Tomato soup with meatballs

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 pack of tomatoes, pureed
• Water
• Vegetable broth or meat broth
• 150 g minced meat
• 1 shot of water
• 1 tbsp breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper
• garlic powder
• 1 handful of noodles (soup) or long grain rice, as desired
• 2 tbsp soup greens, dried, as desired
• 1 tsp sambal oelek, to taste

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 40 minutes

like in Holland

You can prepare the soup with or without soup vegetables, rice, or noodles. Cook the soup noodles separately and add them later. Place the passata in a pot with the same amount of water, bring to a boil, and add the granulated stock to taste. If you don’t like your soup as tomatoey, use a little more water. Add the dried soup vegetables and rice, if desired, and then simmer gently until the rice is almost cooked. In the meantime, put the minced meat in a bowl, season, and add a good splash of water. Add enough breadcrumbs to form a compact mass. Roll the meatballs into small balls about 1.5 cm in diameter. Carefully drop each ball into the hot soup at the same time and simmer for about 7 minutes. If you like the soup spicier, add a little sambal oelek to taste when serving. My mother has also made the soup with brown rice, and it was very, very tasty. It takes a long time to cook, but it still has a bit of a bite. The longer cooking time doesn’t harm the balls; you can always add them a little later. We always ate the soup before eating toasties (I’ve posted the recipe), and on weekends, like in almost all Dutch families, there was always a pot of soup on the stove.