Thai meatball and herb soup

Name: Thai meatball and herb soup
Cook time: 30 min
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: Title:For the pork balls; 1 tbsp jasmine rice; 400g minced pork; 2 garlic cloves, crushed; 60g water chestnuts, finely chopped; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp sugar; 1 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tbsp coriander leaves; 1 small red chilli, sliced; Title:For the soup; 1.2 litres light chicken stock; 2 tsp sugar; 200g dried rice vermicelli, cooked; 2 tbsp Thai fish sauce; 2 tbsp lime juice; 2 tbsp torn coriander leaves; 2 tbsp torn fresh mint or Thai basil

Jill Dupleix

October 19, 2011

Time:< 30 mins

All over Sydney and beyond, you can now find Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Japanese and regional Chinese cuisines lending themselves happily to a lighter, brighter, more contemporary style of cooking. Our pioneering modern Asian chefs have set a fast pace, updating Asian classics and reinventing their own Chinatown favourites to create new ones.

Ingredients

Title:For the pork balls
1 tbsp jasmine rice
400g minced pork
2 garlic cloves, crushed
60g water chestnuts, finely chopped
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp coriander leaves
1 small red chilli, sliced
Title:For the soup
1.2 litres light chicken stock
2 tsp sugar
200g dried rice vermicelli, cooked
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp torn coriander leaves
2 tbsp torn fresh mint or Thai basil

Method

Toast the rice in a dry frypan until it starts to tan, then grind or pound into a coarse powder. In a food processor, combine ground rice with pork, garlic, water chestnuts, salt, sugar, fish sauce and coriander and half the sliced chilli and whiz to a paste. Roll the mixture into 20 walnut-sized balls.
For the soup
Heat the chicken stock, sugar and remaining chilli in a saucepan. Add the pork balls and simmer for 6 minutes, skimming meticulously. Add the vermicelli, fish sauce and lime juice and heat through.
To serve
Scatter with the coriander and mint and serve.

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