Meatballs in tomato sauce on a bed of rice

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 cups rice
• 4 cups water
• 1 pinch of salt
• 500 g minced meat
• 1 cup(s) breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper
• some olive oil
• 500 g tomatoes, pureed or tomato sauce
• some tomato paste
• basil
• Garlic
• basil for garnishing

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 35 minutes

Place the rice in a pot and sauté briefly, then add water and salt and bring to a boil. Then turn down the heat and let it swell in the covered pot over low heat for about 15 minutes. Check occasionally whether there is still enough water in the pot and add a little more if necessary. While the rice is boiling, put the ground beef in a bowl and mix with the breadcrumbs (I used 1-2 cups because I went by feel and didn’t measure). Then add the eggs, salt and pepper and mix in. Add a little olive oil to a pan (ideally until the bottom is just lightly coated) and heat it up. Form meatballs the size of a ping-pong ball from the ground beef mixture and add them to the hot oil. Turn down the heat slightly and fry the balls slowly on all sides. They are only cooked when no light spots of ground beef are visible. While the ground meat is cooking, place the crushed tomatoes (or homemade tomato sauce) in a pot and add a little tomato paste, seasoning with salt, pepper, basil, and garlic to taste. Then add it to the pan with the finished meatballs and bring back to a boil. Arrange the rice on 4 plates like a bed. Place 1-2 meatballs in the center of each bed and pour tomato sauce over them. If desired, garnish with basil leaves. This dish goes best with arugula salad with mozzarella or lettuce.