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The national dish of Sweden - Meatballs

The national dish of Sweden - meatballs

The Swedish national dish consists of mashed potatoes, spicy meatballs, a creamy gravy and sourly taste from the cucumber and lingonberries. A perfect combination of flavors which is hard to resist to!
Prep Time 40 mins
Cook Time 20 mins
Total Time 1 hr
Course Main Course, Main Dish
Cuisine Swedish
Servings 4 (50 meatballs)

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 100 ml cream
  • 25 g breadcrumbs or Panko
  • 500 g mixed minced meat pork + beef
  • 1 small onion
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1 pinch allspice
  • 1 pinch black pepper freshly ground
  • 1 egg

Mashed potatoes

  • 1 kg potatoes
  • water
  • 100 ml milk
  • 100 ml cream
  • 1 tsp butter
  • 2 pinches white pepper

Gravy

  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp flour
  • 1 cube meat broth
  • 250 ml cream
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 pinch black pepper

Pickled cucumber

  • 1 cucumber
  • 100 ml vinegar
  • 150 ml water
  • 3 tsp sugar
  • 1 pinch salt

Raw-stirred lingonberries

  • 200 g lingonberries
  • 100 g sugar

Instructions
 

Meatballs

  • Mix the cream with the breadcrumbs and set aside for 10 minutes until the cream is absorbed. (time to start boiling the potatoes now)
  • Finely chop the onion
  • Mix the minced meat with salt, nutmeg, allspice and black pepper until it’s evenly spread.
  • Add the egg and mix until the minced meat becomes solid again. Stir in the bread crumbs mixture and onion.
  • Pour cold water on your hands to form small fine meatballs. Fry a few at a time in a frying pan with butter. The difficult part is to keep the round shape and at the same time get a good sear around.

Mashed potatoes

  • Peel and wash the potatoes. Cut them in 1½ cm slices. Boil them in salted water until they are soft, about 15 minutes. Drain.
  • Mash the potatoes using a potato press or a hand mixer in the pot. Add milk, cream and butter. Season with salt and white pepper.
  • Stir the mashed potatoes until it’s fluffy.

Gravy

  • Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour.
  • Crumble the meat broth and add it to the saucepan. Add water. Let the sauce boil for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Add the cream and season with salt, pepper and soy sauce.

Pickled cucumber

  • Slice cucumber thinly and squeeze out the water. Place in a bowl.
  • Pour over the vinegar, sugar, salt and water.
  • Mix and let soak for about 10 minutes.

Raw-stirred lingonberries

  • Stir together until sugar has dissolved
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