Thai Turkey Meatballs
Thai food balances sweet, salty, and sour flavors, and is very popular worldwide. I’m a really big fan of the harmony created between spices and I have learnt and I’m still learning a lot from Asian cuisine. Thai food is known for its heat among other flavors, as chili peppers are a big part of the cuisine. But that doesn’t mean you have to make it hot if you do not like or you can’t tolerate hot/spicy food. Thai cuisine usually serves rice or noodles as a side but I made a salad to pair it with to keep it nice and light.
For this recipe I used mixed minced turkey meat. I try to buy organic, because the turkeys are raised free-range on a 100% organic, all vegetarian, non-GMO diet with no antibiotics or hormones. Turkey is a great source of protein and provides you with a very rich source of B vitamins (B3, B6, B12), good source of folate, vitamin B1, B2 and loaded with selenium, zinc, phosphorus.
Most meatball recipes contain bread crumbs and eggs as a binding source. I use almond flour instead of bread crumbs and applesauce which is a really good substitute for eggs in this recipe.
The turkey balls are coated with Thai sauce which gives it a nice flavor and shine. A lot of Asian dishes use soy sauce as a main ingredient, but it can easily be substituted with coconut aminos which is paleo approved. Coconut aminos is made from the fermented sap of coconut palm and sea salt and is very similar in color and consistency to soy sauce.
Thai Turkey Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 500 gram turkey meat minced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
- 80 gram apple shredded
- 40 gram almond flour
- ¼ tsp chili
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper freshly ground
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
Sauce
- 60 ml coconut aminos
- 240 ml apple cider
- 1 tbsp applesauce
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger grated
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tsp tapioca flour
- ½ salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper freshly ground
Salad & Vinaigrette
- 200 gram salad mix I prefer a mix with a lot of rucola
- 2 tbsp pomegranate seeds
- 2 tbsp pine nuts roasted
- 1 tbsp agave syrup
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper freshly ground
Instructions
Meatballs
- Preheat oven to 200 C.
- Prepare a nonstick baking tray or cover tray with parchment paper.
- Mix all meatball ingredients in a bowl.
- Form the mixture into 3 cm meatballs and place on the tray.
- Put meatballs into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Salad & Vinaigrette
- Mix agave syrup, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper very well in a small bowl.
- Slowly add olive oil and combine.
- Put salad mix into big bowl and pour vinaigrette.
- Mix salad carefully, without breaking the leaves.
- Make a nice salad crown on every plate and sprinkle with pomegranate seed and roasted pine nuts.
Sauce
- Mix all of the sauce’s ingredients well in a frying pan.
- Start to cook over medium heat and bring the sauce to a gentle boil.
- When it starts to boil, reduce the heat to low, simmer it for 2 minutes, until it starts thickening.
- Add baked meatballs to the pan and toss carefully to coat in sauce and cook for a minute.
- Serve them in the middle of the salad crown.