A friend just told me she was going to take a break from working to make meatballs, and somehow my brain shifted to a dish my mother often made in the 60s: Porcupine Meatballs.

Does anyone else remember these? They were made with hamburger and uncooked rice, then cooked over time in a sauce, which allowed the rice to cook.

Most recipes I've found for these meatballs seem to utilize a tomato-based sauce, but if memory serves, my mother may have made these with sort of an Asian flavored tomato-based sauce, which might have included pineapple chunks and red and green peppers.

So far, I haven't located a recipe online that has the "Chinese sauce," but I DID find several recipes for porcupine meatballs.

Here's one: Porcupine Meatballs

If you don't want to click the link, here's the recipe:

Porcupine Meatballs

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 pound lean ground beef
* 2/3 cup long-grain rice, uncooked
* 1/2 cup water
* 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
* 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 1 large can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
* 1 cup water
* 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Method:

Mix ground beef with rice, 1/2 cup of water, chopped onion, seasoned salt, garlic powder, and pepper. Shape porcupine ground beef mixture by tablespoon into 1 1/2-inch balls.

Place the porcupine meatballs in an ungreased 2-quart shallow baking dish. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over the porcupine meatballs. Cover and bake at 350° F. oven for about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake porcupine meatballs 15 to 20 minutes longer.
Porcupine meatballs serve 4 to 6.

I guess if I were going to try to replicate the recipe I think my mother made, I might exchange the Worchestershire sauce with low sodium soy sauce, and add a can of pineapple bits in juice, substituting the juice for part or all of the water, and add sliced water chestnuts, chopped peppers and onions to taste, to the sauce.

Anyone else have any memories or suggestions?

Well I've been around for a while now and never heard of these
meatballs.

I wonder if Chatty has ever heard of this recipe? I found multiple versions of it -- including variations of the Chinese option -- in Google, so I'm sure SOMEONE in the forum has heard if it...

As I recall, it was pretty good. I think I will try it myself. I used to make it back when I did dinner cooking duty for my mother, but haven't made it since then.

This recipe sounds really good. Chatty likes to cook, so perhaps
she has it on file.

I was hoping she'd have something to say about it. I know she loves to cook.

Chatty!
Have you ever heard of these porcupine meatballs? I mean, they sound really good. When I married WB, he had a recipe for
"Texas Hash" with similar ingredients.

Nope, never have heard them called 'porcupine meatballs?' My recipe is the same as Annes but I wrap my meatalls in a cabbage leaf then place them in a tomato sauce to cook and call them stuffed cabbage. I also use the same meat/rice recipe and put some into green peppers for stuffed peppers, also into a tomato sauce. I sprinkle parmesan cheese on these when they are finished. I also sometime use turkey burger meat and quick cooking rice, tastes the same but cooks much faster...

I've made the stuffed pepper variety, but have never been too much of a fan of cabbage. Too bad, since I guess it is good for me!

I love to cook and I, too, have heard of porcupine meatballs but I have never made them...thanks for sharing your recipe, Anne! I'll have to get out my chef's hat and get busy! Rose