Chicken Balls and Spaghetti

I have never been a believer in minced chicken. I guess to some extent you could say I am a bit old fashioned. So this one day, I went to the butchers and thought to buy chicken mince because apparently it's 'healthier' than beef and I was trying to cut down my consumption of red meat.

When I got home, I was stumped on what to do with it so I figured the easiest thing would be to make chicken balls. Meat balls, chicken balls.....same thing - ish, right? I must say I was very surprised that I liked the chicken balls which I served with spaghetti, my sons favorite.

Now, chicken mince doesn't have a high fat content compared to beef mince so, you will definitely need to make sure you don't over cook the balls or they get really dry. Oh and make sure they are all sauced up too, they pick sauces well.

Serves 4

• 500 grams chicken mince

• 1 large egg

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 5 cloves of garlic, minced

• 2 tomatoes finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1/2 a cup of fresh basil, chopped

• 1/2 cup of double cream or cooking cream

• 1 cup of chicken stock

• Salt and pepper to taste

Put your chicken mince, half the chopped onion, half the chopped basil and the egg. Mix well using your hands and once all the ingredients are well mixed, roll the mince into balls the size of a lime.

Put enough oil to cover the bottom of a frying pan and put on a medium heat. Once the oil begins to smoke, add the chicken balls one at time making sure not to over crowd your frying pan. Cook the chicken balls for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown, then take them out of the pan.

In the same frying pan, add your onions, tomatoes, garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Let it simmer on a low heat until the tomatoes soften and then add the tomato paste. Mix well then add the cream and the chicken stock. Last, to go into the sauce is the chicken balls. Cover the pan and let it simmer for 10 to 15 minutes on a medium heat. If the sauce reduces too much, add some water or stock to lighten it.

This is great served with spaghetti and is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.