Fresh and Vibrant
If you ask us, there is nothing better in a dish than fresh flavors and vibrant colors. As they say, you eat with your eyes first! Of course, not every dish is going to look perfect, and we like our dishes to be hearty and satiating before they look like they belong in a Michelin-star restaurant. But when you get that perfect combination of beautiful ingredients and delicious flavor, that’s what you want! And summer is all about freshness and bright flavor, so we hope that you are inspired by today’s dish. However, we have to emphasize that this is a dish that is delicious all year round, providing comfort in the colder months and brightness in the warmer months. So shoutout to any southern hemisphere readers out there – make this!
Today’s Recipe
Today’s recipe is for a Danish dish called “boller i karry.” Most directly, this can be translated as “balls in curry,” but that is one of the least appetizing names for a dish that I can think of! “Boller” in Danish (and the other Scandinavian languages as well) is a word that can mean many things: buns, balls, rolls, and inappropriate things that we won’t mention here. In this context, it means meatballs! The curry part comes in when we make the sauce, which is based on a curry powder blend. Curry is not a traditionally Danish ingredient, but this dish has been popular since the 1800’s when spices and spice blends were introduced in Denmark. Which type of curry powder you use doesn’t really matter, as many different curry blends exist. Make sure it’s one that you like, as it does provide most of the flavor in this dish! Otherwise, the concept is simple enough: meatballs in a creamy curry sauce that you eat over rice. This is a family favorite in many Danish households, so we hope you give it a go!
Making Boller i Karry
This dish is very customizable, as with most of our savory dinner recipes, so please replace whatever you or your family don’t like with something you do like! We like our sauce with finely chopped apples, onion, celery, and bell peppers added, but feel free to change it up or omit ingredients. Add any type of dairy or non-dairy alternative to make the sauce creamy (e.g. heavy cream, coconut milk, Greek yoghurt). In terms of the meatballs, you can use your favorite type of ground meat. We like pork, but chicken or turkey would work well too. The leaner the meat, the drier and less flavorful the meatballs will turn out, so just be aware of this. But obviously, use whatever you like and adjust based on your own dietary needs! You can fry the meatballs or boil them in water. We have used both methods before and they both turn out delicious. We hope you try this out – enjoy!
Boller i karry (Meatballs in Curry Sauce)
Ingredients
MEATBALLS
- 450-500 grams (1 lb) ground pork
- 1 large egg
- 35 grams (~1/4 cup) flour
- 150 grams (about 1/2 of a large onion) onion, diced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Splash of milk, if needed
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying *if you're boiling meatballs instead, you will just need water in a pot.
CURRY SAUCE
- 2 tbsp oil or butter
- 150 grams (about 1/2 of a large onion, use the remainder from making the meatballs!) onion, finely diced
- 90 grams (1 medium) apple, finely diced
- 35-40 grams (1 stalk) celery, finely diced
- 160 grams (1 medium) bell pepper, finely diced
- 1.5 tbsp curry powder *you can adjust the amount depending on the blend that you are using!
- 1 tsp turmeric *you can omit this if you don't have it on hand!
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp flour
- 400-500 milliliters ( about 1 and 2/3 cup) vegetable stock *if you boil the meatballs for the cooking process, you can also use the water you boiled the meatballs in for this instead!
- 2-3 tbsp Greek yoghurt, heavy cream, or dairy alternative
Instructions
- Please note: we've listed out the grams for the diced vegetables in this recipe for reference, but when we are cooking and not baking, we don't often weigh our ingredients and just use whole vegetables, or half of a vegetable where needed!
- If you would like to boil the meatballs, make sure to add water to a large pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
- Start by making your meatball mixture. Dice half of an onion and add to a large mixing bowl, along with ground pork, an egg, flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
- Break up the ground pork and the egg and add a splash of milk if needed to make the mixture come together easier. Make sure not to add too much!
- Combine until you have a homogenous mixture.
- Roll the meatball mixture into balls. If you have the patience, you can make them smaller, about 1 inch in diameter. If you're a little bit impatient with this step (like us) you can make them a little bit larger!
- Option 1; frying: Heat up a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pan (we use a cast iron skillet for this) over medium heat and place the meatballs in the pan; you may need to do this in a few batches depending on the size of your pan. We were able to fit all of them in our 12 inch skillet. Flip the meatballs after about 4-5 minutes, paying attention to how browned they are getting; flip them earlier if needed! Cook for another 4 minutes on the second side, until fully cooked through the center.
- Option 2; boiling: Place the meatballs in the pot of boiling water and cook for 6-10 minutes until fully cooked through the center. Save the meatball water for the sauce if you would like.
- When done cooking the meatballs, place on a plate to the side while you prepare the curry sauce. You can make the meatballs ahead of time and store in the fridge until ready to make the sauce. Now is also a good time to begin cooking any rice or side that you would like to eat with this!
- To make the curry sauce, start by prepping your vegetables. We finely dice our onion, apple, celery, and bell pepper. If you like it chunkier, you don't need to cut them as finely. You can also blend the sauce at the end for a totally smooth curry sauce!
- After you've prepped the vegetables, heat up a few tablespoons of butter or oil in large pan, or a pot, over medium heat. We use the same skillet that we cook the meatballs in when frying for the sauce as well.
- Add in your onion and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, until the onion begins to get translucent. Add in the diced apple and bell pepper and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes.
- Once the vegetables have softened, add in turmeric, curry powder, flour, and salt and pepper. Stir until the spices have coated the vegetables evenly.
- Pour in vegetable stock/meatball water a bit at a time, stirring as you pour. The sauce should thicken up as it cooks because of the flour. If it is too thick, you can add more stock/water as needed! Make sure the mixture reaches a simmer so it has fully thickened.
- Add in yoghurt/heavy cream/dairy alternative and stir well to combine.
- Add the meatballs to the curry sauce and stir to coat them in the sauce.
- Cook until the meatballs have heated through, just a few minutes.
- Serve alongside rice (or other side); garnish with parsley or cilantro, or green onion. Enjoy!
