Spicy Pork Balls

Name: Spicy Pork Balls
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Thailand
Ingredients: handful of Thai basil, finely chopped; small handful of coriander, ideally with roots, finely chopped; handful of mint, finely chopped; ½ lemongrass stalk; 2 tablespoons lime juice; 2 tablespoons groundnut oil; good pinch of freshly ground black pepper; 2 chillies, preferably Thai bird’s-eye, finely sliced; 1 clove garlic, thinly sliced; 4 bird’s-eye chillies, finely chopped; 400 g/14 oz free-range minced pork; pinch of caster sugar; 2 iceberg lettuces, leaves separated, to serve; 1 tablespoon fish sauce

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Let's Eat

By Tom Parker Bowles

Published 2013

About

This Thai dish is good for snack or starter. It’s hard to find minced free-range pork from the butcher, but do search it out. It’s far preferable to the insipid supermarket stuff. The herbs, as ever, lift the dish from the everyday to the exquisite, while the iceberg lettuce, much maligned, adds cool crunch.

Ingredients

2 chillies, preferably Thai bird’s-eye, finely sliced
½ lemongrass stalk
small handful of coriander

Asia
Thailand
Snack
Starter
South East Asia
Gluten-free
Spicy

Method

Crush the chillies, lemongrass, herbs and black pepper in a pestle and mortar or a blender. Mix well with the minced pork.

Shape the mixture into about 20 small balls (wet your hands so the mixture doesn’t stick).

Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry the balls all over for 8–10 minutes, until cooked inside. Cut one in half; it should be evenly coloured with no