Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Patty Paley [née Seglin]

At one point the conservation office had a recipe exchange. Les Seglin brought this recipe from his daughter.

Hal really liked this. I made a number of substitutions, starting with prepared meatballs to save time, and cutting down sugar and salt. My variation is below.

Patti says, "Great for electric frypan!" Serves 4 to 6.

• 5 beef bouillon cubes
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 cup soft bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 egg
• 1 20-ounce can pineapple chunks
• 1/3 cup Realemon juice
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 large green pepper, chopped

In a small saucepan dissolve 2 bouillon cubes in water.

In a large bowl, combine beef, crumbs, onions, bouillon liquid, egg. Mix well. Shape into meatballs. Brown meatballs, pour off fat

In a 2 cup measure, combine 1/4 cup pineapple syrup, Realemon, sugar, soy sauce, bouillon, and ginger. Add to meatballs. Cover. Simmer 20 to 25 minutes.

Combine remaining pineapple syrup and cornstarch. Stir into meatballs, cook and stir until thickened.

Add pineapple and green pepper. Heat through.

Serve over white rice.

Here's what I did:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil (maybe a bit more, enough to bind the flour)
• several grinds black pepper (more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 tablespoons flour (corn starch might be better here, but we were out of it)
• 1 can pineapple chunks (if it's a big can, use 1/2 the fruit)
• 1 cube beef bouillon, dissolved in 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1 tablespoon Realemon juice
• 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar (or a similarly mild one)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 large carrot, sliced (replaces green pepper because that's what we had, and I like cooked carrot better than cooked peppers anyway. Broccoli is good, too.)
• 10 (5 per person) frozen meatballs (from Simek's, a good local butcher)

In a large frying pan, sautée the onion in olive oil with pepper and ginger.

When the onion is translucent, sprinkle the flour over it and stir until the onion is coated in oil and flour. Add all the juice from the pineapple, stir to dissolve flour. Then add all the other liquid ingredients. Mix thoroughly and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add carrot, meatballs (still frozen) and pineapple. Bring the mixture back to a boil and simmer until sauce is reduced, carrots are tender (but not mushy!), and meatballs are heated through, about 20 to 25 minutes.

Serve over brown rice. (We used soup bowls because there was still a lot of sauce)