Asian Meatballs with Korean Noodles and Spring Onion
Recipe by Peter Sidwell
This recipe is all about removing some of the meat from a recipe and swapping it out for other ingredients that are super good for you. I have taken 200g of meat out of this recipe and replaced with cashews and California Prunes as the meaty text of prunes and the sweetness work really well and it makes for the perfect swap to help reduce a little meat consumption.
Servings: Makes 4 servings
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Ingredients
For the meatballs:
- 250g minced pork or turkey (usual recipe requires 450g mince)
- 100g cashew nuts soaked in boiling water
- 100g chopped California Prunes
- 1 clove of garlic
- 20g of ginger
- 1 tsp of miso paste
- 1/2 tsp of salt
- 1 red chilli chopped finely
- 1 egg
- 300g dried egg noodles
- 1 tbsp of sesame oil
- 2 bok choy sliced
- 4 spring onions
For the broth:
- 900mL (2 pints) chicken stock
- 75g California Prunes
- 1 clove of garlic
- 20g ginger
- 1/2 red chilli
- 1 tsp of miso paste
- 20mL soy sauce
- 1 tbsp of ketchup
Directions
- Place the cashew nuts into a bowl, cover with boiling water, and leave to soak for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile mix together in a large bowl the minced meat, chopped California Prunes, garlic, ginger, salt, chilli and miso.
- Drain the cashew nuts, but keep the liquid to one side.
- Place the soaked nuts into a food processor and blend with 2-3 tbsp of the soaking water.
- Add the nut mixture and egg to the minced meat, and mix together.
- Divide the minced meat into 16 equal portions (approximately 35g portions) and, with wet hands, roll into meatballs. Set aside while you prepare the broth.
- To make the broth, pour 900mL’s chicken stock into a pan. Add the crushed garlic, sliced red chilli, miso and ginger, then bring to the boil.
- Blend the ketchup, soy and California Prunes together and stir into the broth.
- Add the meatballs, and simmer for 20 minutes until they are fully cooked.
- Meanwhile cook the noodles in plenty of boiling water until tender, it usually takes 4-5 minutes, then drain and divide up into 4 bowls.
- Slice the bok choy and spring onions and scatter over the cooked noodles.
- Using a ladle divide the meatballs and broth into the 4 bowls, top with sesame seeds and maybe a little coriander
Serving Suggestion: I like to add a squeeze of lime over my noodles to give a little sharpness to my meal, but it is very much up to you.
