Persian Meat Balls and Potatoes | Kale Gonjeshki

Kale gonjeshki is a very easy dish to make and the ingredients are very beneficial. If you are in a hurry and you want to make a super easy dish, just think of kale gonjeshki. It will be a fantastic choice. The point is, you are going to make a traditional dish that is quick and is made in a flash!

Persian Meat Balls and Potatoes | Kale Gonjeshki

In Iran, many dishes are famous for their origins. Even though the dishes are cooked in different cities, Iranian people usually enjoy eating each dish in its origin. It is said that "Kale Gonjeshki" (this term means: in the size of the head of a sparrow) is originally from the city of Tehran. Like many other dishes, there are different recipes to prepare Persian Meat Balls and Potatoes. In every individual recipe the basics are the same and the difference are only in the details.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine persian

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  

• 500 grams minced meat
• 2 onions
• 2 chopped potatoes
• 4 tablespoons fried onions
• meat stock (using homemade stock is recommended)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 soupspoons thick brewed saffron
• Salt, pepper and turmeric as much as required
• lemon juice as much as required

Instructions

 

• To cook meat balls and potatoes, first of all, Grate the onions and remove their extra juice. Put them in a big bowl. Add the minced meat, sخme salt and turmeric. Knead long enough to reach a consistent combination.

  If you have more time for preparing this dish, it's a good idea to let the combination rest in a fridge for some hours.
• After the combination has been kneaded, take small pieces of it and use your hands to make small rounded meat balls (as big as walnuts, even a little smaller).
• Use a suitable pan, add some oil and preheat it. The small meatballs which are called Koufteh Ghel Gheli in Persian, need to be fried and cooked in the oil completely.
• Choose a bigger pot. Dice an onion and let it fry in the pot. Some salt and turmeric are added at this point. When the pieces of the onion look golden, add some tomato paste and stir fry it long enough for the smell and taste of rawness to be gone. When the tomato paste seems to have opened up, add the raw chopped potatoes and some liquid Stock.
• After the combination in the pot starts boiling, add the meatballs to the pot. The ingredients must remain in the pot for some time so that the taste of the ingredients will be blended.
• In the final 30 minutes the thick brewed saffron, lemon juice and some salt must be added to the pot. Once again, let all the ingredients boil.

Summary of the instructions to cook Meat Balls an Potatoes:

• The meatballs should be cooked, and then some onions, some tomato paste and the chopped potatoes are cooked separately in a pot with stock.
• After the stock started boiling and the ingredients look half-cooked, the meatballs area added to the main pot. We let the ingredients cook for some more time, but generally, the longer, the better.
• And finally, some minutes before the cooking is done, salt, pepper, brewed saffron and lemon juice are added as flavors.

Topping and Serving Kale Gonjeshky

This dish consists of meatballs, potatoes and a lovely juice.

It is usually served in bigger bowls, because for serving it, different types of bread are cut in small pieces and then added to the juice. This combination (small pieces of bread (breadcrumbs) + the juice of the dish) is called “Tilid” in Persian.

Some times, Meatballs with potatoes are served with rice.

Tips for cooking Meat balls and Potatoes (Kale Gonjeshki)

• The fried onions should be hot, dry and diced nicely.
• If you don’t have any stock, you can use some solid stock pills. They usually contain some salt. So if you want to use them, be careful not to over-use the salt.
• Using less water when brewing the saffron, will give it and the dish a better color.
• The meatballs can be cooked with mutton and beef. Keep in mind that mutton will shrink during the process of cooking. So you must form bigger rounded meatballs.
• Using too much water would make the dish taste weaker.

What about you? Have you ever cooked or tried Meat balls with potatoes? How did you like it? In other cuisines, do you know any dishes similar to this one? We would love to know about you experiences!