, tomato (I'm using cherry tomatoes, so I used more of them), an onion, vegetable oil, bay leaf, ground black pepper, and salt.
Step 2:

Pour the water into a pot, add a whole peeled onion and salt. Set it over the heat and bring to a boil. I also recommend adding a small stalk of celery — the broth tastes better with it.
Step 3:

Peel the vegetables. Cut the potatoes into medium cubes.
Step 4:

Grate the carrot.
Step 5:

Peel the tomato and grate it. You can use store-bought puréed tomatoes or ready-made tomato paste instead.
Step 6:

The meatballs. For these you'll need ground meat (I'm using beef, but any kind works: pork, pork-and-beef, chicken, or turkey), rice, an egg, ground black pepper, and salt.
Step 7:

Rinse the rice and drain it in a colander. Add the rice, egg, ground black pepper, and salt to the ground meat.
Step 8:

Mix everything thoroughly.
Step 9:

Shape small meatballs.
Step 10:

Drop the meatballs into the boiling water. Cook for about 10 minutes, skimming the foam.
Step 11:

In a skillet, sauté the carrot in vegetable oil until soft.
Step 12:

Then add the tomato. Cook together for 3–4 minutes.
Step 13:

Add the potatoes and the sautéed vegetables to the pot. Cook, stirring, over medium heat for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are done. You can let the finished soup rest, covered, for 10 minutes to let the flavors settle, then ladle it into bowls and sprinkle with chopped herbs. Enjoy!