Thai Balls & Spicy Mooli Noodles

This meal, in all honesty, was made from leftovers. Last weekend we had a BBQ and one of the burgers I made was a Thai pork burger. I didn't put a recipe up for this at the time as I was too busy cooking for the party, but the recipe for those were the same as these Thai balls.

Either way, six Thai burgers were leftover so I popped them in the freezer, only to be defrosted yesterday and re-invented as Thai Pork Balls making a thrifty, and very quick, meal for two.

Ingredients for Thai Balls (or burgers)

3 cloves garlic, crushed
4 spring onions, chopped
1 red chilli, seeds removed
1 inch piece ginger, chopped
1 tbsp. lemongrass paste
handful fresh coriander
grated zest and juice of 1 lime
500g (1lb 4oz) pork mince
1 egg, beaten
25g breadcrumbs
vegetable oil to fry

Put the garlic, spring onions, chilli, ginger, lemongrass and coriander into a hand blender and blitz to a paste. Alternatively, chop everything finely. Put into a large bowl with the pork mince, lime zest and juice, egg and breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly with your hands. Now you can shape into balls (for this recipe) or patties for burgers.

For the Thai balls, roll into 1 inch balls. Heat oil in a heavy based pan to about an inch up the sides. When hot, fry the balls for about 5 minutes until brown and cooked through.


For the Spicy Mooli Noodles:

1 small mooli (or half a large)
1 carrot
1 cloves garlic
1 Thai chilli (seeds removed)
1/4 tsp. salt
8 green beans, cut into thirds
5 cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 tbsp. palm sugar (white works too but palm sugar is better)
1 tbsp. Thai fish sauce
1 large lime, juice only

Peel the mooli and carrot and cut into julienne strips. Put into a large bowl. Using a pestle and mortar, pop in one garlic clove and a chopped Thai red chilli (seeds removed). Crush to a pulp with a 1/4 tsp. salt. Add the green beans and pound a little more. Then add 4-5 cherry tomatoes, quartered and pound again. It should look like this:

Then add 1 tablespoon of palm sugar, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and the juice of one lime. Mix thoroughly and put into the bowl with the vegetables. Cook some rice noodles to packet instructions and rinse under cold water. Now add the noodles to the marinade and mix well.

Serve the mooli noodles with the Thai balls and a little sweet chilli dipping sauce. Garnish with a little fresh coriander and enjoy!

Moroccan Ostrich with Couscous

It was only recently that I learned that Ostrich farms are appearing in the Middle East. And why not indeed. Ostrich meat is one of the healthiest meats you can eat and its absolutely delicious. Not only that but the UK shops has started to realise this and you can now buy it in so many places. I love it myself. AND its low fat.

Here I have kept it simple. Moroccan spiced ostrich steak, served with couscous. This meal takes about ten minutes to make - what's not to like?!

Ingredients:      (Serves 2)

2 ostrich steaks
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. sumac, optional
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
salt & pepper
1/2 cup couscous
1 cup (230ml) chicken stock
1 roasted pepper (from a jar), chopped
1/4 red onion chopped finely
coriander to serve

Method:

Put the couscous into a bowl and add the hot stock. Cover with cling film and leave to steam while you cook the ostrich.

In a frying pan, heat the oil. Sprinkle the ostrich with the spices and salt & pepper. Add to the pan and cook for about 3-4 minutes each side, depending on the thickness of the steak. Remove from pan and let rest for a minute on a board.

Add the onion and pepper to the couscous and stir, adding just a drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. Cut the steaks on a diagonal and serve on top of the couscous with a garnish of fresh coriander. Easy, quick and very, very tasty.

Note: I served mine with roast carrot salad, flatbreads and aubergine hummus for a delicious feast!

Note 2: You can use anything you like in the couscous, instead of the peppers you can use chopped tomatoes, or raw courgette.