Mellow Meatballs

If you felt a tremor tonight it's because there was a small earthquake taking us one step closer hell freezing over. I made this recipe with Meatless Meatballs. Whaaaa? Yeah, that's right meatless meatballs. Here's the part where hell nearly freezes over. Husband not only knowingly ate the meatless meatballs but actually liked them. I repeat. Husband knowingly ate meatless meatballs and then admitted he liked them. I am breathless.

Why am I breathless? Because we're talking about the man who loves eating meat and if I serve him a meal of just vegetables he thinks it's an appetizer and then says so where's lunch?..because according to him it's not a real meal unless there is meat in the dish. This is the man who when I sucked in air through my teeth in disgust as a truck of pigs were being led into a slaughter house, making the sound "ssssssssst", says to me "Sounds like bacon cooking!". This man liked this meal. This meatless meal. This is a massive victory for me. For all mankind really. Because if my husband likes this dish with meatless meatballs - you will too.

Nigella herself says this dish is just another version of the 'Curry in a Hurry' which we also enjoyed. So if you liked the Curry in a Hurry you will like this. The prep and cook time for this meal is about 35 minutes if you chop everything yourself like I did. Nigella suggests that you use the pre-cut stuff from your supermarket. But honestly, why do I want to pay 3 times more for something when I can take 5 minutes of my own time and so the same thing. And if you are cooking with the right mind set and focusing on what you're doing prep work, like chopping, is actually quite relaxing. (no I don't have kids) Rather than powering through this recipe I took my time with it and relaxed while making this meal. Which was nice because I did run into a problem at the grocery store with this, though not for the reason you're thinking...I couldn't read my grocery list. One item in particular, all I could see was 'can of chopped tin'. Obviously this was not correct. Eventually I willed my mind to remember the ingredient - chopped tomato. And after all the agony I went thru to come up with that I ended up deciding not to buy a can of chopped tomatoes because we had 3 tomatoes at home needing to be used. So I just chopped them myself.

Much like curry in a hurry this meal is all in the prep work and once you're done all your chopping you just dump the ingredients in the pan in the right order and at the right time. Then magically dinner is ready after a few stirs. Meatballs are always a fun meal and a huge comfort food so give this a try. And if you're feeling experimental make this with meatless meatballs. Husband said he would eat this again meatless and all. I'm convinced that if he liked this a la veggie version anyone will.

PS - I made this with green curry paste asn I HATE red curry. The actual recipe is for the red curry but I've found you can make any curry recipe with the paste that best suites your taste buds.