Hedgehogs are a very juicy and tender variation on the theme of meatballs. This dish is literally made for family dinners, suitable for even the smallest eaters. It owes its name to its appearance, the “needles” of the dish are provided by the addition of rice to the minced meat. True, they will stick out funny only if you put the cereal raw, otherwise you will end up with ordinary-looking, but still very tasty meat balls. Moreover, the rice should be long, not round.

For minced meat, you can choose absolutely any type of meat or fish. The main thing is its juiciness. Therefore, we recommend not using beef in pure form, and dilute it with pork or chicken. To keep the hedgehogs in shape and increase their satiety, bread crumbs, flour, and breadcrumbs are often added, and carrots and onions will help make the taste fresher. This dish is usually not pampered with spices, limiting itself to the classic salt and pepper.

Minced hedgehogs with rice in the oven - step by step photo recipe

The good thing about hedgehogs is that you don’t have to prepare a side dish for them. After all, they already contain rice. Many people confuse this dish with meatballs. However, the latter differ in that the rice is pre-boiled before mixing with minced meat. When cooking hedgehogs, this need disappears.

We will need the following ingredients:

• Minced meat (it can be beef, chicken, or mixed) – 400 gr.;
• Rice – 300 gr. (it’s best to take long-grained, but not steamed);
• Onion – 1-2 pcs.;
• Carrots – 1 pc.;
• Sour cream - a couple of tablespoons;
• Tomato paste - a couple of tablespoons;
• Cheese – 70-100 gr.;
• Egg;
• Salt and spices.

Cooking hedgehogs in the oven

As mentioned above, rice does not need to be boiled. Mix it in a cup with minced meat and finely chopped onion. Add one egg for viscosity. If the mixture sticks to your hands, wet them cold water. Don't forget to add salt and pepper.

After obtaining a homogeneous mixture, we begin to form the hedgehogs. Choose their size as desired. Some people like large balls, and after eating one of these, you can already get enough. For some, small hedgehogs are preferable.

After forming the rice and meat balls, we begin preparing the filling. Chop the onions and carrots and mix them. Add sour cream and tomato paste to the mixture. The latter can be replaced with ketchup. Pour the mixture with boiled water or prepared meat broth. The amount of prepared dressing (sauce) should be enough to ensure that the hedgehogs are almost completely closed.

Cover the container with the dish with foil and place it in an oven preheated to 180-190 degrees. The baking time for minced hedgehogs with rice depends on their size, and, as a rule, is about 40-50 minutes.

10 minutes before readiness, remove the pan with the dish from the oven and remove the foil. We grate the cheese, sprinkle it on the surface of the hedgehogs, and put them back to bake. We no longer cover the pan with foil. The cheese will melt and create a delicious crust. Serve meat hedgehogs with herbs and sour cream.

How to cook meat hedgehogs with gravy?

Although hedgehogs and meatballs are very similar to each other, we do not forget that these dishes are still different. Therefore, in in this case Meat balls should not be fried, as this will deprive them of their very essence - the sticking out needles. To make tomato sauce, you can use ground tomatoes, homemade juice or tomato paste.

Required ingredients:

• 0.5 kg minced meat;
• ½ tbsp. rice;
• 1+1 onion (for hedgehogs and for gravy);
• 1 cold egg;
• 3 tomatoes;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 1 tbsp. flour;
• salt, sugar, pepper, herbs.

Cooking steps:

1. Boil the rice until half cooked.
2. To form “hedgehogs” we take twisted meat, finely chopped onion, cooled rice, egg, add salt and pepper, mix thoroughly.
3. We roll the resulting minced meat into small balls, which should be placed on the bottom of a thick-walled saucepan or pan. There will be quite a bit of gravy, so whatever the container you choose, its sides should be high. Ideally, lay out all the meat balls in one layer, but if this doesn’t work out, then it’s not a problem, we place them on the second floor.
4. For the gravy, fry grated carrots with chopped onions in a frying pan; when the frying is ready, add tomatoes pureed in a blender or paste diluted in water. After a couple of minutes, add flour, mix and continue frying for about 30 seconds, pour in about 3 tbsp in a thin stream. boiling water, stir immediately, allowing the flour to disperse evenly, bring to a boil, continuing to stir.
5. Add salt, dried herbs, spices and sugar to the gravy to your taste. The last ingredient is required, otherwise our sauce will lose much of its taste.
6. Pour the sauce over the hedgehogs and simmer covered for up to half an hour.

Hedgehogs in a slow cooker - recipe

Required ingredients:

• 0.5 kg headlight;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 onion;
• 1 bell pepper;
• half a multi-cooker measuring cup of rice;
• 40 ml tomato paste;
• 2 tbsp. l. flour;
• 100 g sour cream;
• salt, spices, herbs.

Stages of cooking hedgehogs in a slow cooker:

1. We prepare cleanly washed and peeled vegetables: grate the carrots on a medium grater, finely chop the onion, cut the pepper into thin strips..
2. Diligently and tastefully beat the minced meat on the table for a couple of minutes, add half of the prepared onion, rice, and spices to it.
3. Saute the remaining vegetables on the “Baking” for about a quarter of an hour.
4. While the vegetables are cooking in the slow cooker, mix sour cream with tomato and flour, pour 400 ml of boiling water into them, stir until smooth.
5. Place rice and meat balls on the vegetables, pour the resulting sauce and cook on “Stew” for 1.5 hours.

If you cook “hedgehogs” in the double boiler mode, you get dietary or children's version dishes.

Recipe for hedgehogs in a frying pan

Required ingredients:

• 0.5 kg minced meat;
• 1 onion;
• 2 garlic cloves;
• 1 egg;
• 30-40 ml tomato sauce or pastes;
• 1 carrot;
• a bunch of greenery;
• 100 g rice;
• 2 tbsp. flour;
• 100g sour cream;
• ½ tbsp. water.

The procedure for cooking hedgehogs in a frying pan:

1. Grind the peeled carrots, garlic cloves and onions in a blender or by hand.
2. Finely chop the greens (dill, parsley), you can add basil to give the dish a Mediterranean touch.
3. Mix the minced meat with vegetables, add raw or semi-cooked rice, herbs and egg. Stir, add salt and pepper. The resulting mass should be homogeneous, thoroughly mixed, and soft.
4. We make neat koloboks, roll them in flour to give an appetizing crust.
5. Fry the meat balls in oil on all sides. Our hedgehogs are ready! If desired, you can prepare the sauce.
6. Mix sour cream, preferably homemade, tomato sauce, a little salt and hot water, mix.
7. Pour the gravy over our “urchins” and simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens. Usually this action takes no more than half an hour.

Hedgehogs - recipe for cooking in a saucepan

This recipe is dedicated to all connoisseurs of simple, but very tasty and satisfying dishes.

To prepare it you need:

• 0.9 kg minced meat;
• 100 g rice;
• 1 onion;
• ½ tbsp. homemade cream4
• 2 tbsp. milk;
• 100 g butter
• 2 garlic cloves;
• 2 yolks.

Cooking steps:

1. Grate the peeled onion on a coarse grater or pass it through a blender.
2. Mix the minced meat with rice and onions until smooth.
3. From the rice-meat mass we form cones 5 cm in diameter.
4. Place a small piece of butter on the bottom of a thick-walled pan, after it has melted, place the meat balls on top, fill them halfway with water, cover with a lid and bring to a boil. After which the fire can be reduced to a minimum. Total time stewing - about 45 minutes, while the “hedge” should be turned periodically.
5. Prepare the cream sauce in a small saucepan. Melt 50 g of butter at its bottom, fry chopped garlic on it, after a minute add cream, and after a couple more - milk. Do not bring the mixture to a boil, simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes.
6. Beat the yolks thoroughly, pour in the sauces, and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes. The main thing is not to let it boil! Add salt to taste.
7. Remove the finished meat balls from the heat, pour in the sauce and let it brew.

Hedgehogs in sour cream sauce

Required ingredients:

• 0.5 kg minced meat:
• 0.1 kg rice;
• 1 egg;
• 1 carrot;
• 1 onion;
• 100 g butter;
• greens, salt, pepper;
• 50 ml tomato sauce;
• 200 g sour cream;
• 0.5 liters of low-fat broth;
• 1 tbsp. premium flour.

Stages of cooking “hedgehogs” in sour cream filling:

1. Rinse until clean water rice, boil it, put it in a colander and rinse again, let the excess liquid drain.
2. Peel and chop the onions and carrots by hand or in a blender, fry them in half the oil.
3. Beat the egg.
4. Finely chop the greens.
5. Add cooled rice, fried vegetables, tomato, egg, chopped herbs to the minced meat, add salt, pepper and mix thoroughly by hand.
6. We form balls from the minced meat and fry them a little.
7. Pour flour into a clean and dry hot frying pan, fry it until it acquires a golden hue, remove from heat, and cool. Separately mix sour cream with warm broth, pour the resulting mixture into the flour, stir until smooth, add salt.
8. We put the “edges” in a deep form, not close to each other, and fill them with sauce. Bake in the center of a hot oven for about 45 minutes. Serve sprinkled with herbs, accompanied by vegetable salad.

Try to cook the minced meat yourself. If you buy store-bought, give preference to a refrigerated product rather than a deep-frozen one. We recommend that you purchase ready-made minced meat through a meat grinder one more time, otherwise you may end up with large pieces.

If you wet your hands in cool water before starting to form the “hedge”, the minced meat will not stick to your palms.

Steamed hedgehogs are a dietary version of your favorite dish. Once ready, they can be poured with low-fat sour cream diluted in water and simmered for about 5 minutes.

An excellent side dish for hedgehogs would be crushed potatoes, vegetable salad, and buckwheat porridge.

If you pass the minced meat through a meat grinder several times, it will become more tender. Approximately 2 tbsp is used for one “hedgehog”. spoons of minced meat, this volume allows it to stew well and keep its shape.

The total calorie content of a dish depends on each of its ingredients separately. The “lightest” option is made from minced chicken with low-fat sour cream sauce.

This is a very popular recipe in our latitudes, each housewife has her own, because almost everyone who has children prepares hedgehogs from minced meat and rice. Due to the fact that the dish contains rice, meat, and vegetables, and also because of the ease of preparation, delicious hedgehogs are an ideal dish for children and adults in every family.

Rice is placed raw into the meat base, and the finished meatballs are covered with funny “needles.” Hence the name “hedgehogs”.

After the main recipe with photos you will find several variations. They will come in handy if only because they will help make a familiar dish new. They will also be useful for those who don’t like tomato juice. In any case, meat hedgehogs with rice are always tasty and satisfying.

Master the recipes and serve them to festive table or just for dinner, pampering your family!

Traditionally, hedgehogs are prepared with the addition of raw cereal. As a result, the grains stick out from the minced meat, resembling the needles of a prickly animal. However, even if half-cooked rice is added to the composition, in our country it is still called hedgehogs, not meatballs.

Classic recipe

Peculiarities. In the traditional version, minced hedgehogs are prepared with rice and gravy in a frying pan. It is recommended to use a deep pan with a non-stick coating.

Ingredients:

• 0.5 kg minced meat;
• half a glass of raw rice;
• two eggs;
• two tomatoes;
• one or two heads onions;
• two or three cloves of garlic;
• flour;
• vegetable oil;
• salt, pepper, seasonings to taste.

Cooking method

Grate the carrots and sauté until golden brown, stir in the tomatoes chopped into small cubes and fry for another three minutes.

Add garlic and onion to the meat, previously beaten eggs in a separate bowl. Add cereal, spices, salt and pepper. For additional juiciness, you can stir in a little loaf soaked in milk.

Form into balls. Fry the buns, first rolling each one in flour.

Place the preparations in a frying pan in one layer, place the fried vegetables on top. Pour in enough water so that it reaches approximately halfway up the height of the rice and meat balls.

Simmer for 25-30 minutes covered.

Meat hedgehogs without eggs with cabbage

Ingredients:

• minced meat - 480−520 g;
• salt - 1 pinch;
• fresh cabbage - 720−740 g;
• ground pepper - 1 pinch;
• semolina - 1 tbsp. l.;
• onion - 2 heads;
• carrots - 2 pcs.;
• sugar - 1 pinch;
• tomato juice - about 700 g.

Cooking method

Finely chop the cabbage, add salt, and use your hands for a few minutes until the juice begins to release. Then add minced meat, semolina, salt and pepper - mix everything well.

Turn on the oven, preheat to 200˚C.

Form small balls from the minced meat, place them in a baking dish with high sides, and place in the oven.

For the sauce, fry the onions and carrots in hot vegetable oil, add tomato juice, salt, pepper, add sugar - simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Half an hour before the end of cooking the meatballs, remove the pan from the oven, pour out the sauce, continue baking, but reduce the temperature to 160˚C.

Minced chicken hedgehogs

Minced hedgehogs with rice in the oven are a delicious everyday dish. The products are not fried in oil, but baked in the oven, so they are dietary, very healthy and suitable even for baby food. From the specified number of ingredients used, you will get 5 servings of a hearty meal.

Ingredients:

• minced chicken- 600 g;
• rice - 100 g;
• large carrots - 1 pc.;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• salt, pepper

Cooking method

Rice is added to the minced meat. Salt, pepper and stir. Form balls and place them in the mold. Sauté onions and carrots. Place the frying mixture on the workpieces. Pour boiling water so that the products are half immersed in water. Cover the pan with foil and bake the minced hedgehogs in the oven at 180 degrees for 1 hour.

Hedgehogs in sour cream and cream sauce in a slow cooker

Ingredients:

• Minced meat 400 g.
• Boiled rice 1 tbsp.
• Carrot 1 pc.
• Tomatoes 1 pc.
• Onion 1 pc.
• Garlic 3 cloves 120
• Bell pepper 100 g.
• Sour cream 2 tbsp. spoons
• Cream (milk) 100 ml.
• Salt, seasonings to taste
• Dill 50 g.
• Water 3 m.st.

Cooking method

Mix the minced meat with rice and form hedgehogs. Cut peppers and tomatoes into slices. Chop the onions and carrots into strips. Using the “MENU/SELECT” button, select the “ROASTING” program, set the time to 20 minutes and temperature level 2. Open the lid and turn the handle to the “CLOSED” position (fry with the lid open). Press the “START” button. Fry all the vegetables and hedgehogs. Add sour cream mixed with cream into the bowl and pour water. Using the “MENU/SELECT” button, select the “MULTICOOK” program, set the time to 20 minutes and the temperature to 110 degrees.

Hedgehogs with rice for children

Ingredients:

• 500 g minced meat,
• 100 g rice,
• 2 eggs
• 3 tbsp. l. vegetable oil,
• 2 onions,
• 2 carrots,
• salt to taste.

Cooking method

Mix minced meat with rice, add eggs, salt. Form into balls and fry in oil. Finely chop the onion, grate the carrots, add to the balls, and simmer. Serve hot.

Cut the loaf into breadcrumbs. Chop the onion, mix with minced meat, add crackers, grated cheese, and salt. Beat the eggs, chop the dill and add to the minced meat. Mix everything well. Form cutlets, roll in breadcrumbs and bake in the oven at 200°C for 30 minutes. Place a web of boiled pasta on a plate and place a spider cutlet in the center. Make eyes and a mouth from sour cream, and legs from dill.

Minced hedgehogs in a frying pan

Ingredients:

• mixed minced meat (beef and pork) - 0.5 kg;
• onion - 2 pcs.;
• dry rice - 0.5 tbsp;
• salt - to taste;
• ground black pepper - a pinch;
• tomato paste - 1 tbsp. l.;
• small carrots - 1 pc.;
• flour - 1 tsp;
• eggs - 1 pc.;
• sugar - 0.3 tsp;
• water;
• vegetable oil - 1-2 tbsp. l.

Cooking method

Rinse the rice and soak for 1-2 hours. Place on a sieve and dry. Peel both onions and rinse with cold water. Cut into small cubes. Divide into two parts. One part of the onion will go into the minced meat, and you will use the other a little later to prepare the gravy. Peel the carrots, wash them, grate them on a medium grater or cut them into very thin strips. Add finely chopped onion, egg, salt and pepper to the minced meat. Knead thoroughly with your hands until it becomes a smooth, homogeneous mass. Add rice and knead again. Separate pieces the size of a small apple from the minced meat and roll them into tight balls. To prevent the minced meat from sticking to your hands, periodically wet them with cold water. Heat oil in a frying pan. Sauté the onions and carrots until soft. Add tomato paste, stir.

Dilute the flour with a little water. While stirring continuously, pour the flour mixture into the pan with the vegetables. Add salt, sugar and pepper. Add enough water to get the sauce to your desired thickness.

Place the hedgehogs in a saucepan (preferably in one layer). Fill with gravy. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Close the saucepan with a lid and simmer the dish for about 30 minutes. Add hot water as needed.

Place the finished “hedgehogs” on a plate and pour over the gravy. It turned out to be a completely independent dish, but if you want it to be more satisfying, you can serve them with any side dish.

Meat hedgehogs with rice: in the oven

Ingredients:

• any minced meat - 0.5 kg;
• onion - 1 pc.;
• long grain rice - 0.5 tbsp.;
• salt - to taste;
• ground coriander - 0.5 tsp;
• tomato paste - 1 tbsp. l.;
• sour cream - 1 tbsp. l.;
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.;
• sugar - 0.3 tsp;
• garlic - 2 cloves.

Cooking method

First, rinse the rice and soak it in cold water for one hour. Then place on a sieve to let the grains dry.

Grind the onion and garlic in a blender, add to the minced meat, add salt, pepper and coriander. Knead the minced meat very well, since the fate of future “hedgehogs” will depend on this: will they fall apart during the cooking process or not.

Combine the minced meat with rice and knead again. Roll into round meatballs.

Pour oil into a heat-resistant bowl and place the “hedgehogs” in one row.

Prepare the filling. To do this, put tomato paste and sour cream in a bowl and mix well. Dilute with a small amount warm water, having achieved the desired consistency. Salt to taste, add a little sugar. Stir.

Cover the hedgehogs with filling. Do not fill them completely, otherwise they will simply cook. In order for them to form a light crust, they should extend halfway above the sauce.

Cover the dish with a lid or foil and place in the oven preheated to 200° for 40 minutes. 15 minutes before cooking, remove the foil so that the “hedgehogs” brown.

Serve the hedgehogs with any side dish or vegetable salad.

Meat hedgehogs with gravy

Although hedgehogs and meatballs are very similar to each other, we do not forget that these dishes are still different. Therefore, in this case, the meat balls should not be fried, thereby depriving them of their very essence - the protruding needles. To make tomato gravy, you can use ground tomatoes, homemade juice or tomato paste.

Ingredients:

• 0.5 kg minced meat;
• half a glass of rice;
• 2 medium sized onions;
• 1 chicken egg;
• 3 large tomatoes;
• 1 medium carrot;
• 1 tablespoon flour;
• salt, sugar, pepper, herbs to taste.

Cooking method

Boil the rice until half cooked. To form “hedgehogs” we take twisted meat, peeled and finely chopped onion, cooled rice, egg, add salt and pepper, mix thoroughly. We roll the resulting minced meat into small balls, which should be placed on the bottom of a thick-walled saucepan or pan. There will be a lot of gravy, so whatever the container you choose, its sides should be high. Ideally, place all the balls in one layer.

To prepare the gravy, fry grated carrots and chopped onions in a frying pan; when the frying is ready, add chopped tomatoes or paste dissolved in water. After a couple of minutes, add the flour, stir and continue to fry for about 30 seconds, pour in about 3 tablespoons of boiling water in a thin stream, stir immediately, allowing the flour to disperse evenly, bring to a boil, continuing to stir. Add salt, dried herbs, spices and sugar to the gravy to your taste. The last ingredient is required, otherwise our sauce will lose much of its taste. Pour the sauce over the hedgehogs and simmer covered for up to half an hour. Watch also the video recipe for making hedgehogs with gravy:

So, how to deliciously cook minced hedgehogs with rice in the oven, in a frying pan or in a slow cooker?

Take advantage of our useful tips:

1. It is best to mix the base from fresh meat, not defrosted.
2. It is important not to overload the ingredients (cereals, onions, eggs), otherwise the mass will fall apart.
3. Don't make balls that are too big.
4. It is better to take long grain cereals rather than round ones: the needles will be more realistic.
5. The sauce should not completely cover the meat pieces. The optimal level is up to the middle of the bun.
6. Should not be added to meat base white bread. Hedgehogs are not cutlets, but a type of meatball. Onions, garlic and cereals are sufficient as auxiliary components.
7. Meat balls can serve as an independent dish or as an accompaniment to side dishes. The ideal addition to rounds is stewed or boiled vegetables, buckwheat porridge, mashed potatoes, pasta. But it’s better not to serve rice.
8. Meat koloboks differ from meatballs in that the rice cereal is not boiled, but raw. It is in this form that it will stick out from the surface of the balls, resembling this prickly animal.
9. Made from minced chicken or veal, this dish will be an excellent option for feeding your baby meat. It is better to cook by steaming or in the oven.
10. Flour is used for breading, not breadcrumbs. The latter make the dish tough.
11. To reduce the calorie content of the dish, you should take lean meat, and use water or vegetable broth instead of meat broth.
12. Cheese lovers add this grated product to their meat preparations. The piece of cheese in the middle of the ball is a surprise.
13. Thrifty housewives will enjoy freezing raw koloboks in the freezer. They do not require complete defrosting. Place on a baking sheet, bake for half an hour - the second dish is ready.
14. Exotic lovers will appreciate basmati rice, brown rice and other varieties of this grain in the dish.

No matter what minced meat the hedgehogs are made from, they will be delicious in any case.

All recipes are very tasty! Try it too!

Bon appetit!

Meat “hedgehogs” with rice is a very tasty and satisfying second course, which is prepared quickly and easily, and therefore is very popular in everyday life. There is no need to serve a side dish with the hedgehogs, since they already contain rice.

Beef, pork, and combined minced meat are suitable for their preparation. different types meat depending on personal taste. Some housewives add chicken to the ground beef or make “hedgehogs” from just chicken or turkey.

Rice can be taken either long grain or round. Some chefs also prefer it. It is also believed that with long rice, meatballs look more like prickly “hedgehogs”.

To prepare meat “hedgehogs”, the meat should be cut into pieces and passed through a meat grinder, while grinding the onion. Add egg, pepper and salt, mix. The egg is necessary to prevent the meatballs from falling apart. You can put finely chopped celery stalks in the minced meat.

Rinse the rice thoroughly, put it on the fire and cook until it boils. Then place in a colander to drain and cool. After this, combine the rice with the minced meat and mix well. If desired, you can add various spices and tomato paste.

Roll the prepared minced meat into balls and roll them in flour. Place the meat “hedgehogs” in a frying pan and lightly fry on all sides in butter.

Place in a saucepan, pour over and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Many housewives cook meat “hedgehogs” in sauce. To do this you need to chop the onion, bell pepper, grate the carrots on a coarse grater, put it all in a saucepan and lightly fry with vegetable oil. Add tomato, water, spices and bring to a boil.

Then place the “hedgehogs” in a saucepan with boiling sauce; there should be enough water to cover them. Simmer until done over low heat. Serve the finished meatballs with chopped herbs.

You can cook meat “hedgehogs” in Thanks to sour cream, the dish becomes juicy, tender and tasty. To do this, place lightly fried meatballs in a saucepan or deep baking sheet. Mix sour cream with a small amount of water, pour this sauce over the “hedgehogs”. Add water if necessary and place in the oven for half an hour. Meat hedgehogs can be served with vegetables and herbs.

You can cook “hedgehogs” in sour cream in another way. Place raw meatballs in a saucepan, add water or broth, cover and place in the oven. At this time you need to prepare a sauce from flour, broth and sour cream. In a frying pan, heat the flour without oil until slightly golden brown. Then pour in the broth or water, stir thoroughly so that there are no lumps, add sour cream, sugar and salt. Stir thoroughly again, put on the stove, bring to a boil and remove from heat. Pour the sauce into the saucepan with the hedgehogs when almost all the broth in which they are stewed has evaporated. Simmer for 5-7 minutes.

For 0.5 kg of minced meat you will need two medium-sized white onions, a glass of rice, a chicken egg, and spices to taste. For the sauce you need to take 200 grams of sour cream, 3 tablespoons of tomato paste, salt and water. You can add basil, parsley or dill to the sauce.

Minced hedgehogs with rice in sour cream sauce, or simply meatballs, are a fairly common dish, loved by many for its taste and ease of preparation. Hedgehogs can be served as an independent dish, or with a side dish, for example, mashed potatoes, rice or buckwheat.

Despite the common name, each housewife prepares hedgehogs a little differently. So I offer you my version of preparing minced hedgehogs with rice in sour cream sauce.

Ingredients: (for 11-12 hedgehogs)

for minced meat

• 600 g meat (half pork and beef)
• 1/2 cup rice (100 g)
• 1 egg
• 1 large onion (150 g)
• 1 carrot (150 g)
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• dry seasonings to taste
• salt, pepper
• vegetable oil for frying
• a little parsley

for the sauce

• 200 g sour cream 15-20% fat
• 1 tbsp. l. tomato paste or 2 fresh tomatoes
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp. l. flour without a slide
• 1/2 cup hot water

You can use any meat for hedgehogs, but I prefer to cook minced pork and beef; I think it tastes the most delicious. I don’t recommend using ready-made minced meat. Firstly, it cannot be compared in taste to homemade, and, secondly, it is unknown what was put in it. So don’t be lazy, prepare the minced meat yourself, your efforts will be rewarded with excellent taste.

Preparation:

First, boil the rice in salted water until half cooked, that is, after boiling, let it cook for 7-8 minutes. Instead of salt, I crush chicken stock cube into the water. Then drain the water through a colander.

You can add peeled onions and carrots along with the meat, but I like it better if the vegetables are fried a little beforehand.

So, finely chop the onion and fry in vegetable oil until soft, until the onion just begins to turn golden.

Three carrots on a fine grater, add to the onion and continue to fry, stirring, until the carrots are soft.

Mix minced meat, rice, onions with carrots, beaten egg and 1-2 cloves of garlic, passed through a press, in a cup. Salt and pepper to taste and add any dry herbs you like.

Mix all the ingredients and get this minced meat:

Now, with your hands, roll out round hedgehog meatballs with a diameter of about 5 cm and place them in a saucepan or deep frying pan. From this amount of products you get 11-12 hedgehogs.

Pour hot water from the kettle up to about half the height of the meatballs, add salt to taste, cover with a lid, bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes.

While the hedgehogs are stewing, let's prepare the sour cream sauce. To do this, add 1 tbsp to the sour cream. l. tomato paste or 2 grated tomatoes without skin and 2 chopped cloves of garlic.

Stir, add salt to taste, 1 tbsp. l. flour without a slide and mix well again so that there are no lumps.

Add 1/2 cup hot water from the kettle and stir until smooth. The sauce is ready.

When the hedgehogs have been stewing in water for half an hour, add sour cream sauce to the pan.

Minced meat dishes regularly appear in the kitchen: dumplings, cutlets, meatballs, casseroles and other wonderful hearty meat products.

It is not surprising that many housewives love to pamper themselves and their families with minced hedgehogs (balls). Most often, rice is added to them, which makes the dish more filling; in addition, these meat hedgehogs with rice can be eaten without a side dish.

Step one: choosing minced meat

To prepare nourishing, tasty and at the same time healthy products, you need to choose the right ingredients. Culinary experts recommend using exclusively long-grain rice and carefully choosing minced meat.

Make sure it doesn't emit strange smells, special attention take the time to study color. Good minced meat can have a burgundy, red or pale pink hue, depending on what kind of meat is in its composition.

It is best to buy fresh rather than frozen minced meat. Remember it between your fingers, it should be fluffy, but still quite dense. You should not buy crushed, out of shape or stuck together minced meat.

Classic recipe for meat hedgehogs

Traditionally, housewives prepared hedgehogs from beef or combined minced meat and stewed them in a saucepan.

First, you need to rinse the rice well and cook it until half cooked. Drain it in a colander, rinse with cold water and wait for the rice to cool. Meanwhile, combine chopped onion, minced meat and egg in a separate container.

The classic recipe uses only salt and pepper, without additional spices, but you can add to this list to your taste and discretion. Add all the necessary seasonings and cooled rice.

Mix the substance again so that there are no lumps. Make small balls. Prepare the sauce separately: stir sour cream with tomato, add water, salt and pepper, a small amount of basil will be appropriate.

Place the meat hedgehogs and rice into a saucepan and pour the sauce generously over them. Simmer over moderate heat until full readiness rice As a rule, this takes no more than 35-40 minutes.

Rice and meat hedgehogs in the oven

Cooking hedgehogs in the oven is convenient because you don’t have to spend a lot of time on it, which you value so much. All you have to do is prepare all the ingredients and wait for the result.

Minced chicken is suitable for this recipe; the dish will be dietary and suitable even for children. So, you will need the following components:

• Minced meat - 450 g;
• Rice - 1 glass;
• 1 chicken egg;
• 1 onion;
• 1 pod of bell pepper;
• 4 cloves of garlic;
• Oil for frying - 3 tbsp. l.;
• Sour cream - 2 tbsp. l.
• Salt, pepper, additional spices and herbs (any) - to taste.

Stir the minced meat with rice and egg. Chop the onion and bell pepper and add them to the resulting substance, add salt and pepper. For the sauce, mix sour cream with finely chopped herbs, garlic and your favorite spices.

Mold the hedgehogs and then place them in a mold (baking tray), previously greased with oil. Pour the sauce evenly over them and place them in a preheated oven. It is recommended to bake this wonderful dish at a temperature of 180-200 degrees for 45 minutes.

A simple recipe for hedgehogs in sauce in a frying pan

When cooking hedgehogs in a frying pan, the balls are covered with a particularly tasty fried crust, which is why this recipe is so popular.

To prepare a hearty dinner, take the following ingredients:

• Ready minced meat - 600 g;
• Rice - 200 g;
• Medium-sized chicken egg - 1 pc.;
• Large carrots - 1 pc.;
• Flour or breadcrumbs - 3-4 tbsp. l.;
• Onion head - 1 pc.;
• A bunch of greenery;
• Ketchup, sour cream and water for sauce - 100 g each;
• Salt, a mixture of peppers and other seasonings - to taste.

Initially, you should prepare the base for the meat balls with rice. To do this, break a large egg into the minced meat, then pour rice into it.

There is no need to boil it first, just rinse it under cold water. Next, add salt, seasonings, pepper and other spices.

Grind carrots, herbs and onions in a blender or finely chop. Add vegetables to hedgehog base.

Mix everything until you get a smooth consistency. The further cooking process is extremely simple: make balls, roll them on all sides in flour or breadcrumbs and fry in a frying pan until golden brown.

In the meantime, you need to mix ketchup, sour cream and prepared boiled water in a separate container. Season with salt and pepper and gradually pour the resulting substance into the frying pan. Cover with a lid and simmer for about 25 minutes over low heat.

Healthy meat balls with rice from a slow cooker

Multicookers are gradually becoming more and more popular. Among the advantages of this device is ease and speed of operation.

Ready-made dishes cooked in a slow cooker are more beneficial than similar ones cooked in the oven or in a frying pan. No wonder that classic recipes also adaptable for cooking using a multicooker.

The balls in the slow cooker turn out especially juicy, so you can use any minced meat. IN this recipe A mixture of beef and pork is used.

To prepare rice balls you will need the following ingredients:

• Minced meat - 500 g;
• Rice - 150 g;
• Purified water - 150 ml;
• Salt - 2 tsp;
• 1 chicken egg;
• 1 small carrot;
• 1 onion;
• 4 cloves of garlic;
• 3 tomatoes;
• Sunflower oil - 3 tbsp. l.;
• A mixture of peppers (you can only take black and red), spices, seasonings - to taste.

Grind the garlic, combine them with minced meat, washed rice and egg. Salt and pepper.

Knead the resulting mass thoroughly with your hands to remove excess air. Some chefs advise beating the minced meat with a special hammer so that finished goods were more dense and did not fall apart in the slow cooker. After this, start making small meat balls.

Pour some vegetable oil into the device and turn on the frying mode. Fry them for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Sometimes it is necessary to repeat the procedure several times to achieve readiness. Leave the balls in the slow cooker.

Tomatoes can be ground in a blender. Lightly fry the onions and carrots, then add them to the balls, put the tomatoes there, and add a little water. Close the multicooker, turn on the stew mode and cook delicious meat hedgehogs with rice for 40 minutes.

To diversify the recipe for balls, you can use different ways. Some people complement them with a side dish, baking them with potatoes and cheese, buckwheat and other ingredients.

Others add a variety of vegetables, cabbage is especially suitable. Particularly tender hedgehogs are obtained if the minced meat is first minced through a meat grinder twice.

You don’t have to experiment with the composition of the hedgehogs themselves, but change the sauce recipe a little.

Of course, always relevant different options spices: add a little hop-suneli, oregano, turmeric - and you will be pleasantly surprised by the result.