Hedgehogs in tomato sauce

In the times of the Soviet Union, meatballs or hedgehogs in tomato sauce often appeared on the menus of school cafeterias and kindergartens. Even today, this dish enjoys great popularity, especially when prepared at home. The main difference between meatballs and hedgehogs is that the latter includes raw rice instead of boiled. As a result, the grains stick out and protrude from the meatballs like needles. Hedgehogs are not fried, but are immediately stewed in a sauce of vegetables, tomatoes, and sour cream, which makes the dish very juicy.

Yield: 13 pieces.

Preparation time: 50 minutes.

Cuisine: Russian.

Caloric content: 169 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Ingredients

• pork tenderloin – 750 g;
• raw rice – 200 g;
• white onion – 220 g;
• egg C 1 – 1 pcs;
• rock salt, black pepper – to taste;
• carrot – 100 g;
• garlic – 2-3 cloves;
• tomato juice with pulp – 500 ml;
• white sugar – 15 g;
• sour cream – 70 g;
• dried Italian herbs – to taste.

Preparation

1. Prepare the ingredients for making hedgehogs in tomato sauce. Instead of pork, you can use any meat – beef, poultry, rabbit. Tomato juice can be replaced with tomato paste, diluted with water to the consistency of kefir. It is better to use sour cream with a high fat content.

2. Cut the pork meat into pieces and mince it in a meat grinder.

3. Rinse the rice several times until the drained water is clear.

4. Chop the onion into arbitrary pieces, but not too large.

5. Grate the carrot.

6. Sweeten the tomato juice with sugar and stir.

7. In a deep frying pan, sauté all the onion with 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Bring it just to transparency, do not over-fry.

8. Add the carrot and sauté for a couple of minutes.

9. Transfer half of the sautéed mixture to the meat mince.

10. Pour the remaining vegetables with tomato juice and bring to a boil.

11. Add the sour cream.

12. Stir the sauce, season with salt, and immediately remove from heat.

13. In the bowl with the already mixed mince and sauté, add the rice.

14. Crack in the egg.

15. Squeeze the garlic through a press.

16. Add salt, pepper, Italian herbs.

17. Mix everything thoroughly so that the mince is homogeneous.

18. Cover the bottom of the pot where the hedgehogs will be stewed with 3-4 tablespoons of sauce.

19. With wet hands, start rolling balls from the mince.

20. Place the preparations in the pot, and if all the hedgehogs do not fit in one layer, place them on top of the first one.

21. Pour everything with tomato sauce – the main thing is that it reaches at least halfway up the top layer of meatballs. If there is not enough prepared sauce, add a little boiled water. Simmer the preparations over low heat under a lid for 30-35 minutes.

Serve hedgehogs in tomato sauce hot, with any side dish – cereals, stewed cabbage, potatoes. Additionally, you can serve chilled sour cream. This dish will please both children and their parents. Give it a try, enjoy your meal!