Danish Food: Boller i Karry

Hey there! To continue on with my Danish Food series, I've decided to make a beloved classic that no home in Denmark has gone without making: Boller i Karry, or meatballs in curry sauce.

In fact, this is my husband's favourite dish! Unfortunately, he doesn't get to eat it very often, since I'm not the biggest fan of yellow curry. It took a long time before I could even tolerate the smell of the stuff, but Danes are wild for curry powder. Most chicken sandwiches here have some sort of curry dressing in it, along with some delicious smoked Danish bacon.

Boller i karry is fairly simple. It's a dish with lightly seasoned pork and onion meatballs boiled in water flavoured with bay leaf and peppercorns and served with a creamy curry sauce. Be sure so sieve and save that boiling stock, as it gives the curry sauce a wonderful meaty flavour along with the sweetness of apple, onion, spiced curry and cream. This is typically served with a side of fluffy rice and sometimes potatoes.

Scroll down for ingredients and instructions, or click here for a printable version that you can share or email to your friends.

Ingredients and Instructions

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For the meatballs:

1 kg pork, ground
1 onion, finely diced
2 tsp salt
60 grams flour
2 eggs
2 tsp pepper
200 ml milk

For the boiling liquid:

2L water
2 bay leaves
1 tsp black peppercorns
2 tsp salt

Instructions:

1. Using a stand mixer and dough hook, add ground pork and salt. Mix on medium speed for approximately 2 minutes to toughen up the meat. This step is important if you don't want your meatballs to fall to pieces during boiling.
2. Mix in rest of ingredients. To adjust seasoning, take a tiny piece and fry off in a pan to taste.
3. Refrigerate minimum a half hour to firm up the meat mixture.
4. Bring 2L of water and above ingredients to a boil.
5. Using the greased or wet palm of your hand and a tablespoon, form approximately 50 g of the meat mixture into a ball and drop carefully into the water. Once they rise to the top, remove them with a slotted spoon. They will not be cooked through, but they will finish cooking through in the sauce later.
6. Once the meatballs are finished, sieve and save the boiling liquid to use in your curry sauce. Don't throw out all that great flavour!

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For the curry sauce:

40 g butter
1 tbsp oil
2 small onions, chopped
2 small apples, chopped
8 tsp yellow curry (strength is up to you)
10 tablespoons flour
1 L reserved meatball boiling liquid (sieve out peppercorns and bay leaves)
500 ml milk
300 ml cream
Salt, pepper, and chili to taste

Instructions:

1. Melt butter and oil in a large pot.
2. Sweat onions and apple for 2 minutes until onions are translucent.
3. Add curry and fry another 3-4 minutes until curry becomes fragrant.
4. Sprinkle flour on top and stir to soak up all the liquid. Continue to fry until the mixture becomes tough and gluey.
5. Add the boiling liquid a bit at a time and whisk smooth each time.
6. Add milk and cream, and bring to a gentle boil until thickened. Stir often, since this sauce can easily burn to the bottom of the pot. If it does start to burn on the bottom, pour contents into a new pot without scraping the sides and bottom of the burned pot.
7. Add salt and pepper to taste. Adjust heat levels to your own personal taste by adding cayenne pepper or chili flakes. This is typically a very mild dish since it's often served for children, but we always enjoy a bit of spice in our food here.
8. Blend with a stick blender or food processor until smooth and add meatballs into sauce.
9. The meatballs should read at least 70°C/158°F on a thermometer, and should no longer be pink in the middle.
10. Serve with rice.

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If you don't want to go through the trouble of grinding your own meat, then skip that step and use pre-ground pork instead. You can also make the meatballs and sauce ahead of time and freeze in portions for a quick weeknight meal that's ready to be heated up.

Let me know what you think of this recipe by leaving a comment below or share with your friends on Facebook. If you want to check out other recipes I've done, check out the recipes page. You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as QuiteChefy where I would be more than happy to answer any cooking-related questions.