Thai style pork meatballs with noodles in a fragrant broth

For some reason I've been craving Thai flavoured pork meatballs for some time, and I love noodles, so combining red curry paste and herbs, I made up this recipe. It was so good and popular with Daughter and The Englishman, I thought I'd share it with you.

The meatballs can be cooked in the oven on a non-stick oven tray, or be fried in a heavy based pan (in which case roll the meatballs in little plain flour before frying in hot vegetable oil).

For the meatballs you need:

• 500 grammes minced pork
• 1 egg
• 3 water chestnuts, chopped
• 2-3 spring onions
• handful of fresh coriander
• 1 red chilli (seeds removed)
• I glove of garlic crushed
• 1 cm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
• 2 teaspoons of sesame oil 
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoon of oyster sauce

Blitz spring onion, coriander, chilli, chopped water chestnuts, garlic and ginger in a food processor until finely chopped. 

Mix the minced pork with all the ingredients including the egg and form into about 16 balls. Bake in 180 c oven for 20 minutes. (Or coat in flour and fry in small batches.)

For the noodles in fragrant broth you need:

• one teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1.5 tablespoon red Thai curry paste,
• tin of coconut milk
• 1.5 litres of vegetable stock
• 250 grammes packet of medium egg noodles
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
• A carrot cut into matchsticks
• 3 chestnut mushrooms thinly sliced
• Spring onion, cut in half and finely sliced
• Handful of coriander, finely chopped
• Lime juice to taste
• Thai basil, finely chopped

While the pork meatballs are cooking, start preparing the broth and noodles. Heat oil in a large pan and fry the red Thai red curry paste for a minute or two until there's a strong scent of spices. Add the coconut milk and vegetable stock. When the broth comes to boil, let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Next, add carrots and cook for 5-10 minutes according to how small the matchsticks are. Add mushrooms and cook for a further two minutes. Finally add the noodles and cook according to packet instructions (mine took 4 minutes).

When the meatballs are cooked through, remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for a few minutes. Add them to the broth, sprinkle with some fresh coriander and a squeeze of lime juice. Serve with more lime wedges.