Tag Archives: meatballs

chicken, Fingerfood

Crumbed Chicken Balls with cream cheese & bacon

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These crumb chicken meatballs stuffed with cream cheese and bacon are ‘ball number two’ that has evolved from the idea of a ‘crumbed-ball-off’. Number one of the crumbed balls was Turkey Balls with Camembert and Cranberry Red Wine Sauce.

To recap where this idea came from – after Christmas this year, while sailing down Australia’s east coast, we decided to have a ‘crumbed-ball-off’. My son, Jedd, kick-started the idea by saying he would make a turkey and camembert crumbed meatball. Dwayne then piped up that he was going to make a crumbed meatball also.

It soon became known as the “crumbed-ball-off”. All three of us were going to make a crumbed meatball and pick the best one. The winner was not going to have to cook for a week. The “crumbed-ball-off” never happened as Jedd flew back to Adelaide sooner than expected. This crumbed chicken ball was my creation which I came up with by simply using ingredients already in my fridge that I needed to use up. It is super tasty, though.

four chicken meatballs served with salad

Ingredients

For filling
1 rasher of bacon, rind removed and finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon of finely chopped sun-dried tomato
1 Tablespoon of finely chopped fresh basil
150ml cream cheese

For chicken meatball
1kg chicken mince
100ml fine bread crumbs
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

For coating the chicken ball
1 Cup of fine bread crumbs

Method

To make the cream cheese filling. Mix all ingredients well. Put the mixture into a container or wrap it in foil. Refrigerate until firm (about 1 hour).

Mix the ingredient for the meatballs well using your hands.

Place a large tablespoon of chicken on your palm and flatten. Using a melon scoop or a teaspoon, scoop about 1 tsp of cream cheese mix and place in the middle of the flattened chicken.

Shape chicken around the cheese and roll into a ball. Coat the chicken ball with crumbs and place it on a plate. Repeat with the remaining chicken mince.

Refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour (or longer).

Cook the chicken balls

Heat the oil in a deep fryer or a saucepan, and heat oil to 190c. When the oil is at the correct temperature, add the balls in batches. Deep fry for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Remove the chicken balls from the oil with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Serve with salad or vegetables. I served mine with a simple salad of capsicum, cucumber, tomato, olives and sun-dried tomato.

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Fingerfood, Pork, Spain

Albondigas – Spanish Meatballs

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Albondigas are Spanish meatballs that are often served as tapas. Tapas are small dishes of savoury food, more often than not, served with drinks. In 2019 we visited Spain. One of the things I was looking forward to the most was tapas. I couldn’t wait to try some… and I wasn’t disappointed!

Albondigas can be made with beef, veal or pork (or a mix with all three meats). Serve them as tapas, entree or as a main meal with rice or pasta.

Ingredients

200g mince pork

100g chorizo, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 stp sweet paprika

1 sprig of thyme

1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

1 egg

Pinch of salt

Black pepper

For the sauce

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 bay leave

1/2 cup dry sherry

1/2 cup chicken stock

1 can of tomatoes, crushed or diced

Fresh parsley

Salt & pepper to taste

Method

Fry the onion, garlic and chorizo for a few minutes. Place the chorizo, onion and garlic in a bowl, add the pork mince, paprika, thyme, bread crumbs, and egg, and mix well using your hands. Take spoonfuls and roll into small, smooth meatballs, about 2cm diameter (use wet hands).

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and fry the balls in batches until golden brown. Remove from pan.

For the sauce

Use the same pan that you cooked the meatballs in. Remove excess oil from the pan but leave a little in the pan to use for the sauce.

Heat the pan and sauté the onion and garlic for a minute, add the paprika and cook for a minute. Add chicken stock, bay leaf and tomatoes. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the meatball and parsley. Gently heat until the meatballs are hot and cooked through.

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Spanish Meatballs
Fingerfood, From the galley, Pork, Thailand

Larb Moo Tod

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Larb Moo Tod are Thai-style fried pork balls. Made with similar flavours like the popular larb moo which is a Thai (or initially a Laos) salad made with pork mince and herbs, they are delicious. We first tried these pork balls at “The Deck” which is the restaurant/bar at Phuket Yacht Haven Marina. We both love these tasty morsels, so I set to work decoding the Larb Moo Tod ingredients. Below is the recipe I created, and Dwayne and I both think it tastes as good as the original.

Larb Moo Tod - Fried Pork Balls Thai style. Displayed in a white bowl. They are being served on a boat and the background has a red and black headsail furler rope in it.

Ingredients

3 Tbsp raw glutinous or sticky rice
4 lemongrass stems (soft white part only)
1 clove of garlic
1 small red onion, finely diced
8 kaffir lime leaves, finely sliced and diced
1 red chilli, finely diced
2 spring onions, finely sliced
500g pork
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp Lime
1 tsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp flour
Oil for deep-frying

Larb Moo Tod - Fried Pork Balls Thai style. Displayed in a white bowl. They are being served on a boat and the background has the headsail furler rope in it.

Method

Firstly you need to roast and grind the rice (Khao Khua). Heat a wok to medium heat and add the rice. Cook while frequently stirring until the grains are toasted and golden; this will take about 5 minutes and might smoke a little. Let the rice cool down for a few minutes before grinding it, with a mortar and pestle, into a coarse powder (or you can use a spice grinder).

Using a mortar and pestle (or a food processor) mince up lemongrass and garlic and transfer it to a large mixing bowl.

Add to mixing bowl all remaining ingredients (apart from the oil) and mix well to combine.

With wet hands, shape the mixture into small balls (don’t be fussy any shape will do!). Heat enough oil in a wok to deep-fry the balls in batches.

Fry the lab moo balls for approximately 5 – 7 minutes, until crispy, browned and cooked through.

Remove with a slotted spoon or tongs and place on paper towels to drain.

Serve with or Nam Jim or sweet chilli sauce.

Like this recipe? Share with friends and family and pin using the image below… Thank you!

Larb Moo Tod - Thai style fried pork balls - easy to make, savoury snack. Delicious, bursting with flavour and full of texture. #recipe #thai #pork #chilli

Cooking Our Catch, Fish, Marlin

Marlin Rissoles

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I made these yummy Asian flavoured rissoles with the seemingly never ending supply of marlin we have from the marlin we caught earlier in the year. For anyone new to the blog that wants to know more about “The Marlin” check out The Marlin

These rissoles were made by accident! They actually came about when, having made a filling for wantons, I found the wanton wrappers had mould on them so I did rissoles instead. Not sure how that occurred since the packet was unopened and in date until March 2015…? anyway the wonton wrappers were thrown in the bin and I cooked the filling as rissoles.

The rissoles were simple and tasty..

I blended marlin, ginger and garlic and fish sauce. Then I added finely chopped dried shitake mushroom (soaked in boiling water) and finely shredded cabbage.

I shaped the marlin mix into rissoles and shallow fried them in a fry pan.

cooking marlin rissoles in a fry pan.

I served them with sweet chilli sauce but in the end we decided they were delicious without the sauce and served with a simple salad. They were really tasty. Bon appetite!

To end product. Marlin Rissoles delicious.