Food & recipes

Thai Pork Balls With Kombu

Try these with noodles or lettuce leaves for a lighter option

The light citrus notes of the herbs in this recipe contrast beautifully with the savoury flavours of the pork and the seaweed. These meatballs are perfect with noodles but can also be eaten out of crisp salad leaves dipped in the chilli sauce or in a vegetable broth.

Serves 4

You’ll need:

For the dish

a small bunch of coriander (with stalks)

a small bunch of fresh mint

a small bunch of fresh basil

400g good quality pork mince

1 tbsp kombu flakes

2 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

½ stalk lemongrass, finely chopped

4 tbsp groundnut oil

3 baby gems or iceberg lettuce, to serve

For the sauce

2 tbsp seaweed essence

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

Method:

Take the bunches of herbs, chop the roughest ends of the stalks off and put in a food processor. Mix until finely chopped.

Put the pork mince in a medium mixing bowl and sprinkle the meat with the kombu. Add the herbs, chilli, garlic and lemongrass. Mix thoroughly with your hands and form into golf ball-sized patties.

Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan and fry the balls, jiggling them as you go to make sure they are cooked uniformly.

Combine the seaweed essence and chilli in a bowl for the dipping sauce and serve with the meatballs and lettuce leaves to wrap.

Article by

Emily McMullin

Article by

Emily McMullin