Thai Meatballs

So now that you have finished making your sweet chili sauce, it is time to get down to business with the meat portion of the recipe!! The meatballs!! And I mean who doesn't love a good meatball? I love them! Turkey, beef, pork, chicken....doesn't matter. They are all comfort food for me. And I love a good challenge to boot! So I started my trek with the Asian style ones.

Recipe:
1lb ground turkey meat
1 finger length size lemongrass, minced
2-3T fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2T chopped cilantro (I am not a huge fan so I err on the side of less is more)
1t fish sauce
2t soy sauce
1/2t Szechuan peppercorns
1t salt

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. If you need to taste and see if the seasonings fit with your ideas, take a small portion of the meat and roll in a small ball and fry to taste. If not you can either wrap the meat in saran wrap and place in fridge until ready to bake or go ahead and bake them.

You want to form about 16 balls with your meat. You want them small enough to not take forever to cook and big enough to make a filling lettuce wrap with 2 of them. I lined a baking dish with foil and then used a cookie rack to let the grease drip off. However you could always bake without the rack or even fry them. If you fry them be sure to cook them over medium-medium/low heat to make sure they cook through and do not burn on the outside.

While those are cooking you can prep for your pickled veggie mix.

Recipe:
1/2 bag of broccoli slaw (can be found in any grocery in the produce section)
1 daikon radish or 2 regular radishes, sliced thin
2T cider vinegar
2t white sugar
1/4t salt
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into half slices
head of boston lettuce or butter lettuce, leaves peeled off
Sweet Chili Sauce
Chili Sauce (optional, can be found in asian aisles or asian grocery store)

Mix the vinegar, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Place the broccoli slaw and the radishes in the vinegar to pickle.

To officially make your lettuce cup you should take a leaf of lettuce and place 2 meatballs inside. Drizzle about a spoonful with your sweet chili sauce and if you want or need extra flavor add a small dollop of spicy chili sauce on each meatball. Top your meatballs with a little pickled veggies and sliced cucumbers. Gather the lettuce wrap in your hands and dig in. WARNING! The sauces will drip all over you and coat your hands. But it is absolutely worth it!! So perhaps wear a bib!!

Unfortunately I was in such a hurry to eat these suckers that I forgot to take a picture of the final product. But I plan on making these again soon. When that day comes I will edit this page and post a picture of the yummy Thai meatballs. Until then.....eat these until you black out in an Asian induced coma of intense flavors!