Polish Meatballs {Pulpety}

Anna

8 years ago

85 / 100

Polish Meatballs {Pulpety}

I asked my 11-year-old today, what she would like for dinner… she quickly said: “pulpety”. A good way to guarantee a dinner success. I can always tell when she likes my food, and when she just tolerates it. She’ll never tell me that it doesn’t taste good, but if dinner takes more than 20 minutes, its clear, it’s not her favorite dish. But when I get so much enthusiasm from planning dinner, I’m guaranteed dinner satisfaction.

She was always a great eater. She was exposed to flavors of “normal food” from early age. I never cooked separate meals for her, and she accepted it as the only option… so we were lucky in this department, I know how fussy some kids can be with their eating habits leaving their parents with limited options and resorting to a couple of dishes they know their kids will eat.

One time, I think she was 4, I served pickled herring rolls with olives at a house party. Adults were sitting around the table, enjoying food and drink, and the kids ran up to see what they could snatch off the table. I asked: “Hanna, do you want some herring?”, she quickly came back “sure!” Stuffed her little face with a piece of fish rolled around a pimento olive and went on her way… we were all waiting for a reaction, but were surprisingly wowed with a lack of one.

Now, that she’s 11, her pallet is evolving and becoming more and more demanding. It’s not only normal for her to eat sour rye soup {white barszcz} or pasztet, she loves it! I think she truly enjoys different varieties of flavors. And to a cooking mom (a Polish cooking mom!) this is a big deal 🙂

Meatballs {pulpety} is a pretty popular dish among Polish children. Aromatic meatballs in irresistibly creamy gravy over warm kopytka or mashed potatoes renders this a kid friendly dish.

Traditionally, I’m using pork and beef mixture, but turkey would work great also. Beef is easy, as it normally comes ground. Pork however is a bit more challanging to find ground, however any grocer with a meat counter will grind any piece of meat when requested. I’m using a meat grinder attachment to my stand up KitchenAid mixer and not only put the meat through it, but also bread, garlic and the carrot for this particular recipe. This works well for me, as I can choose any cut of meat I prefer and always be sure that I’m eating real food, free of fillers and scraps.**

In the video below I will show you how easy it is to make these delicious Polish meatballs {pulpety}.

Polish Meatballs {Pulpety}

Yields: 30 meatballs
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 onion
2 tbsp of butter
About 1 lb / 500 g of beef
About 1 lb / 500 g of pork (pork loin or shoulder, but any part will do)
4 garlic cloves
1 boiled carrot (optional)
4 slices of bread or ½ cup of bread crumbs or 2 dinner rolls
2 tbsp of minced parsley
1 raw egg
½ tbsp of salt
½ tsp of ground pepper
4 c / 1 l of broth (chicken, beef or vegetable)
4 bay leaves
6-8 whole peppercorns and allspice berries (each)
6 slices of dried mushrooms
¾ c / 180 ml of cold water
3 tbsp of all-purpose flour

Instructions

Mince onion and sauté in butter until golden brown around the edges.
Cube meat and put through a meat grinder, follow with garlic, carrot and bread slices (if using bread).
To meat mixture add sautéd onion, parsley, egg, bread crumbs (if using instead of bread), salt, pepper. Mix until combined.
Heat broth in a medium pot with bay leaves, peppercorns, allspice berries, and mushrooms. Form even balls (I like using an ice-cream scooper, the balls come out the same size) about 2 inches / 5 centimeters in diameter. Drop raw balls into simmering broth (over low heat).
Simmer for 15 minutes. Take one out, cut open and see if it's cooked.
When cooked through, take meatballs out and strain the sauce through a small strainer.
In a small bowl, whisk cold water and flour. Return broth to pot and heat through. Add water / flour mixture to thicken the sauce. Bring to boil. Taste. Amount of salt will depend on your broth, so if you think it needs more, add a bit at a time.
Return meatballs to the sauce and heat before serving. Garnish with parsley.

Notes

Kids love this!

Serve over polish potato dumplings {kopytka} or mashed potatoes, with a side of a cold salad, e.g. beet salad, carrot salad, sauerkraut salad or my favorite side to a gravy-type dinner: a hot fried beet salad.

I hope you try serving this to your children and please do let me know how they turned out for you in comments below.

**my post includes affiliate links connecting you to amazon.com. If you choose to purchase something using my link, I will receive a small commission for talking about the product. With that said, please know that I’m only recommending products I absolutely believe in, use and, and am not only doing so to collect commission. Polish meatballs {pulpety}Polish meatballs {pulpety}Polish meatballs {pulpety}Polish meatballs {pulpety}