Thai Chicken Meatballs in Green Coconut Curry

More deliciousness ensued as a result of my making use of items found in my cupboard I’d long since forgotten about. Things that came tumbling out were a can of my favorite Thai green curry paste, a can of coconut milk, a variety of spices I don‘t get to use enough, and a few splashes of nam pla left in a crusty bottle. I had some mint left from last night's dinner so after quick consideration, I decided to make Thai chicken meatballs in coconut curry sauce.

 

Meatballs:

Ground chicken

Chopped cilantro

Chopped mint

Chopped scallion

Splash of coconut milk

Sprinkles of S&B yellow curry powder, cumin, turmeric

Soy sauce

Few drops nam pla

Several twists of the pepper mill

Minced clove or two of garlic

A few scrapes of ginger

Lime juice

Green curry paste

 

I oiled a hot skillet and dropped heaping teaspoons of the chicken mixture and fried until browned on both sides. I don’t like using more than one pan to cook things and it’s tastier to scrape up the brown bits to make the sauce so after all the meatballs were cooked and removed I threw in the skillet, in this order:

 

Sliced onions

A few coriander seeds from my tiny plot

Sprinkling of turmeric, cayenne, and cumin

Sliced mushrooms

Sliced red bell pepper

Broccoli florets

 

Before the broccoli picked up too much color, I stirred a little green curry paste then added the rest of the can of coconut milk. A note: I’d normally add nam pla here but I tasted a meatball and it was a bit on the salty side so didn’t add any to the sauce. Another note: I realized I had a can of “light” coconut milk, not the regular kind. I was annoyed with that but it thickened up nicely and wasn’t too runny.

 

After the curry reduced a little, I nestled the meatballs in the luscious sauce, shut off the heat, and added some thawed green peas, lots of lime juice, and torn cilantro.

 

Tip: You don't have to make the curry sauce - it was just a way for me to use up the coconut milk. Instead, you can just make the meatballs a little bigger and shape them into patties and eat it as an alternative to beef burgers.

 

Done