Meatballs With Saffron Rice

This recipe I´m sharing today is one of my own favorites. Every time that I cook this meal I get positive feedback from friends and family and the great thing about it is that it´s so easy to make, takes little time and the ingredients are so easy to find. Recently I organized a food party at home with my friends of different nationalities and decided to represent Persian cuisine with this food served with saffron rice and Mast Khiyar as side dish. As expected I got many compliments again and everybody was in love. Some of them even took some for their lunch next day. So I decided to share this with you all.

I also want to share with you a good news. Since in Persian cuisine saffron is an important ingredient I have been asked many times to recommend a good brand of saffron or to write a guide on how to find a high quality saffron brand. I usually did not answer these questions because I bought my consuming saffron directly from the farmers of saffron in fields of eastern Iran and I did not know about brands. But recently I tried some products from a company called Mehr Saffron and I loved their saffron. It is definitely one of my favorite brands of saffron now because of the amazing aroma and color that it gives to the food and also because of the elegant packaging. I recommend this brand to anyone who want to try Persian recipes with saffron in them.

The good news is that they have a website and you can purchase their products from anywhere around the world. Here is a link: https://www.mehrsaffron.com/

Recipe type 

• Beef Recipes

Course 

• Main dishes

Ingredients

•  1 medium onion
•  250 Grams ground beef
•  1 Teaspoon ground saffron dissolved into 1/4 cup hot water
•  1 Teaspoon butter
•  2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
•  2 Tablespoons tomato sauce
•  1 Teaspoon turmeric
•  1 Teaspoon pepper
•  Salt 

Instructions

Place the ground beef in a large bowl. Grate the onion using a blender or grate and add to the bowl with salt pepper and turmeric.

Add half of the saffron to the bowl and mix them well with your hand until it starts to look like a paste and stick to your fingers.

Now start to make cherry sized meatballs and place them in a non-stick pan.

Add vegetable oil and the butter to the pan and saute the meatballs over medium-low heat until lightly brown.

Then add the rest of the saffron, lower the heat to minimum, cover the lid and let it cook for 10 minutes.

Add the tomato sauce and gently stir for 4-5 minutes. Set aside

Serve it with saffron rice and enjoy!