Mantai – Homemade Ground Meat Patties

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Meatball mix

1. 1
   Grate the onion.

   Grater
2. 2
   Squeeze the onion dry in a clean cloth.

   Kitchen towel
3. 3
   Mix the ground meat with the onion, garlic, parsley, egg, flour, cumin, paprika, salt and black pepper until evenly combined.
4. 4
   Knead the mixture 3 minutes, until smooth and sticky.
5. 5
   Chill the mixture 30 minutes.

   Refrigerator
6. 6
   With wet hands, shape patties the size of a fist.

   💡Wet hands don't stick to the mixture, and the patties come out smooth and even.

To assemble

1. 7
   Heat the canola oil in a deep pan and brown the meatballs on all sides, just until browned on the outside. Transfer to a plate.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveDeep skillet (sauté pan)

   💡What you brown (meat, patties, schnitzel) goes into hot oil: in lukewarm oil it soaks it up and comes out greasy. For onion and garlic that you soften, oil heated over medium or low heat is enough; do not wait for it to smoke.
2. 8
   Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStovePot
3. 9
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
4. 10
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
5. 11
   Add and stir about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.
6. 12
   Return the meatballs to the sauce. Turn down the heat, cover and simmer 20 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked and the sauce thickens.

   ⚙ SimmeringStoveLid

   💡Drop the meatballs into boiling sauce and don't stir at first: that way they firm up and keep their shape.
7. 13
   Serve with white rice.