Quick! It's a weeknight, and you have to get some sort of edible thing into your family before they scatter do to homework, housework and all the other things. This is usually when i turn to either canned beans or ground chicken. Here, chicken with a gingery goodness kick and a lovely sauce.
I highly recommend you serve it with a smallish sauce or rice that catches the sauce. We also love serving it with Gotu Kola Sambol, which offers great complementary flavors.
Gingery Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoons finely grated or minced fresh ginger
3 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin, more for serving
1 teaspoon fine sea or table salt, more as needed
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup bread crumbs
4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, more for serving
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 15-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon fish sauce or soy sauce
4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 lime, halved
fresh cilantro, chopped for serving
Directions
In a large bowl, mix together 1 tablespoon ginger, the garlic, cumin, salt and coriander. Add chicken, bread crumbs4and cilantro. Using your hands, gently mix everything together, making sure not to overwork the mixture. Using a small cookie scoop, form into 1 1/4-inch balls.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high, then add the oil and let it heat up until it thins out. Add meatballs in one layer. Cook, turning and shaking the pan, until meatballs are browned all over, 5 to 7 minutes.
Move meatballs to one side of the pan, scraping up any browned bits. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon ginger to the empty side of the pan and sauté for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, fish sauce and a pinch of salt to the empty side of the pan. When tomatoes are simmering, cover the pan, lower the heat to medium, and let cook until the meatballs are no longer pink at the center, about 5 to 8 minutes longer.
Uncover the pan. Mix the scallions into the sauce. Squeeze lime juice all over everything, then stir together. Taste, and add salt and lime juice as needed. Serve the meatballs sprinkled with cilantro.
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