These porcupine meatballs baked in a rich sour cream and tomato sauce are a perfect mix of deliciousness and nostalgia!
Serve with our creamy Mashed Potatoes or Baked Mashed Potato Casserole with Mushrooms.
Just a couple of days ago I wrote about my favourite childhood meal, the recipe that won me many friends including my parents-in-law! Curious?
Check out my best Vareniki recipe! And today I am sharing another childhood favourite, Porcupine Meatballs baked in sour cream and tomato sauce or as they are known in Russia ‘Tefteli’!
My mom made them a lot because there were never complaints when porcupine meatballs were for dinner. They are so delicious with mashed potatoes or if you want to go the Russian way, try them with buckwheat kasha!
What Are Porcupine Meatballs?
If you are not familiar with porcupine meatballs (hedgehog meatballs in Russian), you better listen up because you are going to LOVE them.
They are a combination of meat and rice. These meatballs their name because rice often pokes out of them and resembles porcupine quills! They are hugely popular with children.
My mother always mixed ground beef and pork for a juicier, more flavourful meatball. However, you can use just ground beef.
Traditionally they are cooked in a rich tomato sauce with an addition of sour cream.
Recipe Tips and Notes
Creamy tomato sauce, the meatballs are smothered in, is my personal favourite. Although Russians don’t have a monopoly on ‘creamy tomato sauces’, admittedly they feature prominently in many cuisines, this sauce is quite spectacular!
Most Russian and Ukrainian sauces have an onion and carrot base that gives them a slightly sweet and intensely delicious taste.
The onions and carrots are cooked in oil and butter for at least 15 minutes until their natural sugars are released and they become caramelised. Don’t rush this step as it is crucial for the authentic taste.
As I mentioned already, the meatballs themselves are made from a combination of ground beef and pork. The rice that gets mixed in is pre-cooked. I also flavour my meatballs with sauteed onions and carrots.
Don’t forget to brown the meatballs before you bake them in the sauce. They are not cooked all the way through in this step, just seared on the outside. This add extra flavour and improves the texture of the meatballs.
Use full fat sour cream as low fat is less stable and tends to separate in a hot oven. Alternatively you can use heavy cream instead.
Finally there is dill. Dill finds its way in most Eastern European dishes and they are better for it! Feel free to use parsley if you are not a dill fan like me.
Serving Suggestions
Porcupine meatballs are delicious with mashed potatoes. Don’t forget to make them! I also like to add a simple tomato and cucumber salad when I serve them to my family and friends.
More Classic Russian Main Dishes to Try:
This recipe was originally published in 05/2017, updated and republished in 05/2021.
Porcupine Meatballs in Creamy Tomato Sauce (Tefteli)
Ingredients
For the porcupine meatballs
- 100g/1/2 cup rice uncooked
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large carrot grated
- 1 lbs ground beef extra lean
- 1 lbs ground pork extra lean
- 1 tbsp fresh dill chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 0.5 tsp pepper
For the creamy tomato sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 large carrot grated
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 tbsp fresh dill chopped
- 400g/14oz canned tomatoes
- 250ml/1 cup chicken stock
- 3 tbsp sour cream full fat
- salt
Instructions
- Cook rice in plenty of water the same way you would cook pasta until al dente. Rice shouldn't be too soft, which should take about 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- In a frying pan heat olive oil and butter. Cook onions and carrots over low heat for 10 minutes until tender.
- In a large bowl combine beef, pork, dill, onions, carrots, rice, salt and pepper.
- Roll meatballs, then brown them on all sides in a little oil but don't cook all the way through. Set aside.
- In a large and deep pan cook onions and carrots in olive oil and butter over low heat for at least 15 minutes until tender and caramelised, add minced garlic and cook for a few seconds while stirring, add dill, pureed plum tomatoes and stock, turn the heat up and bring to a boil.
- Take off the heat and stir in sour cream. Return the meatballs back to the pan and spoon the sauce over them. The sauce should nearly cover them. If it doesn't, add more stock.
- Bake covered at 300F/165C for 40 minutes, then uncover and bake 10 minutes longer. (If baked at a higher temperature sour cream tends to separate!)
