Cuisine – Chicken meatballs

Meatballs are having a moment. Not surprising, as they are universally loved by young and old and make an appearance in many food cultures. When the much-awaited Swedish furniture store IKEA opened in Auckland last year, the lengthy queues that formed were, for the most part, fans who hungered for the famous Ikea meatballs – a Swedish specialty of meatballs and gravy served with mashed potatoes and tart lingonberry jam. The huge café continues to be popular every day and fans know now to avoid the busy weekend. And in deference to Kiwi tastes, Ikea offers a plant-based version of the meatball, and would you know it – chips!

When you consider Spaghetti and Meatballs, you might think that’s an Italian dish. It is actually an American/Italian invention, although Italy does boast polpette, which are tiny meatballs served in a tomato sauce. One of Spain’s culinary exports to Mexico and South America is albondigas, meatballs simmered in a rich vegetable and tomato soup.

Greece has the spicy keftedes, served with a light sauce and pita bread, and you can find koftas throughout the Middle East and India in all manner of recipes. Probably the boldest of all meatballs is the Lions Head. Originally found in Shanghai, China, it is an enormous meatball made from pork or prawn, (or a combination of both) served in a savoury broth and garnished with shredded cabbage. The cabbage represents the mane of lion and just one meatball is enough to make a meal in itself.

For those with not much time to cook, our supermarkets stock ready made meatballs. There are a variety of flavours and brands, although they are quite pricey, the ones you take the trouble and the extra ten minutes to mix up yourself, will be far more satisfying and delicious.

This month’s recipe uses minced chicken. If you’d prefer to make your own mince, I find boned chicken thighs make the best mince as they have minimal fat and plenty of dark fleshy meat. Just pop them in the food processor and pulse until the chicken is finely chopped but do not let it over process and become chicken paste. You could use any other fresh vegetables you have in this recipe, and also you might like to vary the fresh herbs, as parsley, thyme or mint would be good too.

The Udon noodles in this recipe were from a convenient precooked package but other noodles that would be excellent are Chinese egg noodles, Thai rice stick noodles or very thin pasta noodles. Be sure to cook the noodles separately before adding them to the dish.

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Chicken meatballs with braised cauliflower and broccoli

For the chicken meatballs:
3 spring onions, finely chopped
4 tbsps olive oil
400g chicken mince
½ cup sourdough crumbs
1 small egg
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp chopped sage leaves
Small pinch of pepper flakes (or sancho pepper)
1 tsp of salt

For the vegetables and broth:
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup broccoli florets
60mls extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
300mls chicken stock
Juice of 1 lemon
400g precooked Udon noodles
Sage leaves

To make the meatballs, put a tablespoon of the olive oil in a microwave bowl with the chopped spring onions and cook on full power for 1 minutes to soften. Mix the cooked spring onion with the chicken mince, sourdough crumbs, egg, lemon zest and chopped sage with salt and pepper and pulse together until everything is well combined.
Remove the chicken mixture, wet your hands and roll into golfball-sized meatballs. Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan. Gently fry the chicken meatballs until they are browned and just cooked through. Put aside while you cook the vegetables.

Put the stock into a wide pan and bring to a simmer. Add the cauliflower and broccoli and simmer in the stock for 3 minutes, then add browned chicken meatballs and simmer for another 2 minutes. Soak the udon noodles in hot water for 3 minutes, or according to the packet instructions until soft but not mushy. Add to the broth, stirring in with the lemon juice and sage leaves and simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Serve hot with extra pepper flakes or sancho pepper.
Serves 4.