Meatballs are everywhere! They seem to exist in almost every cuisine, simple to make and invariably taking on the flavours of the region they are a great guide to a nation's food. I then started wondering why I had never seen any meatballs that claim to be particularly British. Turns out there was such a dish but as it was largely comprised of offal it fell out of favour, that and a rather unfortunate name that editor/censor daughter (seehere) insisted does not appear here, means you have to do your own research into British meatballs! These pork and lemongrass meatballs provide a wonderful contrast to the red curry sauce. Really easy to make and as a red curry is one of the milder curries this can be enjoyed by the whole family. A big pot of them also goes down well at summer barbecues, assuming summer arrives:-)
Ingredients. This should make about 30 medium-sized meatballs. • 1 packet My Thai Curry red curry paste • 1 can coconut milk • 500 g pork mince • ½ medium size white onion • 2 cloves of garlic • 20 g of coriander (cilantro US) • 20g lemongrass • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil • 2 teaspoons sugar • 1/3 teaspoon white pepper • 1 teaspoon cornflour • 1 tablespoon fish sauce* • Kaffir lime leaves and mild chillies or peppers for garnish As always with Thai recipes it is super important make sure to use the correct Coconut Milk . Roughly chop the onion and lemongrass, coriander and garlic and place in a mini food processor or similar with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Blend to a smooth paste.
Put the mince in a mixing bowl and add the lemongrass paste, sugar, pepper, and cornflour. Add the Thai fish sauce according to taste, 1 tablespoon will be ample, and this provides both salt and the essential Thai flavour to the meatballs. (* Don't be tempted to leave it out because you don't like fish sauce, used correctly you won't even know it's there but it heightens the taste of the other ingredients.)
Knead everything together by hand or using a fork or whatever. Don't use a blender or processor as you will lose the texture. I find an easy way to make the meatballs is to put some of the mixture in a spoon to form the meatball.
Cook the meatballs in a little oil in a pan over a medium heat for around 3 minutes then turn and cook for another 3 minutes until they have browned a little as in the picture. Remove the meatballs and put aside.
Put the red curry paste and the coconut milk in a pan and bring to a simmer.
Put the meatballs into the paste and cook through gently for around 10 minutes. You can then add some strips of pepper etc to the pan.
Serve with some thinly sliced lemongrass and some finely cut kaffir lime leaf, see here for details. As with any Thai curry a wedge of lime to cut the sweetness of the coconut milk is a good idea!
Enjoy!
Pork & Lemongrass Meatballs in Thai Red Curry Sauce
Don’t look down at meatballs! they can be delicious when done correctly, often taking on the flavours of a nation’s food. These pork & lemongrass meatballs provide a wonderful contrast to the red curry sauce. Easy to make and as a red curry paste is one of the milder Thai curry pastes this can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Roughly chop the onion and lemongrass, coriander and garlic and place in a mini food processor or similar with 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Blend to a smooth paste.
Put the mince in a mixing bowl and add the lemongrass paste, sugar, pepper, and cornflour. Add the Thai fish sauce according to taste, 1 tablespoon will be ample, and this provides both salt and the essential Thai flavour to the meatballs.
Knead everything together by hand or using a fork or whatever. Don’t use a blender or processor as you will lose the texture. I find an easy way to make the meatballs is to put some of the mixture in a spoon to form the meatball.
Cook the meatballs in a little oil in a pan over a medium heat for around 3 minutes then turn and cook for another 3 minutes until they have browned a little as in the picture. Remove the meatballs and put aside.
Put the red curry paste and the coconut milk in a pan and bring to a simmer.
Put the meatballs into the paste and cook gently for around 10 minutes. You can then add some strips of pepper etc to the pan.
Serve with some thinly sliced lemongrass and some finely cut kaffir lime leaf if available. As with any Thai curry, a wedge of lime to cut the sweetness of the coconut milk is a good idea.
Recipe Note
Thai Fish sauce. Don’t be tempted to leave it out because you don’t like fish sauce, used correctly you won’t even know it’s there but it heightens the taste of the other ingredients.
As always using the “right” type of coconut milk is a game-changer. See here.
Made this dish tonight and omg absolutely amazing. Normally use Aldi coconut milk but went with your suggestion of coconut milk and what a difference. Got another 4 pastes to try and will definitely be trying more of your recipes well worth the money.
Gary Thomson
December 29, 2022
Made this today as we are sick of turkey. Delicious and so easy to make, will definitely be doing again. Thanks for the tip on coconut milk, complete difference using Aroy-D compared to supermarket stuff.
Nitsa Takhiansok
July 10, 2022
Hi, I can’t see any reason why not, sure it will freeze fine:-)
I firmly believe that Khao Soi should be ranked as one of the world's great dishes. You can call it a curry or you can call it a noodle soup and it is both of those with more on top, literally on top! A broth of aromatic curry paste and orange-tinged coconut milk with tender chicken falling apart for you, boiled noodles lurking underneath and becoming coated with fragrant oil as they break the surface. Crispy noodles on top you can manipulate and dunk into the sauce,
This is a totally delicious way to serve roast chicken as well as being very simple to prepare. Cooking a whole chicken this way is practised in various forms throughout Asia, sometimes pot roasted, sometimes over hot coals and with many different curry pastes. Often cooked in the home, rather than restaurants, which is probably the reason why many Westerners are not familiar with the dish. Well, now is the time to change that and I promise you that you won't regret it!
This is a dish that is incredibly easy and quick to prepare. If you have a bag of frozen seafood in the freezer and the whole dish can come together in the time it takes to cook the rice. Talking of rice, I find myself increasingly turning to black rice
I used my pastes for the first time last week and invited 8 friends round for supper - I made chicken satay , weeping tiger steak, monkfish red curry and chicken Panang - everyone abseloutely loved it - delicious ! Xx
Having just shared the Panang Curry with my daughter we both found it delicious. We used king prawns with montuno and baby corn. Will look forward to tucking into another soon .Thank you.
No more shall be buying a jar from the supermarket, we have been looking for this and now we have found it without having to buy and pound our own ingredients
Kelly evans
March 24, 2023
Made this dish tonight and omg absolutely amazing. Normally use Aldi coconut milk but went with your suggestion of coconut milk and what a difference. Got another 4 pastes to try and will definitely be trying more of your recipes well worth the money.