HOT SPICY SWEET CHEESY CHILLI MANGO FANDANGO MEATBALLS

WoW what a gorgeous meatball, the flavours for these were inspired by a Brasilian cook book I am glued to at the moment called Cabana.  These hot sweet spicy punchy little meatballs have a great burst of flavour, the chilli and sweet mango burst into your tastebuds followed with a soft comforting hint of creamy richness from the melted gooey cheese and finish off with a gorgeous caramelised sweet onion sticky glaze that just makes these meatballs sing with flavour.

Prep time 15 minutes / cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients

(Makes 30 meatballs)

800g chuck steak

400g pork mince

1 small onion finely diced 

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 clove garlic grated

1 red pepper finely diced 

50g Parmesan grated

100g gurere grated

100g cheddar grated

Sea salt

Fresh ground black pepper

1 ripe mango finely diced

1 small handful chopped coriander 

1 spring onion sliced

8 red chillies finely diced

1 lime juice

In a large bowl place the pork and beef mince, add the garlic, red pepper, 4 diced chillies, all the cheeses and a generous pinch of salt and pepper, mix well by hand, meanwhile heat a non stick pan medium hot, add the coconut oil and onions gently cook keeping the onions translucent for around ten minutes, add a teaspoon of sugar, cook on for five more minutes to caramelise the onions, add to the bowl scraping all the flavour from the pan and mix in well.  

Pop the pan back on the heat, take a teaspoon ball of your meatball mix press flat and pan fry, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.  Using a small scoop or spoon form the mince into meatballs, I like to make mine half the size of a golf ball as this is almost big enough and helps keep them gorgeously moist and they cook much quicker.  

Return your pan to the heat and add your meatballs, don't over crowd, you may have to do this in two batches, on a medium high heat brown off all sides of the meatballs adding that gorgeous crust, turn the heat down and cook the meatballs so there is no pink in the middle.  Once cooked leave to rest for five minutes then remove from the pan leaving all the cooking juices in the pan, reduce these juices until they are thick and syrupy, pour over the meatballs.

While the meatballs are cooking make the hot spicy sweet mango salsa, in a bowl add the spring onion, the rest of the diced chillies, diced mango, coriander and lime juice to taste, season with a little salt and pepper if needed.

Serve hot with the chilli mango and lime salsa, I eat these on their own or with a side of rice or stuff them in a flat bread like a kebab with salad and mango salsa.