Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Asian Meatballs

Asian Meatballs

This past Saturday after a nice walk through Beverly Hills in the beautiful SoCal sunshine, I had a hankering for something good. Seriously, this past weekend was so gorgeous I am still thinking about it and wishing it didn't end. Unfortunately it did end, but at least I had this dish to enjoy. It definitely takes some time with the prepping of the meatballs, but once they are in the oven, it is easy peasy to get the rest of it ready and it's really good. I would definitely recommend serving it with a side of soy sauce and one of the best things about this is that it is even better the next day. To lighten it up just a bit I used turkey instead of ground beef for the meatballs and keeping with the poultry theme, I used chicken stock for the noodles instead of beef stock, because I don't usually keep beef stock on hand. I think meatballs are kind of fun to make. Definitely messy, but I love playing with the flavors.

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Asian Meatballs
(Adapted from Blog Chef)

Makes 10 meatballs

For the meatballs:
1/2lb ground turkey
1/4 cup grated white onion
1 egg
3 fresh garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons flour

For the noodles:
3 ounces rice sticks (also called vermicelli rice noodles)
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1-2 fresh carrots, peeled into strips
4 green onions, sliced into strips
7 ounces chicken broth
Soy sauce to serve

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine meatballs ingredients in a bowl, mix well and form 1 to 1-1/2 inch meatballs.

Place the meatballs on a foil lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until fully cooked.

Rinse the rice noodles until they go slightly soft and set aside. Slice the green onions into 1” strips. Peel the carrots and then use your peeler to peel all the way down the carrot making long thin strips.

Heat sesame oil in a skillet over medium heat and stir fry vegetables for 3 minutes until the carrots go limp.

Add chicken broth and rice noodles to the skillet and bring to a boil. Cook while stirring until the broth is absorbed and the noodles are soft. Put meatballs on top of noodles or mix them together and serve with soy sauce if desired.

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28 comments:

Erica said...

Totally putting this on my to make list. GREAT recipe. Thank you!

Paula said...

Oh, Esi, this is just the type of asian noodle dish that I love! A bit of veggie, those lovely rice noodles, and tangy meatballs. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch, AND dinner! YUM!

Anonymous said...

This dish sounds yummy and healthy. Beautiful photo -- love the color. Meatballs can be a bit less messy if you moisten your hands before starting. It actually works!

Diana said...

I would never think to do this! But now I really really want to try it! Maybe with soba noodles because the last time I worked with rice noodles I made a big fat Pad thai mess. :(

vanillasugarblog said...

you know I'm making this one! I crave this flavors quite a bit, well, all the time really.

Anonymous said...

I make Asian pork burgers, which have similar ingredients and are so tasty. I was thinking of morphing them into an Asian spaghetti and meatballs of sorts, and this looks like a great idea to draw from!

Reeni said...

This is like Asian Spaghetti & Meatballs! I love it!

Anonymous said...

Oh, thanks so much! One of my daughter's favorite school lunches is Aidell's Asian meatballs--she will love this!

Esi said...

Thank you, thank you!

Kelly, I need to remember to keep a bowl of water next to meatball prep. I always forget that.

Diana, I think soba would be good too. You may have to adjust cooking times.

Dawn, I crave these flavors all the time too!

Heather said...

ohhh that sounds so good! i am so jealous of your warm, sunny SoCal walk! sounds lovely :)

The Duo Dishes said...

Making meatballs is lotsa fun. Love this Asian 'spaghetti and meatballs' dish. It sounds much better actually!

Joie de vivre said...

That looks ridiculously good.

Joie de vivre said...

I've signed up to follow you so I won't miss any of your healthy (and ridiculously good) recipes. You had me at meatball...you had me at meatball.

veggie belly said...

this sounds wonderful, id love to try the noodles. when you wash them, do you use hot water?

Susan @ SGCC said...

Those meatballs look soooo good tossed together with all of those fresh, lovely ingredients! This is a dish I would happily make any day. Well done!

Donna-FFW said...

Esi- This dish looks so beautiful. I love all the fresh flavors. Awesome!

Esi said...

Thought I should answer Sala's question here so other people could see! I rinsed the noodles in warm water until they softened, but remember, they cook in the broth so you don't need to soften them too much.

Budget Mama said...

That looks wonderful! I will have to try it.

Olga said...

Those look really good! YUM.
I made something similar.
If you have any leftovers, you can turn it into a soup!

Esi said...

Budget Mama, they're really delicious.

Olga, that's a great idea!

Kim Còi said...

Hi Esi, you have a really wonderful blog... I tried this recipe last night with ground pork - really really good, I and my family love it so much!!! But I didn't use the dried vermicelli rice noodles, I used fresh vermicelli rice noodles instead (which is very popular here in Vietnam) - but it turned out not to be so good as yours, the noodles crashed. So next time I'll try this with dried vermicelli rice noodles :)

One more thing, may I translate this recipe into Vietnamese and post it to my blog with a link to yours? Thank you in advance... look forward to your next posts :x

Alicia Foodycat said...

I love that sort of meal! It looks lovely.

Esi said...

Kim, thank you for your kind words. I am glad you liked it, but sorry the noodles didn't work for you. Yes, feel free to translate the recipe and link back :)

Maggie said...

Delicious looking dish! I make similar meatballs with pork and add a little bit of toasted sesame oil to the mix.

Dee said...

Very nice. But I LOVE the dumpling soup you posted. It's been wet every day so this is just perfect. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Ground meat dishes can be quite heavy, but this sounds light and nutritious. I would've used ground turkey too :).

Lynn said...

Came over from Vanilla Kitchen. This looks wonderful! I hope to try the noodles tonight with some meatballs I already have on hand :)

Lynn said...

I made your noodles and they were delicious! Hope you don't mind, I posted a link back to here. Thanks for the wonderful recipe :)