Lemongrass Pork Meatballs with Vietnamese Noodle Salad
I’ve been craving fresh and fragrant Vietnamese flavours after my trip there earlier this year so I thought I’d transport myself back there with this dish!
Ingredients:
300g pork mince
300g chicken mince
2 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp lemongrass paste
1/2 cup chopped coriander
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp finely ground white pepper
Dressing:
1/4 cup fish sauce
Juice of 3 limes (7 tbsp)
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tbsp runny honey
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 - 1 1/2 red chilli, seeds removed and finely diced
Salad:
1 cucumber
2 carrots
1/2 ice berg lettuce
2 handfuls of coriander
150g toasted peanuts, roughly hopped
100g thin vermicelli noodles
Method:
Mix all meatball ingredients together in a large bowl using your hands to really work the flavours through. Scoop out a heaped dessert spoon of mixture for each and roll into balls — you’ll get around 20–22.
Heat a large frying pan over medium–high heat and drizzle with olive oil. Cook in two batches or use two pans if needed, then fry the meatballs for 8–10 minutes, turning every 2 minutes so they brown evenly.
For the dressing, mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.
Prepare the salad by shredding the lettuce and julienning the carrot and cucumber with a sharp knife or a mandoline on the julienne blade for speed. Roughly chop the coriander and peanuts.
Cook the vermicelli noodles by placing them in a deep bowl, pouring over boiling water, and covering with a tea towel for 3 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water, drain again, then toss with a drizzle of sesame oil to stop them sticking.
Divide the noodles between four bowls. Top with lettuce, carrot, cucumber, coriander, peanuts, and warm meatballs. Spoon over plenty of dressing (about 1/4 cup) so everything is well coated, then serve and enjoy.
NOTE: Using freshly juiced limes makes a big difference to the flavour compared to bottled lime juice in this recipe.
