Homemade Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I know that sweet and sour meatballs don't typically get the stamp of being homemade, because usually a person purchases packaged meatballs, chili sauce, and grape jelly all from the grocery store, but  my recipe for sweet and sour meatballs is literally made from scratch. This is because, last year, my sister and mom did some canning and the expiry dates on those jars were coming up fast so they needed to be used. My sister made delicious currant jelly with currants from the currant bushes in our yard, while my mother made an exceptional chili sauce.

Now, you don't have to use a homemade jelly or chili sauce for these, but it is highly recommended because it gives these meatballs a whole other dimension of flavour than the store-bought products. Suffice it to say that the flavour is even more sweet and sour. I do, however, want to turn people on to making their own meatballs at home though, because they aren't really that time-consuming to make and the searing of them in a pan prior to hitting the oven adds some flavourful char on them that will not be achieved with the store-bought variety. Here is my recipe for sweet and sour meatballs:

For the meatballs

2 Ibs ground beef
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp ketchup
4 slices of bread, toasted and crumbled
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
 2 tbsp vegetable oil

For the sauce

1 cup homemade chili sauce
1 cup homemade currant jelly

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a mixing bowl, add beef, milk, egg, ketchup, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and mix until well combined.
3. To form meatballs, use a 1/4 cup to adequately measure the amount of meat you will use in one meatball. Then roll the meat into a ball with your hands. You should end up with twenty meatballs using this method.
4. Place a frying pan on the stove and heat the vegetable oil over medium heat until it is very hot.
5. In the frying pan, sear the meatballs in batches until they are brown and have a nice char on them.
6. Place meatballs in an oven dish.
7. In a separate bowl, combine the chili sauce and currant jelly.
8. Pour the sauce over top of the meatballs.
9. Place meatballs in the oven for approximately 1 hour until the meat is cooked and the sauce is thickened.