Best Ever Meatballs In Tomato Sauce - cooking recipe

Ingredients

Meatballs
1/4 cup uncooked converted long grain rice
2 lbs lean ground beef
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 onion, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Tomato Sauce
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons dried oregano leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
1 piece cinnamon stick (2 inches long)
1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes, in juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation

To make meatballs: In a bowl, stir rice into 4 cups boiling water. Set aside for 30 minutes to soak. Drain well. Return rice to bowl. Add remaining ingredients, except oil, and mix well. Form into 16 balls, each about 2 inch in diameter.
In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add meatballs, in batches, and brown on all sides. Transfer to slow cooker. Drain all but 1 Tablespoon fat from pan. (If you used extra lean ground beef, you may have to add oil.).
To make tomato sauce: Reduce heat to medium. Add onions to pan and cook, stirring until softened. Add garlic, oregano, salt, peppercorns and cinnamon stick and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and lemon juice and bring to a boil, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon as they cook.
Pour sauce over meatballs. Cover and cook on HIGH 4 hours or on LOW for 8 hours, until meatballs are no longer pink inside. Discard cinnamon stick.