Thai Red Curry Chicken Meatballs

30 March 2016 By

Our red curry paste or kreung gaeng phet daeng, is made from dried red chilies, shrimp paste, coriander roots, cumin, garlic, other herbs and spices. Rich and pungent, it is perfect as an ingredient for fish cakes and coconut milk-based curries, delicious soups and stir-fries, and even as a marinade to flavour seafood, meat and vegetables before barbecue.

Thai red Curry Chicken Meatballs

Ingredients (serves 4)

  • 500 g chicken or pork mince
  • 3 chopped spring onions
  • 2-3 teaspoons of Latasha’s Kitchen Thai Red Curry Paste
  • ½ cup chopped greens
  • ½ cup chopped basil (or tube equivalent)
  • ½ cup chopped green and red capsicum
  • 2 teaspoons of fish sauce
  • For cooking − 2 teaspoons of oil
  • For salad seasoning − a sprinkling of sesame oil

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. This works best if you can do it with your hands.
  2. Shape into either 28 meatballs or 6 burgers.
  3. Heat one teaspoon of oil in the pan and add half the meatballs/burgers.
  4. Cook on one side then turn when browned and cook the other side. Remove to a plate when cooked through to the centre and repeat with the other half of the mixture.

Portion plating

  • ¼ plate protein-rich food – 7 Thai red curry meatballs or 1-2 burgers
  • ¼ plate low GI carbohydrate – 1 corn cob
  • ½ plate vegetables – any salad ingredients you have, chopped and tossed

 

HOW WE MAKE OUR THAI RED CURRY PASTE

The concentrated paste used in the recipe above can be purchased from all good stockists or online. Here’s the how we make if for you in our kitchen using only the best fresh and imported ingredients and slow cooking them to perfection;

We start the preparation for this delicious paste the night before by soaking tamarind, so that we can squeeze out the flavour in the morning.

When we arrive back in the kitchen the next morning we are greeted by our delivery of fresh ingredients from the markets including fresh Australian brown onions, tomatoes, coriander, lemongrass, ginger, garlic and chillies.

The onions chopped, then blended in a number of batches until they are ready for the cooking pot.

The pot is added to the heat and heated to a high with rice bran oil. The finely blended onions are added into the pot with Australian sea salt and cooked for a long time until it caramelises.

While onions are cooking, the team weights whole spices according to the recipe formulation and these are dry toasted one at time until they release their oils. The spices are cooled before being blended to a fine ground mix in Latasha’s spice mill which travels with her.

While onions are cooking, Latasha weighs the whole spices and dry toasts them one at time until they release their oils. The spices are cooled before being blended to a fine ground mix in Latasha’s spice mill which travels with her.

Meanwhile chillies, fresh ginger, turmeric, galangal and garlic are finely blended one at a time.

Tamarind juice is whisked then strained to the required measurement.

Once the onions are ready, the fresh ingredients are added. We then add tamarind, palm sugar, fish sauce, coconut milk and the fresh coriander. We let the mixture boil rapidly to ensure a thorough mix.

Tastings are done to ensure the balance of flavours are captured and pH testing is done.