Ingredients
- 1 x 400g tin of baked beans or haricot beans
- 1 onion
- 1 chilli
- 1 slice of bread
- handful of fresh parsley
- 1 tbsp flour
- to shape the balls
- 500g turkey mince
- 2 tbsp oil
Method
Drain and rinse the beans, put into a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until tender. Drain the beans and tip into a mixing bowl, then mash to a pulp.
Peel and finely chop the onion and finely chop the chilli, and toss into the mixing bowl with the bean pulp. Grate in the bread, finely chop the parsley and add that too. Add the flour and stir to combine. Add the mince and mix well with a wooden spoon or use your hands.
With lightly floured hands to prevent sticking, form the mixture into balls. Around 1 tablespoon of mixture will make a decent sized meatball. For little mouths, use a teaspoon – these also cook faster!
Fry the meatballs in the oil in a frying pan for 10 minutes on a medium heat, turning occasionally, until cooked through, then serve.
Top Tip for making Turkey Meatballs
Like with traditional Italian meatballs in tomato sauce, I suggest tipping some chopped tomatoes into the frying pan to heat through for 5 minutes along with the cooked meatballs at the end. You can then serve this atop a pile of spaghetti.
