An alternative to good old meatballs & spaghetti that works and is healthy and low-fat too

This should make enough for 3 or 4 servings depending on how hungry you are and how many meatballs you need to eat...

Meatballs
1 pkt Lean mince
1 Onion chopped finely
1 Egg
Thyme
Salt & pepper

Tsatsiki
1/4 Cucumber grated with all liquid squeezed out
1/2 Cup natural yoghurt
2 Cloves garlic crushed
Salt & pepper
Tsp mint sauce or chopped fresh mint

Rice
White basmati rice - enough for 2 or 3 or 4...

Salad
Anything your tastebuds desire...make up a side salad on the plates. Drizzle flaxseed oil and lemon juice over the top. There is something extra yummy about flaxseed oil - I am just loving the taste of it!

How to...

Right. Start by mixing the mince, onion and egg into a meatball type mix. Make small meatballs - one packet of mince should make about 12. Season the mix with thyme, salt & freshly ground black pepper. You could add some cumin or just use cumin instead of thyme.

Pop the rice on to boil. Spekko pre-cooked basmati is the best rice I think at the moment - love it! You can use brown basmati if you are feeling like being really healthy. I just think white basmati works better with this dish.


Start frying the meatballs in a little olive oil until they are nice and brown on both sides - about 6 mins per side. Keep on low until the rice is done.

Get your plates ready with the side salads. Some avo on top would be great if you have any. I usually do baby salad leaves, radishes (as above from our veggie garden but not essential if you don't have any), tomatoes, peppers, sprouts (homemade in our sprouter so we have a constant supply), avo, a little red onion etc.

To make the tsatsiki grate the cucumber and squeeze out all the liquid by squeezing the grated cucumber with your hands in the bowl and letting the juice run out - do this until no juice left otherwise tsatsiki will be too runny...Add the crushed garlic, yoghurt, salt, pepper and tsp mint sauce or fresh mint if you have any in the garden.

As soon as the rice starts making a slight crackling noise, it should be done. Dish up the rice, place 3 meatballs on top of the rice and top with dollops of tsatsiki. Mmmmmmm so fresh and greek-like and garlicky and yummy. Enjoy!

PS: I want to try this with lamb mince instead of beef - am sure it will be a winner!