Thai style pork meatballs with noodles in a fragrant broth

For some reason I’ve been craving Thai flavoured pork meatballs for some time, and I love noodles, so combining red curry paste and herbs, I made up this recipe. It was so good and popular with Daughter and The Englishman, I thought I’d share it with you.

The meatballs can be cooked in the oven on a non-stick oven tray, or be fried in a heavy based pan (in which case roll the meatballs in little plain flour before frying in hot vegetable oil).

For the meatballs you need:

500 grammes minced pork
1 egg
3 water chestnuts, chopped
2-3 spring onions
handful of fresh coriander
1 red chilli (seeds removed)
I glove of garlic crushed
1 cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
2 teaspoons of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
2 teaspoon of oyster sauce

Blitz spring onion, coriander, chilli, chopped water chestnuts, garlic and ginger in a food processor until finely chopped.

Mix the minced pork with all the ingredients including the egg and form into about 16 balls. Bake in 180 c oven for 20 minutes. (Or coat in flour and fry in small batches.)

For the noodles in fragrant broth you need:

one teaspoon vegetable oil
1.5 tablespoon red Thai curry paste,
tin of coconut milk
1.5 litres of vegetable stock
250 grammes packet of medium egg noodles
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
A carrot cut into matchsticks
3 chestnut mushrooms thinly sliced
Spring onion, cut in half and finely sliced
Handful of coriander, finely chopped
Lime juice to taste
Thai basil, finely chopped

While the pork meatballs are cooking, start preparing the broth and noodles. Heat oil in a large pan and fry the red Thai red curry paste for a minute or two until there’s a strong scent of spices. Add the coconut milk and vegetable stock. When the broth comes to boil, let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Next, add carrots and cook for 5-10 minutes according to how small the matchsticks are. Add mushrooms and cook for a further two minutes. Finally add the noodles and cook according to packet instructions (mine took 4 minutes).

When the meatballs are cooked through, remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for a few minutes. Add them to the broth, sprinkle with some fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime juice. Serve with more lime wedges.