Momo Meatballs

This is one of my favorite recipes, inspired by a mind-blowingly delicious meal of momos (aka Nepalese pot stickers) I enjoyed one year at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco. Folding beautiful dumplings is time-consuming and takes a lot of experience, however, so I’ve instead taken the basic flavors and infused them into turkey meatballs, adding rice to the ground meat for a one-pot meal—less work, similar flavors, and totally satisfying. I like them on their own, on top of zucchini noodles, or served with cauliflower rice on the side.

Cuisine

Modern

Course

Main Course

Difficulty

Medium

Duration

15-30 min

Diet

Celiac, Dairy Free, Gluten Free

Cooking Technique

Pressure Cook

Keywords

12 meatballs, 15-30 min, avocado oil, black pepper, cayenne pepper, celiac, cilantro, contributed, cook 15 min, crushed tomatoes, dairy free, gluten free, green onion, ground turkey, kosher salt, lemon juice, long grain white rice, main course, medium, modern, prep 10 min, pressure cook, ras el hanout spice blend, toasted sesame oil, water, yellow onion

Prep Time

10 min

Cook Time

15 min

Servings

12 meatballs

Ingredients

2 tablespoons avocado oil
1 yellow onion
28 ounces crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup Water
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup long grain white rice
1 teaspoon ras el hanout spice blend
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 bunch cilantro
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 large green onion
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Select the Sauté setting on the Instant Pot and heat the oil. Add the onion and sauté for 10 minutes, until softened and beginning to brown.
Add the tomatoes and water, stir to mix well, and bring to a simmer.
In a bowl, combine the turkey, rice, ras el hanout, and salt and mix with your hands until all of the ingredients are evenly distributed. Don’t worry about overmixing, as you want the rice and spices to be evenly incorporated into the meat.
When everything is well combined, shape the mixture into 12 meatballs each slightly larger than a golf ball.
Place the meatballs in a single layer in the simmering sauce and spoon a little of the sauce over the top of each one.
Secure the lid and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Press the Cancel button to reset the cooking program, then select the Poultry setting and set the cooking time for 15 minutes at high pressure.
While the meatballs are cooking, make the chutney.
In a mini chopper or in a mortar with a pestle, combine all of the chutney ingredients and process or grind into a rough paste.
When the timer goes off, you can perform a quick release by moving the Pressure Release to Venting, or you can let the pressure release naturally and leave the meatballs on the Keep Warm setting for up to 10 hours.
Serve the meatballs in their sauce with a spoonful of chutney on top of each.