Me and my boyfriend are very much fans of spicy food and we got a bit sick of plain old Italian Meatballs so I had a little play around with a few ingredients and came up with this recipe. It may sound a little different to other meatball sauce recipe but it’s so tasty and satisfying it’s now a regular in our house and everyone I’ve made it for has requested the recipe! It’s also a fairly cheap recipe to make as you get 12 meatballs in the pack so I split them and use 6 at a time. £2 for 4 meals is not bad if you ask me!!

Ingredients

Serves 2 = 13sp each

100g Spaghetti (you could use rice either!)

6 Meatballs (I use Tesco beef meatballs)

1 Large Onion finely sliced

2 Cloves of garlic crushed

1 box of mushrooms sliced

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

Splash of balsamic vinegar

1 tsp of hot chilli powder and garam masala

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 small box of passata (400g)

Pinch oregano

2 tablespoons of bisto cheese sauce

Handful of spinach, shredded

Method

Pop your meatballs in a bowl and spray with 1KAL. Sprinkle over the turmeric, hot chilli powder and garam masala and mix in until meatballs are evenly coated. You can do this in advance and pop them in the fridge to marinade or (as is usually the case with me) just let them marinade in the time it takes to chop up the rest of your veg.

Spray your pan with 1KAL and fry meatballs on a medium heat until evenly browned on the outside. Add onion and garlic until onion is soft (add a little water if the mixture gets to dry). Then add your mushrooms (you can add any other veg you fancy at this point too, I sometimes stick some pepper in) and dried chilli flakes and mix so covered in the spices that are already in the pan and cook until soft.

Pour in your box of passata with a splash of balsamic and a pinch of oregano and mix. Season to your taste with salt and pepper. Make up your cheese sauce mix with the required amount of water and add this to the pan.

Let your sauce simmer while your spaghetti is cooking and the meatballs will cook through. Just before serving throw your spinach into the sauce and let wilt.

Drain your pasta and mix into your sauce and cook for a further minute. Serve with a sprinkling of low fat cheese.

Enjoy!