What is the ‘Paleo’ Diet?
The Paleo diet is becoming increasingly popular, not only is it considered to be a healthy way of eating, but it also reflects a lifestyle change.
For those of you who might not have tried or even heard of this diet, the paleo diet (also known as the cavemen diet or stone-age diet) bases itself on the types of foods that our early ancestors would have eaten.
Mainly Including meat, fish, vegetables and fruit, this diet doesn’t only include certain categories of food, but the diet is also thought to guide a person’s way of life, for example increasing physical or reducing stress.
Sticking to any diet day in day out can be pretty challenging, however the paleo diet has the added benefit that it’s pretty easy and is great for increasing your energy levels, weight loss, balanced blood sugar levels, clearing skin and detoxifying your body! Check out some more information and benefits of the paleo diet outlined by SousVide Tools here.
So now you know a little more about the diet, you’ll probably be wanting to know what dishes you can try and make for yourself. How do Sous Vide paleo succulent meatballs sound?
Meatballs are a popular paleo recipe, and with a difficulty rating of easy and only a preparation time of 15 minutes, this delicious and hassle-free dish provided to us by SousVide Tools is the perfect opportunity for you to try out your first paleo dish using the brilliant sous vide cooking methods.
This recipe caters for six, but don’t worry as you can prepare as many as you like and and then refrigerate or freeze the rest for another day!
First of all you’ll be taken through the list of ingredients needed for this dish and then we’ll guide you through the method and cooking stages.
The Ingredients
- 2 crushed garlic cloves
- 8 sliced medium shitake mushrooms
- 1 finely chopped shallot
- 150g finely diced butternut squash
- 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
- 1 tablespoon chopped mint
- 1 finely chopped lemon grass stem
- Zest 1 lime
- 50g raisins
- 25g toasted pumpkin seeds
- 900g ground mince beef
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 ½ tablespoons paleo friendly fish sauce
- ½ tablespoons sea salt
- ¼ tablespoons five spice powder
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
The Method
- Drizzle olive oil in a saucepan and add the garlic, mushrooms, shallot, lemongrass and butternut squash, and gently fry until soft.
- Add the raisins, lime zest, pumpkin seeds and herbs. Continue to gently fry for an additional 5 minutes and then set the pan aside to cool.
- Next add the cool and softened mixture with the minced beef in a large mixing bowl.
- Once you have mixed in the ingredients, you will then need to add the five spice powder, salt and tomato puree into the bowl and stir gently as to avoid overworking the mince.
- About half way through the mixing and once the ingredients begin to combine together, you can add in the fish sauce.
- Now this is the fun bit where you can get your hands involved! Using your hands, divide the mixture into small pieces and then form them into balls which are roughly 1 ½ inches in diameter. As this recipe is for 6 people, you should roughly make around 36 meatballs.
- Once the meatballs are formed, place 12 of the into each vacuum pouch, vacuum seal and cook them in an 85 degree water bath for 12 hours.
- After the meatballs have finished cooking in the water bath, you can either lightly brown the meatballs you want to serve straight away in a hot pan.
- Serve and enjoy!
For the remaining meatballs, vacuum seal them and let them cool in an ice bath. The meatballs can then be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 9 months.
And there you have it! You have successfully accomplished a healthy and mouth watering paleo dish as well as mastering the fantastic sous vide method of cooking!