Garlic-Ginger Chicken Meatballs With Cilantro and Mint

I normally tend towards asian flavours such as Thai or Vietnamese for ground chicken but I really was looking for something new.  I found this recipe on Bon Appetit that looked good and I have to say using the marinade as a sauce / flavouring for the meatballs turned out great!   You can swap out the ground chicken/pork with other ground meats.  

Garlic-Ginger Chicken Meatballs 

Ingredients

Marinade

•  8 cloves garlic, pressed / minced
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice 
• 2 tablespoons ginger, minced/grated 
• 1 tablespoon cilantro, minced
• 1 tablespoon mint, minced
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon amchur (dried green mango) *
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 
• 1/4 teaspoon red chili powder (or to taste)   
• salt to taste

Curry / Sauce

• chicken stock - about 1 cup
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
• 2 tablespoons mint, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, pressed / minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced/grated
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons or a bit more butter or fat

Meat 

• 1/2 pound ground chicken
• 1/2 pound ground pork  

               or any ground meat mix equaling 1 pound 

 

* or tamarind or extra lemon juice and a bit of sugar/honey 

Directions

Make meatballs

1. mix the marinade with the meat until it is well blended.  Make meatballs.  I tend to do this right into the pan by using two spoons to press the meat together and plop into the pan.
2. in a hot pan, using a little oil, cook meatballs in batches.  Once cooked, set aside. 

Make sauce/curry

1.  in a hot pan, heat fat until hot. 
2. Add onions, cook until browned
3. add garlic, ginger and cook for about 1 min
4. add coriander and give it a stir
5. add chicken stock and bring to simmer
6. add all the meatballs and any liquids from the cooking to the sauce
7. add herbs (cilantro/min)
8. taste for salt

Serve with rice, if you eat rice.  

Grain Free Brownies

Brownies are generally difficult.  When made with coco powder, they tend to taste a bit chalky or not chocolate like.  On top of that, making a grain free brownie, I'll be honest I wasn't expecting success.  But, now with extra time and online books - we have a winner!  The book that I used for  the base of this is called The Paleo Dessert Bible by Anna Conrad.  The brownie was very moist and tasted chocolate-y.   We stored it on the counter and it was still moist and delicious on day 3, which is as long as it lasted.

Brownie with salt and chocolate chips

• 8 tbs butter
• 3 ounces chocolate chips + more for toping
• 2/3 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt + more for toping
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. preheat oven to 350F
2. line a 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper
3. in a double boiler, melt chocolate chips and butter (or in the microwave, high at 1-3 min).  Add brown sugar and mix. 
4. in a large bowl, mix almond flour, baking powder, salt.  Add lightly beaten eggs, vanilla, slowly add in the chocolate chip mixture and stir until incorporated.
5. pour mixture into baking pan.  top with extra chocolate chips and salt
6. bake for 22-27 min, once a toothpick comes out clean.  
7. pull from oven and let cool for a min of 10 - 15 min (the original said 2 hrs but that was never going to happen in our house)

Beef and Broccoli

I was looking for a beef and broccoli with a nice sauce. Most tend to be either over salty or kind of gummy due to too much soy sauce and starch.  I found a nice sauce base start here and then worked it to what I needed/wanted.

Beef and Broccoli

• ginger, grated - about 2 tablespoons
• 4 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• brown sugar - about 2 tablespoons
• ground beef - 1 pound
• broccoli, chopped - about 1 - 1 1/2 cups
• sesame seeds - 1 tablespoon, toasted
• 1 - 2 tablespoons oil/butter
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup green onion, sliced finely
• 1/4 cup thai basil (optional), chiffonade

1. In a pot, mix ginger, garlic, soy sauce, hot water and sugar.  put it on a back burner on med heat, simmering. 
2. In a large sauce pan, toast the sesame seeds.  Once toasted, place to the side.
3. In the same sauce pan that the sesame seeds were toasted, place the cooking oil/butter to heat.  Once hot, add diced onion to season the oil/butter.  Once the onion is browned, take a slotted spoon and leaving the oil in the pan, place the cooked onion into the sauce. 
4. After all the onion has been moved to the sauce pan.  Add the ground beef to the sauce pan and brown.  
5. Add the broccoli to the sauce pan, cook.
6. While broccoli is cooking, puree the sauce.  Once the broccoli is cooked through, add the pureed sauce.  Mix well.  Add the green onion and thai basil.  

Serve - on rice, noodles or right out of the bowl.  Can add cashews or peanuts as garnish as well for a crunch.