We made Swedish meatballs by following the instructions of Ikea

I used my friend who lives in the Alexandra area to eat Ikea meatballs whenever I’m in Singapore.

The store is out of the way from places of interest in the city-state, but I make time because of their food court. I order the same thing. It’s always salmon, Daim chocolate cake and the Ikea meatballs. Then I go down to the supermarket and buy several packs of frozen meatballs to take home with me. That’s why I was ecstatic when Ikea shared their recipe on Twitter complete with illustrations.

I checked the recipe and found that I have the ingredients to make it. These are common ingredients you can find in your pantry to make Pinoy spaghetti and fried chicken.

I didn’t have all the ingredients needed to make the cream sauce. So I started this dish by making the ingredients for that.

I made vegetable stock using whatever is available: carrots, green onions, red onion, tomato, one whole native garlic head, bay leaf and thyme leaves. I simmered the pot for 30 to 45 minutes in low to medium heat. No salt was added.

I didn’t have time to make beef stock from scratch. So I dissolved a beef cube in 150 ml hot water. I also prayed to the kitchen gods that Ina Garten forgives me for this travesty.

Mix by hand

To make the meatball, mix by hand the ground beef, ground pork, onion, garlic clove, egg, and breadcrumbs. The instructions advised on putting a generous amount of salt and pepper.

An ice cream scoop was used to make sure that the size of each meatball is almost uniform.

Ikea meatball — An ice cream scoop makes uniform-sized meatballs.

I was able to make 21 meatballs with the recipe. It was stored inside the refrigerator for one and half hours for the shape to hold. The recipe says wait at least 2 hours. But it was almost dinner time so I didn’t have the luxury of waiting.

Ikea meatballs — Wait for at least two hours before frying

The meatballs were fried in medium heat until brown.

They were placed on a tray and covered with aluminum foil. They were baked at 160 degree celsius fan for 30 minutes.

Cream sauce

While this was baking, I made the sauce. The ingredients called for equal parts of vegetable stock, beef stock and cream.

It also called for Dijon mustard and soy sauce.

I started with the roux by beating the butter, “dash of oil” and the flour together in low heat. It’s ready for the next step when it starts to bubble.

The vegetable stock and beef stock, and the all purpose cream were gradually added to the roux. I mixed them together before I poured them in.

Continue mixing the sauce in medium heat until it thickens.

You want your sauce to be thick and creamy.

Pour the cream on to the meatballs or make it into a dipping sauce.

It’s been two years since I’ve had Ikea meatballs, but I know it comes close to it. The simple ingredients allow the meat to shine. It’s juicy, savory and goes well with the cream sauce. It’s delicious. We will be making some more in the future.

What you need:

Meatballs:

500 g ground beef

250 g ground pork

1 onion, finely chopped

1 clove of garlic (minced)

100 g breadcrumbs

1 egg

5 tbsp whole milk

Salt and pepper

Cream sauce

Dash of oil

40 g (roughly 2 tbsp and 2 tsp) butter

40 g all purpose flour

150 ml beef stock

150 ml vegetable stock

150 double cream (I used All Purpose)

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

How to make it:

Meatballs:

Combine beef and pork by hand to break up any lumps. Add onion, garlic, breadcrumbs, egg and mix. Add milk and season with salt and pepper.
Shape mixture into small round balls. Place on a clean plate and store in the fridge for 2 hours (this will help them hold their shape while cooking.
In a frying pan, heat oil on medium heat. When hot, gently add meatballs and brown on all sides.
When browned, transfer to tray and cover. Place in hot oven (180 degrees celsius or 160 degrees fan. Bake for 30 minutes.

For Cream Sauce: