Thai Meatballs with Green Salad and Corn

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Serves 4 – Makes 16 mini meatballs

 

Ingredients:

  • ½ small onion, very finely chopped or grated
  • 5 ml fresh crushed garlic and ginger mix (1 t)
  • freshly ground mixed peppercorns to taste
  • 10 ml fish sauce or soya sauce (2 t)
  • 10 ml soft brown sugar (2 t)
  • 90 ml fresh coriander leaves, chopped (6 T)
  • 400 g extra lean beef mince or ostrich mince, or a mix of both
  • 60 ml oats (4 T)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 100 g washed mixed lettuce leaves
  • 30 g fresh rocket leaves (3 handfuls)
  • ¼ English cucumber
  • 150 g  baby tomatoes
  • 250 g tinned sweetcorn, drained (1 x 410g tin, drained)
  • 15 ml  sweet chilli sauce (1T) (optional)

 

Instructions:

  1. Place the grated onion, garlic and ginger, ground peppercorns, fish / soya sauce, sugar and chopped coriander leaves in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients.
  2. Add the mince, oats and beaten egg, and mix well, ensuring that all the ingredients are well mixed into the meat. If the mix does not stick together add another tablespoon of oats.
  3. Using 1 tablespoon of mixture at a time, roll the mix into 16 small balls.
  4. Gently heat a frying pan that has been sprayed with aerosol non-stick cooking oil.
  5. Place the mini meatballs side by side into the lightly greased pan.
  6. Cover with a lid or aluminium foil.
  7. Cook on low heat for 7 minutes until the underside of the meatballs are brown.
  8. Turn all meatballs and cover again. Cook for 5 minutes until the other side of the meatballs is browned.
  9. Remove the meatballs from the pan and leave to cool while assembling the salad.
  10. To make the salad, divide the salad leaves, sliced cucumber, tomatoes and rocket onto 4 dinner plates, add the drained sweetcorn and the cooked meatballs and serve with a drizzle of sweet chilli sauce.

 

NUTRIENTS PER SERVING

Energy                                     1372 kJ

Protein                                     25.1 g

Carbohydrates                       18.5 g

Total sugars                            6.3 g

added sugar                           3.7 g (chili sauce (optional) & sugar)

Total fat                                   17.5 g

Saturated fat                          6.7 g

Fibre                                         4.8 g

Sodium                                     429 mg

One serving is equivalent to 1 carbohydrate, 3 protein and ½ vegetable.

 

Dietitian notes:

Remember that red meat immediately increases the fat content of any dish, even if you use the extra lean beef mince as we recommend in this recipe. Only four mini meatballs made with lean beef mince contain 17.5 g fat per serving. Using ostrich mince, however, reduces the fat content to 6 g per serving for 4 mini meatballs. So it is important to “dilute” red meat with lots of vegetables (salad) and a little starch (sweetcorn).

 

We would not suggest that you especially buy sweet chilli sauce for this recipe as this may tempt you to use it in other recipes or on food which will only add to the added sugar content. If you don’t have sweet chilli sauce then feel welcome to omit this ingredient or use ½ diced kiwi fruit or ½ grated apple for a little sweetness instead. Alternatively, you could also use light chutney.

 

A wonderful tasty recipe from Cath Day from her recipe book alongside Gabi Steenkamp – Food for Sensitive Tummies.

#foodforsensitivetummies

@cathsday

@dietitian_cathD