Thai meatballs served in lettuce cups with nuoc cham dipping sauce are a delightful feast, and very easy to make. My version is oven baked rather than fried.
Meatballs less heavy
Meatballs for dinner usually sound like quite a hefty proposition, what with them being commonly served with pasta or mash, plus sauce. Not this time: Thai meatballs are quite lean, and you serve them with lettuce leaves rather than spaghetti.
The recipe comes from Ottolenghi’s Comfort cookbook and indeed you can hardly imagine more comforting a dish than meatballs. And yet, as I said above, these are satisfying but light, and a meal like this leans towards the salad category.
What meat for Thai meatballs?
The original recipe says minced pork, but I like to nod to the (half) Italian in my house and mix pork mince with beef. Pork is fattier so the meatballs clump easily but beef is juicier, so the flavour ends up better.
I don’t see however why you could not use chicken mince in this recipe, with a reasonable fat content, or even turkey. After all this is a dish not a million miles away from larb – Thai minced or chopped meat salad – in which all kinds of mince are allowed. If using chicken or turkey though, I’d increase the amount of rice added to the meat so the balls shape and hold more easily.
How to make Thai meatballs
They are made just like any other meatballs, best mixed and shaped by hand. The only less usual and more interesting ingredient is a small quantity of cooked rice, which beautifully helps shape them and keep their shape.
They are seasoned mildly, with a little fish sauce, chopped mint, coriander and garlic, because the heat and boost of flavour comes in the dipping sauce, nuoc cham.
The trick to shaping meatballs of all provenience is to do it with wet hands, and then to leave them to firm up in the fridge, on a plate.
Ottolenghi recipe has them shallow fried, and however delicious that will undoubtedly be, I prefer to bake them. A bit healthier, and minimum mess.
I also like to glaze them with a honey-soy sauce mixture by the end of the baking time, for the extra flavour and a glossy finish, but it’s completely optional.
How to make nuoc cham
The dipping sauce recipe is my own. The original has far too much fish sauce and vinegar in it and it’s just pungent and unpleasant: I’m pretty certain it could be an editing error. Plus, nuoc cham comes in a range of varieties so ingredient and flavour flexibility is allowed.
My sauce is hot – the red birds eye peppers or scotch bonnet are fierce – so adjust it to your liking. If you don’t have palm sugar, use brown or caster sugar.
It is very easy to pound the chillies, sugar, garlic and salt flakes in a pestle and mortar but you can use a small chopper/blender if you wish.
And then adjust the amounts of lime juice and fish sauce to your taste, slice some mild chilli into it and it’s ready to serve.
Meatballs in lettuce leaves
And the serving method of these meatballs is simply gorgeous: wash and spin dry some lettuce leaves, be it little gem, cos, or even iceberg carefully separated, and arrange on a platter. Cut cucumber into slices or sticks, and present alongside the meatballs warm from the oven or at room temperature.
The diners will grab a lettuce leaf, load it with a meatball and some cucumber, then dip the parcel in the nuoc cham. It is a little messy, convivial and utterly delightful!
More Thai recipes
Thai beef salad made with finely sliced seared bavette steak, aka flank or skirt steak. Perfectly flavoursome beef on a bed of crunchy vegetables, with classic Thai dressing makes a delightful dish.
Green papaya salad with sweet and sour dressing is crunchy, juicy and incredibly full of goodness. Plus, it helps digest meat!
Thai fish stir fry with mushrooms, beans and noodles, with cod or other firm white fish. The secret is to marinate it well, cook it on medium heat and handle it with care.
More meatball recipes
Beef, ricotta and oregano meatballs from Ottolenghi are delicate and light, cooked in a richly flavoured tomato and onion sauce.
Korean BBQ-style oven baked meatballs with sweet and salty glaze, super easy and mega tasty. With old fashioned Ritz crackers to bulk out the beef mix!
Pork and smoky bacon meatballs with tomato flavoured bulgur wheat, a variation on Swedish, Italian and Moroccan meatball classics.