Meatballs, steamed vegetables and a creamy herb cream cheese sauce in 40 minutes: We have been making this Viking pot for years whenever we need something quick but substantial on the table. The vegetables cook in the Varoma® while the mixing bowl makes the sauce at the same time. That saves one pot and all the stirring.
The name comes from East German home cooking, not Scandinavia. Meatballs in a pale sauce with vegetables was a widespread everyday dish known by different names across the regions. What we love about the Thermomix® version: the sauce needs no stirring at all. Herb cream cheese, milk and vegetable stock cook for 6 minutes at 100°C / speed 2, and the sauce becomes creamy all on its own.
Viking Pot with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 20 ✓
- 1 onion
- 1 slice white toast bread
- 400 g mixed minced meat
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp hot smoked paprika
- 800 g water
- 300 g potato
- 300 g carrot
- 300 g peas frozen
- etwas rapeseed oil
- 50 g butter
- 50 g flour
- 300 g milk
- 200 g vegetable stock
- 200 g herb cream cheese
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions 0 / 11
-
1
Chop the onion.
Peel the onion and halve it, then break the toast bread into pieces. Place 1/2 onion and the toast bread into the mixing bowl and chop for 5 seconds / speed 6, then scrape down with the spatula.
-
2
Mix the mince mixture.
Add the minced meat, egg, 1/2 tsp salt, oregano and paprika, mix for 15 seconds / reverse direction / speed 3 and set aside.
-
3
Rinse the mixing bowl.
Rinse the mixing bowl.
-
4
Cook the vegetables.
Add the water to the mixing bowl. Peel the potatoes, cut into cubes and place in the steamer basket. Wash the carrots, slice them and spread in the Varoma dish together with the peas. Insert the steamer basket, place the Varoma on top and steam for 15 minutes / Varoma / speed 1.
-
5
Prepare the meatballs.
Meanwhile, shape small balls from the mince mixture and sear them on all sides in a frying pan with a little oil.
-
6
Keep the vegetables warm.
Add the meatballs and potatoes to the vegetables and keep warm.
-
7
Chop the onion for the sauce.
Place the remaining 1/2 onion in the mixing bowl, chop for 4 seconds / speed 6 and scrape down with the spatula.
-
8
Melt the butter.
Add the butter to the mixing bowl and melt for 1 minute / 80°C / speed 1.
-
9
Sweat the flour.
Add the flour and sweat for 3 minutes / Varoma / speed 1.
-
10
Add the sauce ingredients.
Add the milk, vegetable stock, cream cheese, lemon juice, nutmeg and 1/2 tsp salt and cook for 6 minutes / 100°C / speed 2.
-
11
Serve.
Combine the vegetables with the sauce and meatballs and serve.
You can also cook the meatballs under the grill in the oven for a crispier finish.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Varoma and mixing bowl at the same time
We add 800 g of water to the mixing bowl, the diced potatoes go into the steamer basket and the carrots with the peas go into the Varoma dish. 15 minutes at Varoma / speed 1, and both cook simultaneously. During that time, shape the meatballs from the mince mixture and fry them in the pan. You really do need the pan for this step; it is not something the Thermomix® takes over. But the advantage comes straight after: we rinse the mixing bowl briefly, chop the second half of the onion, melt the butter, sweat the flour and cook the sauce through. No stirring, no burning.
Where things can still go wrong
Meatballs that fall apart during frying: This happens when the minced meat is too warm or the balls are shaped too large. The toast bread and egg bind the mixture, but only when it is kept cold. After mixing in the Thermomix®, pop the mixture in the fridge briefly and it will hold together much better in the pan.
Vegetables that cook unevenly: Cut the potatoes and carrots into roughly equal-sized cubes. If you leave the potatoes too large and slice the carrots thinly, you will end up with mushy carrots and hard potatoes from the same Varoma cook.
Sauce that stays too thin: The flour and butter base really does need to sweat for 3 minutes at Varoma / speed 1 before the liquid goes in. Cut that short and you will get a sauce that never thickens properly, no matter how much creaminess the cream cheese brings.
Leftovers and freezing
Covered in the fridge, the Viking pot keeps for 3 days. Freezing works, but we recommend freezing the sauce and vegetables separately. Cream cheese sauces tend to split and become grainy on thawing. If you want to avoid that, freeze the two components individually and stir the sauce briefly on the hob when reheating.
More stew recipes
If you enjoy the principle of cooking vegetables and sauce at the same time, our All-in-One Vegetable and Soured Cream Pot with the Thermomix® follows a similar idea but uses soured cream instead of cream cheese. If you prefer something heartier, have a look at our Currywurst Pot with the Thermomix®.
Why we use cream cheese instead of bechamel
Goes well with: mustard.
Many Viking pot recipes use a classic bechamel made from butter, flour, milk and cream. That works, but it is sensitive: lumps if the flour does not sweat cleanly, and easily too thin if the milk goes in cold. We use herb cream cheese plus a small flour and butter base. The sauce becomes naturally creamy from the cream cheese, gets instant flavour from the herbs and needs no extra cream. We skip the cauliflower or jacket potato variations found in other recipes as well. Our potatoes cook directly in the steamer basket, and one pan for the meatballs is all you need.
