Ingredients
- (serves 4-6)
- Chicken frame (from a roast is fine – but avoid the skin as it makes for an oily broth)
- 500g pork mince
- Sesame oil
- Fish sauce
- 3-4 spring onions
- A handful of mushrooms
- A thumb of ginger, sliced, no need to peel.
- A handful of bean sprouts
- A couple of deseeded chillies – one cut fine dice, the other in rounds.
- Soaked rice noodles
Thai-inspired porkballs in broth
Method
- Prepare your stock – cover the chicken frame/bones with water and rapidly bring to a boil
- Immediately reduce the heat so as to barely maintain a simmer
- Add green onion tops, a few sliced mushrooms, and a couple of slices of ginger
- Check the stock every 5min and skim off any impurities rising to the surface
- After 30 min pass stock through a fine sieve, ideally lined with muslin
- For a truly elegant stock pass it a second time, through a paper coffee filter
- While the stock is simmering prepare your meat balls by combing pork mince, finely diced spring onion whites, coriander stalks and a chilli (keep the seeds if you want the serious heat) a splash of fish sauce and a trickle of sesame oil
- Roll into marble sized balls
- Drop these into your simmering broth
- Add soaked rice noodles, freshly sliced mushrooms, and a handful of beansprouts, and if seasoning is necessary a tsp of gluten-free tamari
- Ladle immediately into bowls and top with fresh coriander leaves, chilli, and shredded spring onion
Comments
This is a super easy, gluten-free meal. It’s light and fresh and great as the evenings get longer and warmer, and dinner falls later. Taking the time to make a quick but quality stock brings out the natural sweetness in pork.
Thanks to Waitaki Bacon and Ham for providing the pork mince used in the demonstration at the market
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