Pork meatballs braised in sweet and sour cabbage — a Honey & Co recipe 

Meatballs, it seems to us, are as much about texture as they are about flavour. They need to have a tiny bit of bounce without being gummy and have just enough structural integrity to keep them from crumbling into the sauce (there’s got to be sauce) while offering minimal resistance. You can safely say that a meatball that requires a knife is not worth eating. There are many ways to get that all important tender bite: soaked bread, some ricotta or thick yoghurt, grated potato or sweet potato, oat flakes. Our favourite way is to blitz onions and aromatics to a smooth, pungent blend (that we perversely like to call “milkshake”) and add that to the meat. In one swoop both flavour and texture are sorted.

Once you get the principle, the possibilities are endless, but as starting points go, this is a good one. Along with the onion, we blitz apples, coriander and ginger — enough freshness, tang and zing to mitigate the rich pork meat. You won’t need much more in the way of seasoning except for salt, a generous grinding of pepper and a sprinkling of ground caraway seeds.

Apple, ginger and caraway are used to season the braised sweet and soured cabbage you’ll be cooking and serving these meatballs with. Buttered pasta would be a nice complement, as would mashed or simply boiled potatoes or a clean green salad. A dollop of sour cream won’t go amiss. These meatballs will sit proud at the centre of your table, midweek or weekend, but for us the perfect meatball moment is on the sofa with a bowl and a spoon.

Pork meatballs braised in sweet and sour cabbage

Serves 4 

For the meatballs

For the braised cabbage

For coating the meatballs

1. In a small food processor blitz the apple, onion, ginger and coriander to a rough mince. If you don’t have one, grate everything instead and finely chop the coriander. Mix well with all the remaining meatball ingredients and shape into 12 balls of about 70g each, place on a tray, cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.

2. To braise the cabbage, heat the oil on a medium heat, in a large skillet or sauté pan, add the leek, cabbage, salt, sugar, bay leaves and caraway seeds. Cover. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through cooking. After 10 minutes, add the ginger slices, apple slices and vinegar, stir well to combine, then cover again, reduce the heat to low and simmer for a further 10 minutes.

3. While the cabbage is braising, heat enough vegetable oil for a 2cm deep level in a frying pan.

4. Whisk the egg white with the cornflour and pour over the meatballs, coating them as much as possible. Fry in a couple of batches in the hot oil, turning them over once the downside is golden. It should only take a minute or two on each side. Remove from the oil on to some kitchen paper.

5. Heat an oven to 180C with fan assist. Once all the balls are fried, place them in the skillet with the cabbage, move the cabbage around so the balls are nestled nicely, add 150ml water, cover and pop into the oven for 30 minutes.

6. Remove carefully, mix around a little, recover and return for the final 30 minutes, then serve. It will work beautifully with some sour cream and a green leaf salad.

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