Sweet And Sour Tomato Sauce With Meatballs

Total Time: 3 hrs 55 mins Preparation Time: 1 hr 55 mins Cook Time: 2 hrs

Ingredients

• Servings: 4
• 2 lbs ground beef (shaped into meatballs using your favorite recipe, i use my parmesan meatball kittencal's italian melt-in-your-mouth meatballs for this)
• oil (for frying)
• 1 (28 ounce) can stewed tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 (20 ounce) can tomato soup (undiluted)
• 1 (14 ounce) can beef broth or 1 (14 ounce) can beef consomme
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 -2 tablespoon fresh minced garlic (or to taste)
• 1 -2 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes (optional or to taste)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3 -4 tablespoons cider vinegar (or to taste)
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• salt and pepper

Recipe

• 1 heat oil on a large dutch oven.
• 2 in a dutch oven or a very large frypan, brown the meatballs well in hot oil then remove to a bowl.
• 3 add in the onion, garlic and dryed chili flakes and saute for about 4-5 minutes, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
• 4 add in tomato paste and stir for 1 minute.
• 5 add the stewed tomatoes with their juice, crushing the tomatoes slightly with the back of the spoon, drained diced tomatoes, undiluted tomato soup, broth or consomme, brown sugar, cider vinegar and chopped green peppers; mix to combine and bring to a boil.
• 6 add in browned meatballs back to the pot.
• 7 simmer for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until sauce has thickened, adjusting all ingredients to taste and seasoning with salt and pepper.
• 8 spoon any fat off the top of the sauce.
• 9 serve with rice or noodles.
• 10 delicious!