I have been needing new and exciting chicken recipes (I know, my life revolves around chicken recipes. Pretty boring, right?) and look what shows up in my "in box" this morning! This wonderful recipe for Spicy Sambal Meatballs!!
This recipe comes from a wonderful blog that I follow called Lady and Pups. Her photos of the recipes she creates are stunning! I want to make very single recipe she posts.
This especially caught my eyes because, first of all the meatballs are made with chicken thighs. Second, she poaches eggs in the sauce. And third, the sauce is SPICY!! She also stuffs a crusty baguette with these meatballs and poached eggs. It looked amazing!!
Alas, I did not make subs but we still enjoyed the heck out of them. I had to adapt her recipe a little because she calls for long, Asian, red chili's, which I normally find everywhere but for the life of me could not find this time. I bet it's because this recipe went viral, and they sold out... just kidding! So I subbed in jalapeños. And the sambal sauce called for more fish sauce but I ran out when I used it for the meatballs. If you don't have fish sauce, you can sub all the soy sauce for fish sauce.
The one ingredient she says to try not to sub, is the Thai shrimp paste, so I went out specifically for it. It shouldn't be too hard to find.
Oh, and I also doubled the tomatoes because I was worried the sauce would be too spicy, and in fact was perfect because I think the jalapeños that I used were really hot!!
The next time I make this dish though, I'm definitely making subs.
Spicy Sambal Meatballs
(Original recipe from Lady and Pups)
Lemongrass Chicken Meatballs
5 skinless/boneless chicken thighs
4 stalks lemongrass, soft/white parts only
2 garlic cloves, grated
3 shallots, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons fish sauce or 2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Flash freeze the chicken thigh for 2 hours or until firm. Cut into pieces and grind in a food processor until finely minced.
Trim off the tough ends on both sides of the lemongrass, then cut and mince as finely as you can, otherwise it would be like biting into pieces of wood.
Mix the ground chicken, finely minced lemongrass, shallots, garlic, ginger, mint, cilantro, fish sauce or soy sauce and black pepper.
Shape into balls and bake in oven until lightly browned. At this point you can make these ahead of time and refrigerate until the next day (thats what I did).
 |
| After they were baked |
Spicy Pineapple Sambal Sauce
1/2 cup pineapple, fresh or canned
The zest and flesh of 1/2 orange
5 jalapeño peppers, sliced
4 small red chili
7 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons Thai shrimp paste
4 teaspoons white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups canned peeled tomatoes
In a blender, puree the orange zest and juice, pineapple, jalapeños, red chili's, garlic, soy sauce, shrimp paste, vinegar, and brown sugar until smooth. Let it run a few minutes. Don't rinse the blender yet.
To Finish
4-6 eggs
To assemble dish:
In a large non stick skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown the partially cooked meatballs until nicely browned on all sides. Remove and set aside.
Add the pineapple/ chili sauce and cook until the mixture is reduced by a 1/3. Puree the tomatoes in the same blender and add to the sauce along with the meatballs. Simmer until the sauce is reduced by 1/3 again.
Make little wells in the skillet to make room for the eggs. Carefully drop the eggs then cover completely and simmer until the whites set and egg yolks are runny. Turn off the heat and serve immediately.
m xo
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