Rao’S Meatballs In Marinara Sauce

Rao’s meatballs. If you’ve ever had them you know. Possible the best meatballs ever. These are those meatballs and this is that marinara sauce.

The one from the fabled little restaurant in Harlem. The restaurant Madonna can’t get a table at.

I’ve been to Rao’s (the copycat one in Las Vegas) and I’ve had the meatballs. They are epic meatballs. Seriously. Tender, moist, flavourful.

Rao’s meatballs are possible the best meatballs ever

Rao’s meatballs are the best meatballs I have ever tasted. They are simple but somehow magical at the same time. It’s totally worth the effort to make these at home.

Raos meatballs in marinara are world famous for a reason - 1

The version floating around the internet is close I think except for two little details. The internet version has you make the meatballs 1 1/2 inches in diameter. And you only simmer the meatballs in the marinara for 15 minutes. In the restaurant, Rao’s meatballs are bigger. Way bigger.

And they taste like they’ve had a good long simmer in the marinara. You barely know where the meatball starts and marinara ends.

Rao's meatballs on a plate with fork. - 2

Rao's meatballs on a plate with fork. - 3

raos meatballs in marinara in a black cast iron frying pan - 4

Rao’s meatballs in marinara sauce

Ingredients

The marinara

2 28 oz cans San Marzano whole tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
2 oz pork fat back - coarsely chopped (can substitute pancetta)
1/4 cup finely diced onion
2 cloves garlic - finely minced
salt to taste - about a tsp, depending on how salty your tomatoes are

The meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 lb ground pork
1/2 lb ground veal
1 cup grated pecorino romano cheese - a microplane works well here
2 eggs
2 cups unseasoned breadcrumbs
2 Tbsp Italian parsley finely chopped
2 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

The rest

1 1/2-2 cups vegetable oil to fry
1 lb spaghetti
additional pecorino romano to serve

Instructions

The marinara

Hand crush the tomatoes, removing the tough piece of core in each tomato (the stem end). You could just put them through a food mill but using your hands is fun.
Heat the olive oil over medium low heat in a 5-6 quart dutch oven or pot of similar size.
Add the fat back or pancetta and cook until the fat is rendered. If you use fat back, remove the rinds.
Add the onions, regulating the heat so they turn translucent but do not brown. Cook for about 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and cook another 30 seconds.
Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the salt and simmer, loosely covered, for about an hour.

The meatballs

While the marinara simmers prepare the meatballs.
Break up the pork, veal and beef in a large bowl to start mixing them together (it doesn’t have to be perfect - just get it started). Add all the remaining ingredients except the water. Mix using your hands to roughly combine. Add the first cup of water and mix. Continue to add the water until you get the mixture to be fairly moist. You are going for a meatball that holds together but isn’t at all dry. Most of the time it takes the full two cups or very close to it.
Form the meat mixture into 8 large meatballs about 2 1/2 - 3 inches in diameter.
Place the meatballs in the fridge for around 30 minutes to set up.
Shallow fry the meatballs in a non stick skillet until golden brown. You will be cursing me if you don’t use non-stick. I find a 10 inch diameter pot with 1 1/2 cups of oil gets you to the point where half the meatball is submerged when cooking 4 at a time. Cook until golden then nudge them over with a slotted spoon to cook the other side.
Drain on paper towel and then add them to the marinara. 8 meatballs will just fit in a single layer in a 5-6 quart dutch oven.

Making them Rao’s meatballs

Simmer about one hour, loosely covered. Your marinara will have simmered two hours in total.
To serve, cook spaghetti per the instructions on the package. Drain and toss with a bit of the marinara. Serve with grated pecorino romano as a first course.
Serve the meatballs with the marinara sauce, sprinkled with more pecorino romana as a second course. One giant meatball alone on a plate with a puddle of marinara sauce is a bit of an unorthodox presentation but live a little.
Bask in the adulation of your guests…

Nutrition

Tarka dhal. That wonderful, creamy, spiced lentil dish that goes beautifully with every Indian meal.

I make this one almost every time I cook Indian. It gets made a lot. Probably the dish I cook the most.

Tarka dhal is super simple to make. You cook some lentils with a little turmeric. Cook them until they are mush. And then you make a seasoning. That’s the tarka.

It’s as easy as frying up a bit of onion and spices. Mix it up and eat. It’s delicious.

Satisfying. And healthy. Hard not to like that. And nobody knows about it. At least where I live.

Tarka dal table scene with parathas and chicken tikka masala from above. - 5

You need to try tarka dhal

It’s a funny thing. This is how it goes when I go out for Indian with friends.

“Let’s get a dopiaza.”

“OK, and a jalfrezi.”

“Sure, and how about a madras?”

“Anyone up for a vindaloo?”

Then I pipe up. “How about a tarka dhal?”

“Tarka what? Is that lamb? I don’t like lamb.”

“Just trust me.”

Nobody ever wants to order tarka dhal. Nobody seems to know what it is. I always get pushback.

Then they taste it.

“What did you say these lentils are called? They’re awesome.”

Happens every time.

Tarka is the seasoning

Tarka is an Indian technique. It’s a way of seasoning. Some people call it a tempering. Whatever you call it, it’s a great little trick to add to your repertoire.

Fry some spices in hot oil. That infuses the spice flavour into the oil Add some onions and maybe tomato. Maybe a dried chili or two.

Take it off heat and stir it into whatever you want seasoned. In this case it’s dhal. Tarka dhal.

It works as a final seasoning to curries too. I use it when I really want to bring the flash to south Indian dish. Fried chilies and curry leaves? That’s icing on the cake.

Bowl of dal with tarka spooned on top. - 6

This tarka dhal has south Indian flavours

I love fresh curry leaves. I use them a lot. I’m lucky. It’s easy to find them where I live. But not everyone can find them.

That’s OK. If you can’t get them don’t worry. Not the end of the world. It will still be delicious.

Curry leaves add a bit of a south Indian twist. They are great in all sorts of Indian dishes. Sambar. Curries. Even as a garnish in this Kerala fried chicken.

Not all lentils are created equal

I like masoor dhal for this recipe. They are the little red split lentils.

You can get them at Indian groceries or you can buy red split lentils at your regular grocery store. They are the same.

They work really well. And they are really cheap. Dhal is great that way. Satisfying. Nutritious. And really cheap.

Toor dal is great in this recipe as well. It’s more expensive. And it’s harder to find. You’ll almost certainly need to go to visit and Indian grocer to get them.

That’s not such a terrible thing though. All kinds of fun stuff to get at an Indian grocer.

The texture is the thing

I see a lot of pictures of masoor dhal dishes where you can see the individual lentils. I’ve never understood why.

That might be good for lentil salad. But it’s not great for this dish. I want it smooth. Almost like a really thick sauce.

With little bits of chili and tomato and onion. The combination of those creamy lentils with little bursts of flavour. That’s my idea of great tarka dhal.

And the way you get that wonderful texture is to cook the lentils until they turn to mush. I don’t know that I’ve ever said that on glebekitchen. But that’s the secret.

Mush. Normally I’m against it. Card carrying member of the anti-mush society. But in this case I don’t want it any other way.

Masoor dal, kashmiri chilies, fresh curry leaves and green chilies from above. - 7

Stretch your dinner budget

Lentils are cheap. Masoor dhal is really cheap. It’s satisfying. Filling. It is stick to your ribs food.

And it works great with rice. Like those lush curry sauces that you love. The ones that you just want mix into your rice because it’s just so tasty.

I’m not saying that you’ll like it better than your favourite curry. But I am saying that you can serve less of that favourite curry and put serve tasty tarka dhal alongside.

And everyone will be happy. They might even be happier. Because variety is the spice of life. More great flavours on the plate. How can that be a bad thing?

Vegetarian or vegan friendly

India has one of the biggest populations of vegetarians in the world. They have been figuring out how cook incredible vegetarian food for centuries.

So it should be no surprise that tarka dhal makes a great vegetarian entree. You can easily build a vegetarian menu around it.

A saag paneer, an eggplant curry, this tarka dhal, rice and chapattis. That is a feast by anyone’s standard.

Or serve it up as a side dish. It’s great with rice. Or with Indian flat breads. You can even thin it out and serve it as a soup. I do that with leftovers.

Spoonful of tarka dal from the front - 8

You need to tarka dhal in your life

Tarka dal is easy to make. It’s healthy. Satisfying. And it’s delicious. I make it almost every time I cook an Indian meal. And I cook a lot of Indian meals.

If you’ve never tried tarka dhal you’re missing out. Good enough to stand on its own. A perfect complement to your favourite curry. I’d say it’s a must try.

I don’t even care whose version you make. Just make it. Pick any decent recipe and you can’t go wrong.

And maybe next time you go out for Indian you can impress your friends. Order some for the table. Let them into the secret too.

Mixing bowl of tarka dal with tarka mixed in partially from above. - 9