Pork meatballs with tomato salsa
Pork is great in meatballs as it’s naturally full of flavour, especially if you ask your butcher to mince some pork belly or fatty shoulder, or a combination of the two, which is what I’ve used here. I love these great-value and versatile cuts – they rarely disappoint, whatever you do with them – and I mince my own at home. You can serve any seasonal salsa with this; try adding peppers or even make it a bit fruity with apples.
Timings
Prep time: 20 minutes, plus chilling time
Cook time: 15 minutes
Serves
4
Ingredients
For the meatballs
800g pork mince with at least 20% fat content
100g fresh white breadcrumbs
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp cumin seeds
vegetable or corn oil, for brushing
a pinch of sumac, to serve
For the tomato salsa
4 ripe red tomatoes, finely chopped
4 spring onions, halved lengthways and finely sliced
2 green or red chillies, finely chopped, seeds and all
2 tbsp chopped coriander
80ml olive oil
1? tsp red wine vinegar
Method
To make the meatballs, mix together all of the ingredients, except the oil and sumac, in a bowl
with some seasoning. Ensure everything is well distributed.Take a small portion of the mixture and form it into a flattened ball. Pan-fry it to check the seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Form the rest of the mixture into balls slightly larger than golf balls (you should get 16-20) and flatten them slightly.
Thread on to four skewers and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until needed.
To make the salsa, mix all of the ingredients together and season to taste.
Preheat a barbecue and let it burn down to a medium heat. Lightly oil then season the meatball skewers and carefully place them on the grill bars to cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, or until they are nicely charred and cooked through, turning them gently with a spatula.
Sprinkle the skewers with sumac. Serve with the salsa on the side.
